Club 80-90 Forums

I have what can only be described as a 'rumbling' or roughness which just suddenly started when going along, it's like when you're on a rough road surface (like that high grip stuff they put on the road on the run up to roundabouts).

2.1 Petrol 4 speed (was a 1.9 dg) running carb and LPG.

The symptoms are as follows.....

Vibration can be felt through floor and a slight whine/hum.
Increases with speed.
No change whether in gear, in neutral, under load or coasting or even with engine turned off and rolling.

This to me pointed at wheels/bearings/CV joints.

So to date..........

New front wheel bearings (old ones looked fine).
New rear wheel bearings (old ones looked fine). What a terrible job!
All CV joints dissasembled inspected and regreased (all looked fine). What an even more horrible job!!
All tyres inflated to correct pressure and balanced (also swapped around).

Noise and problem still there.

So the question is, what next? Is there anything in the gearbox that could cause this sort of problem? is the gearbox still in the equation when in neutral and coasting (not too hot on gearboxes).

Any help much appreciated as i've been working on this for 3 weeks now and to say i've had enough would be an understatement!

Cheers Shep.

turn the music up in the cab


if it is CV joints they normally get worse under load and the noise disappears if coasting, also the whole vans rear end shakes when the cv joints are knocking?

I assume you have not fixed something else which has made this sound / sensation now the loudest?

No, this came on suddenly on the way back from a camping trip so nothing fixed before problem started.

Thinking about it..... diff support bearings perhaps, gearbox mainshaft bearings?, on the front....speedo cable? speedo head? or a tyre fault? are you using M+S tyres?
Martin

Can you feel it through the clutch pedal Paul or if you hold the gearlever ? Does it make any difference round tight bends or on full lock ? Have you fitted owt new underneath ? Silencer ?

Ian

Haven't tried holding gear lever or clutch pedal, and not noticed on bends.

No new exhaust bits and problem still there when engine off and rolling.

are the brakes ok ? check the front disc covers and the rear plates

Brakes and calipers were new about 3yrs ago, front disc covers are pretty shot but not bad enough to foul the discs, the rear back plates were a bit ropey but i've welded those up and are now solid.

I still can't help thinking it's gearbox related but it would be nice to eliminate everything else first.

Cheers for all the suggestions so far.

A bit more to work on.

jack it up and spin each wheel in turn ,see if you can hear owt

Thanks everyone, i'll let you know if i find anything.

shep

this is a schematic from Vag cat

as you can see there's a diff bearing, maybe Aiden could enlighten us as to it's noise when busted
click on the image and use the zoom facility

if in doubt about the gearbox then drop the oil and see what the drain plug has to tell us, if it's heavy with deposits then pinion bearing is worn, any debris will indicate something else, maybe a combination of things
When was the oil last changed ?
if you don't know then it should be done anyway - that applies to everyone - then I recommend 2/3 years 20k minimum change, these boxes were no oil change for design life, which was 100k miles, 10 years, most are now running 20 year old grinding paste with little lubricant qualities
a rumble in all motion states regardless of clutch suggests pinion bearing to me, with a whine definately

gsf semi synthetic Fuchs Titan 98048A 4 litres about £20
or any good GL4 spec 75w/90 or 80w/90 gear oil

Cheers for replies, spoke to Aiden having a look at oil later today.

shepster wrote:Cheers for replies, spoke to Aiden having a look at oil later today.

Good luck

Update..........................