Post by buck91 on Sept 18, 2014 20:46:45 GMT -6
Been fighting a constant battle with the wife's 2001 Olds Aurora and after replacing the front struts with Monroe "Quick Struts" and getting an alignment I have noticed a NEW noise, one that sounds...ominous.
Intermittent during driving, most prominently between 15-55mph (have not noticed it on the freeway yet) there is a squeaking scraping type noise coming from the front end. Doesn't change pitch with speed of vehicle or with speed of engine and does not seem effected by lateral/turning loads. May or may not be affected by accel/decal with a slight increase in volume when coasting as compared to holding a steady speed and I cannot hear it readily over the original 2001 exhaust during acceleration.
Couple points of interest:
-both rear hubs very recently (under 2k miles) replaced with el cheapo parts store units
-front passenger hub replaced with Raybestos Pro Grade at about the same time
-front suspension is tight and all within spec
-both cv joints/shafts are original with 130k-140k on them
-accessory drive was thoroughly saturated with power steering fluid due to a LONG TIME leak that was just recently repaired
-PSF level is good, as are all over fluids
-front brakes are in decent shape with freely moving pistons and slide pins
-intermediate steering shaft has famous creak at the moment.
My first thought was a pulley going bad, but it doesn't change with engine speed. Second thought was a hub failing early or the driver front finally going out but it does not change when turning side to side. I would REALLY like to figure this out ASAP as if its a hub I want to swap it out before the warranty is up- any thoughts?
EDIT 09/18/2014 22:49hrs :: Ruled out the cooling fans. Smooth and silent when turned on by CTS or A/C.