'98 V70 Wheel bearing or axle bearing ?

kcwilliams · Post by **kcwilliams** » 08 Oct 2013, 18:01

Hi everyone,

The FWD base '98 V70 has developed a whine in the front passenger side of the car. The pitch of the whine is speed sensitive and as such I suspect it is a bearing but I'm not certain whether it is the wheel bearing or the axle bearing. Note - the car has a replacement axle on the passenger side that is about 2 years old from one of the advertisers on this site. I imagine the quality of this replacement axle is not as good as the original axle it replaced.

Does a Volvo "just starting to go bad" wheel bearing tend to whine continuously? (My VW front wheel bearings tend to bark i.e. woof each revolution of the axle instead of whine when they are going.) Anyways, maybe someone would have an idea just from a general description of the sound?

Is there any sure fire method of determining which bearing is bad?

Thanks,
Kevin

Post by **rspi** » 08 Oct 2013, 20:26

Bearings don't whine, neither do axles. You likely have an alternator or some other item going bad in there. Pull the serpentine belt and start the car and see if the sound goes away. Does it only make noise when you are moving?

kcwilliams · Post by **kcwilliams** » 08 Oct 2013, 21:29

It only whines when its rolling - the faster i roll the higher pitch the whine is.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 08 Oct 2013, 22:00

kcwilliams wrote:It only whines when its rolling - the faster i roll the higher pitch the whine is.

When coming off the freeway determine if the noise become greater when turning (side loading). If not it's probably not a wheel bearing. Did this appear all of a sudden or has been a progress issue. If you put the car in Neutral while driving (DO THIS ONLY IF YOU THINK YOU WON'T ACCIDENTALLY PUT IT IN REVERSE) does the noise go way. To avoid going into Reverse don't squeeze the trigger on the Shift Lever as it goes between N & D freely. Load a video or sound byte here if possible.

Blessings,

BKM

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