1992 940gl whining noise

[pehoffer]

I have a 92 940 non-turbo sedan with about 270k miles. There is a whining noise starting about 5 mph. It seems to have multiple pitches. It kind of sounds like a pump whine. It does not seem to sound like a rear wheel bearing kind of roar. Here are the things I have tried:

- siphoned and refilled differential. fluid was dark but no metal parts or water that I could see. sound did not change.
- sound does not happen while the car is idling or being revved at rest.
- sound does not change when I rev the engine in neutral while coasting
- sound does not change when I turn one way or the other
- sound does not change under load while accelerating or decelerating, or while coasting in neutral
- sound changes tune depending on car speed but not engine speed. It sounds like there are multiple pitches at the same time. As I speed up or slow down, a new pitch will start before the previous one fades away. Very strange.
- car shifts fine and has normal acceleration
- doesn't change when I turn the car off and coast in neutral.

- I have not checked the condition of the transmission fluid. I will do that tomorrow. I don't know how many miles the transmission has on it. I got it from a junkyard and put it in about 10k miles ago.

Could this be front wheel bearing? carrier bearing? transmission?

Thanks for any help.

Phil

[pehoffer]

Also, I noticed today that the noise is less pronounced with a full tank of gas. It was nearly empty before.

[Swedenbill]

I just bought a 1993 Volvo 940 (own two 960s) and I have a slight whine from the front. Since I always fill the tank because the fuel meter works intermittingly (needs soldering), I notice that a full tank reduces the noise. It is the front wheel bearings. The weight of a full tank takes weight off the front wheels.

Notice: If you have a hanging caliper on a wheel (brake pads are always in contact) then the brake disc/bearings will heat up.That will cook off the bearing grease and cause the wheel bearings to fail. Do the test, after driving some miles carefully feel the hub area for heat. If salt is used on the roads in the Winter then the pads will hang. Good maintenance is to clean the calipers and brake pads every Summer.

Swedenbill

[lummert]

Noise stopped after filling the tank leads me to suspect a fuel pump problem.

[pehoffer]

Thanks Swedenbill. I'll check out the wheel bearings. And thanks for the tip about the hanging calipers. Lummert the fuel pump is fairly new so I hope its not that. It was not fun to replace.