2001 V70 T5 rear axle noise

brian909 · Post by **brian909** » 11 Nov 2006, 17:38

I checked the archives but couldn't find anything on this. I have a 2001 T5 with about 105,000 miles on it. Around 98,000 I had the transmission replaced with a factory rebuilt transmission. Ever since then I have had a humming sound coming from the rear axle (I think), which the dealer said was normal and should go away. Well it is not going away, but now getting more pronounced especially once I get over about 40mph. It sounds as if I have large 4x4 tires mounted on the rear. I took it again to the dealer and he said it was the tires, so I replaced the tires and I still have the sound. Clearly the dealer is not addressing the problem, but does anyone know what this might be so that I can be more proactive in fixing it? Thanks for the help.
Brian

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 11 Nov 2006, 18:10

It sounds like a rear hub. Can you put it up on a jack stand, spin your wheels by hand and hear some resistive noise? When the bearings in the hub starts to go it will make humming noises.

brian909 · Post by **brian909** » 11 Nov 2006, 18:36

OK I will put it up on the jack and try that tomorrow. Will report back. Thanks for the help.

Brian

Post by **akitawagon** » 11 Nov 2006, 19:09

From your description, with the noise becoming more pronounced at around 40mph, it sounds like the bearing needs replacing. Is the sound kind of an oscillating, roaring noise that builds up as your speed increases?

However, before you go replacing parts, check your rotor, caliper and e-brake to see if one of them may be making any contact during rotation.

Another inexpensive experiment you can try is while the rear of your wagon is jacked up, is swap the rear wheels to see if the noise follows the wheel. If it does, then a bent or damaged wheel may be making the noise.

brian909 · Post by **brian909** » 11 Nov 2006, 19:50

Well since you guys were so cool to respond so quickly I put it up on the jack a minute ago, and spun the wheel by hand. I'm not sure if it should be totally silent because it wasn't, but it didn't seem to be a grinding sound either. It was kind of like a very low rumble/woosh sound and I spun it up to about 60rpm. When I stopped spinning it, it went about 3 revolutions more and then came to a stop. Does that represent a dead bearing? Thanks.

Brian

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 11 Nov 2006, 20:01

The woosh sound is typical of bearings that are sligtly worn and starting to go (this means the bearings...bearings are in the hub and they can't be replaced, thus the hub)...but like Akitawagon said check your e-brake too as well as calipers. You'll have to get way under the car to see the e-brake from the back side.

brian909 · Post by **brian909** » 11 Nov 2006, 20:17

Well it looks like it may be a hub bearing, but I will check the other stuff tomorrow as it's raining now. Thanks again for the help this is a really good site.

Brian

brian909 · Post by **brian909** » 13 Nov 2006, 11:17

akitawagon wrote:From your description, with the noise becoming more pronounced at around 40mph, it sounds like the bearing needs replacing. Is the sound kind of an oscillating, roaring noise that builds up as your speed increases?

However, before you go replacing parts, check your rotor, caliper and e-brake to see if one of them may be making any contact during rotation.

Another inexpensive experiment you can try is while the rear of your wagon is jacked up, is swap the rear wheels to see if the noise follows the wheel. If it does, then a bent or damaged wheel may be making the noise.

Ok I swapped wheels, checked rotors and calipers, and the e-brake (which was the hardest) and still have the sound. So it looks like I will get rear bearing kits. Thanks again for the help, I will respond again when the work is done.

Brian