Which wheel has the bad bearing?
 

My car is making the bearing woop woop noise which stops when cornering. I thought for sure that it was coming from the rear so I jacked the rear and started removing the brake but got stuck on a 14 mm screw. So I double checked my earlier diagnostics and now I'm not so sure that that rear bearing is bad....???

Anyone know what a bad bearing feels like in the rear?

Should I not be able to 'steer' the wheel with the bad bearing???

Try jacking up the whole rear end so both wheels are off the ground. Spin one, then spin the other. Compare. You should be able to hear/feel the difference. You can also try and determine if its the front wheels the same way. Also, try grabbing the wheel at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions and wiggling it up/down, then try the same at 3 and 9 and wiggle left to right. This is checking for play in the bearings, excessive of which will cause premature failure. IMO, you should replace both at the same time anyway on an older car. If one is going out, the other is probably on its way.

~T.J.

I have the rear on jackstands and will check again. Both side felt the same yesterday though.

I guess I'll raise the front and do the same.

I buttoned it all back together and ran it while the rear was off the ground. There seems to be a rattle in the rear. The drive shaft is not vibrating and neither are the wheels. Maybe diff gears...?

Both rear wheels do not have any play so the bearings must be good.

After that, I wanted to back the car in the driveway and lift the front up so I took it around the block and the woop woop noise disappeared.

Could it have been a loose lug nut???

I checked the other 3 wheels and cranked the nuts an extra 1/8 of a turn, nice and tight.

I don't believe in stuff self repairing so I guess I'll wait until the noise reappears to look again.

While the car is on jack stands, engine running and in 4th gear. Carefully get under the car and with a long screwdriver or rod, put the fat end in your ear and the thin end on the rear in the location of the out board bearings. Also, on the front pinion bearing and finally on the rear of the diff housing. The bad bearing should be the loudest position. Be very careful of moving tires, and the drive shaft.

RXDad

I'm not getting under the car with the engine running and in gear, unless the car is supported by two 4x4 running the width of the car and sitting on some nice beefy cinder blocks. Oh heck, that's not going to be high enough. I'd have to remove the tires too, for better access.

Man, that's too scary for me to do on my driveway.

But if I went and rented one of those full garages with the hoist,....

Have you ever done that???

1/8 turn is not what I would call a proper torque for the lug bolts. If that did solve your noise, and you don't have a torque wrench, take it to a tire shop and have all 4 wheels done proper. 65-87 ft/lbs is the spec, I usually go 85.

The problem is I took the wheel off, looked for a problem, found nothing, put the wheel back on and the problem stopped.

So remembering people on this forum discussing loosing a wheel and hearing noises just before I thought that, that was the problem.

After taking the car for a spin I thought to check the other wheels and found that they were not as tight as I usually put them on. I'm using an 18 inch breaker bar with a deep socket.

But now that I have a torque figure to shoot for I'll get the wrench out and see where I'm sitting at.