I just had the front shocks replaced in my pinto, since then I've noticed a sort of humming noise coming from the front somewhere, I think its the left wheel. The car handles well, and brakes fine, so I don't think its brakes or suspension. The hum seems to get louder, and higher in pitch, the faster I go. Still there even when I put in the clutch or have the car coasting down the road in neutral.
Didn't hear it before I had the new front shocks put in.
Ideas?
I would start by jacking that side of the car up and spinning the tire by hand to see if anything jumps out at you right off. If not I would take the wheel assembly apart and check the bearings and the spindle nut.
Jake
renton,
You must be too used to driving front wheel drive cars.
Pushing in the clutch and coasting other than a pitch change with a difference road speed, will ordinarily have no effect on a noise associated with one of the front wheels or brakes with a rear wheel drive car like the Pintos, when it might help with diagnosing a problem with a front wheel drive one.
I'm with gaslight, if the noise wasn't there before the shocks were done, and there isn't another unassociated front end problem that you aren't mentioning that needs to be worked on, first look for something loose, out of place or maybe bent that might have been caused by someone working on the shocks.
Some places routinely use an impact wrench instead of a torque wrench when reinstalling wheels, and grossly overtighten one or more the lug nuts, which may cause a rotor to warp fairly quickly. That will frequently show up first as a noise and if serious as a vibration or shimmy feeling in the steering wheel. Could even be as simple as some rust having broken off and is trapped between one of the front wheel s and it'ss rotor, making that wheels' mounting be out of plane, which could definitely cause some sort of noise or vibration in the front end.
Could also be a piece of rust that broke off, and that is now caught, and dragging on a rotor as thewheel rotates.
P.S. If you suspect a wheel bearing problem, you can usually first determine if it is a bearing noise and then isolate at which side of the car the problem is, without removing the wheels if you have good hearing and a fairly quiet place to drive that has some tight radius turns.
As you take the car through a turn, the bearings on the side of the car that is at the OUTSIDE of the turn will temporarily have a much heavier load being carried by it during the turn than those on the other side of the car. This paradoxically usually makes a bearing that is always noisy while driving straight forward, run QUIETER during such a turn.
So, if the front end steady hum type noise does change during a turn, it usually points to a bearing related problem, and by making several passes through the same turn, but while driving in different directions, it's frequently possible to tell which is the problem side, if it's only one side that is bad.
P.P. S. It COULD also be a tire noise from one bad tire that just coincidentally started making noise. If so, swapping tires left to right would move the noise. Have you hit any bad potholes lately? This can sometimes not only throw a balancing weight off, but break a belt in the tire and potentially cause all sorts of problems as the tire starts to change shape from its normal condition. These can be noticed as different noises and/or vibrations ranging from mild to severe shaking of the car side to side.
Re: potholes: where I drive the roads are loaded with them.....
There's no suspension problem I'm aware of -- the car maneuvers and steers well, no vibrations from the wheel (none I can sense, anyway).
I looked under the car this weekend, didn't see anything obviously wrong -- I'll jack the car up and do the spin check, try the other tests you mentioned and see if anything pops up.
Thanks for your input, guys, it's much appreciated.
Turn off the radio?
Bill