I got a 1988 GXL in fair shape. It has only 145 km on it. When I got it it was full of carbon, smoked like a bitch-but that seems to be under control for now. The only apparent mod seems to be the exhaust system. the mufflers look like cherry bombs, I haven't seen one like it on any other RX around town or on the net. Anyways back to my problem - There is a whine comming from the rear end of the car that gets progressively louder the faster I go, but when I make tight right hand turns the noise goes away. Has anyone run into this before?

 

It's jut your differential spining. All cars do this. If it is really loud, or sounds clunky, mabye a bad differential.

 

check fluid level in differential

 

Check your right rear wheel bearings. When you are going straight down the road, swerve left then right then left... you should here the noise get louder every time you turn right, and get quieter every time your turn left.

 

How loud is it? Mine is really quiet. I can only hear it above 50 mph, and with my radio off, then it is still really quiet. My g/f thinks I am hearing things.

 

This is backwards. If the right rear wheel bearing is bad, then when you turn right, the noise should go away or get a little less noticeable, and turning left will increase the noise.

I just went through this problem, hunting down a rear end humming noise. This might take a while, but it ends happily .

My descriptions were the exact same as yours, noise would go away on right hand turns.. so that put the problem in the right rear of the car and eliminated the driveshaft since the noise changed pitch with body roll. I jacked up the car and checked the rear wheel bearings by trying to move the wheel with my hands on oppostie sides of the wheel and pushed with one hand and pulled with the other, back and forth. No movement. I searched on here about the humming and found out that wheel bearings seldom go bad, but the passenger half shaft is a regular worn out item. So I bought a used half shaft and installed it on the passenger side, noise still there. Hmmmmm. So, just to be sure, I switched out the drivers shaft with the same result, the noise was still there. So, I jack up the car and check the wheels again. Nothing. Hmmmmmm. I'm getting kinda worried now, since the other two items it could be, wheel bearings and differential, are pretty intense jobs. I found a local rotary mechanic and made an appointment. I got there and he jacked the car up and told me to start it and put it in gear. The humming was gone. WTH???? He looks at the left wheel spinning. He puts his foot against the left wheel and gets it to stop spinning so the power will go to the right wheel. The noise started. As soon as he took his foot off the left wheel, it started spinning and the right wheel stopped in about 3 seconds. He said, there's your problem.... the right side bearing in the differential is bad. So, I've decided to upgrade to an LSD unit, and while I'm at it I went ahead and bought the 5 lug conversion components and upgraded to the GXL brakes. When I'm done with this Saturday night, I'll have a GXL drivetrain, and much much better brakes.

Thanks to Chris Sanders