white96supreme Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Ok, I've had a noise coming from the front of my cutlass for a while and now it seems to be getting worse. It started off sounding like a rattle when going around a right hand corner at 25 mph on the right front side. Now that sound is coming from the left side now along with vibration coming through the floor. It's really bad when going in reverse and turning the wheels either way. I've jacked up the front end and checked wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rods, and the struts, basically performing a safety inspection on th front end. I have also checked the cv axles and they do have vertical play on both sides. Could this be the noise source? It seems ok at highway speeds (65-70 mph) but seems more intense at 55mph or slower. It does make a pop sound when going from reverse to drive if that helps out any. I know it needs motor/trans mounts also, just haven't had the motivation to replace them yet. Sorry for being so long winded, but I hope it's enough info to possibly pinpoint my noise source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l67ss Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Be a good starting point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Bad CV are usually worst sounding in a turn, Wheel bearings sound a bit like a plane taking off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderw31 Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Play in the CV joints is not a good thing; from your description it sounds like they need replacing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white96supreme Posted February 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Are the Cardone ones on Rockauto any good? They're $45 a piece without a core charge. I might as well do the ball joints while I'm in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 They're probably exactly the same as the china specials that come from the chain parts stores. My Chinas are of the Autozone generic family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelliott Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Make sure you buy a brand new axle and not a rebuilt. If you go to Autozone or Advance (maybe the Cardones at Rockauto too), they're probably rebuilt if they're $45. Spend the extra couple bucks and get brand new. When I bought new ones for my Talon, I ordered them from O'Reilly's and I believe they were $60 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l67ss Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Go ac delco if go new ive had a LOT of bad luck with the house brand cvs, inferior quality. If you can swing delcos thas your best bet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Autozone and Advance house brands don't appear to be remans, the tripods and tulips are significantly smaller. I became somewhat of a CV connoisseur when I did my HD swap. Been meaning to post compare pics with measurements when I get a chance to set my leftover pieces up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelliott Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 It looks like they do carry new axles but they also do carry reman'd units too so just be careful what you choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white96supreme Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Thanks for all of the replies, this damn car is going to nickel and dime me. Now it seems to have developed a hesitation when accelerating from a stop, but doesn't do it all of the time after its a operation temp. Might be time for a tune-up as well. It never ends!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 My Father in law is a Dick, in 15 years the only useful thing he's had to say is "you always have a car payment, it's just the type of payment that changes". I follow this rambling to justify repairs on our cars. Assuming you own this car outright . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelliott Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 My Father in law is a Dick, in 15 years the only useful thing he's had to say is "you always have a car payment, it's just the type of payment that changes". I follow this rambling to justify repairs on our cars. Assuming you own this car outright . Â It's true. You could pay $200-250/month for a newer vehicle that still has the chance to catastrophically fail on you. Or just spend some money every few months on repairs and come out ahead. Â The biggest issue is how much downtime you have because of repairs. I currently own three vehicles right now so, if one fails, I just grab the keys to another and repair the broken one when I have time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white96supreme Posted March 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 I own the vehicle, so no payments. My problem is that most of my tools are at work, so that's where I have to do any major repairs. That also means that I have to complete the entire job so I can get home. Almost had that problem when I did the front struts, one kit was missing the retaining nut for the cartridge, but was lucky enough to find another at a different store. I know, I need to keep it going, but I also don't want to sink a crap ton on money on it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Autozone sells A1 which is remanned, Oreilly sells A1 also, but we also have new (oreilly), not sure who actually makes our new ones though as they are under a house label Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 I've never even seen an Oreilly parts store with my own two eyes, one more reason to go to the Toledo meet this summer, lol. Oddly enough we have commercials here frequently for them. Another is Chile's, we don't have one anywhere close but the food sounds great on the radio. Must be done by the same oblivious marketing firm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelliott Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 I've never seen an O'Reilly's either but I was able to order the axles online so that was a plus. Â And in regards to Chili's (yeah, it's spelled that way), it's really not that impressive. Â When I lived in PA, we had the same marketing with Sonic. Closest one was hours away. Different than Chili's though. Their food is actually really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white96supreme Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Ok, so I haven't changed the cv's yet, I did however replace a horrible motor mount and did a tune up. That's why I did the motor mount. That alone made a huge difference in how the car feels, but the rattling is still there. Should I be able to grab the axle shaft and slide it in and out of the cv boots with the weight off of the left wheel, common sense tells me no? I can move it up, down, forward and back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Shaw Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) i believe you can actually pull the the axle out of the CV joints even new. I remember i had this happen on a buddies 626 with new axles while replacing. you shouldnt feel any up and down or horizontal slop when you grab the axle shaft. When i mean horizontal i mean pushing the axle shaft towards the front and rear of the vehicle.. I usually just grap the shaft and shack it different direction to get an idea weather i need to replace or not. Honestly I would say they need replacing. On a side note a little trick we learned in shop tech was if you it makes noise when turning to the left its usually the right side axle shaft, turning right, its the left. Edited March 11, 2014 by Joshua Shaw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white96supreme Posted March 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 I finally replaced the left cv axle this past weekend. I ordered one through carquest on Friday and picked it up Saturday morning. Got everything pulled apart and noticed that the new axle has no abs tone ring, so I had to return the part and locate the correct one. Found one at Oreilly's luckily. I replaced the ball joint (had EXCESSIVE play) with a Raybestos ball joint. The noise isn't as bad, but still has some noise from the drivers seat, but can't be heard outside. This thing is driving me nuts. Any other ideas? Hub bearing(s)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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