how good are you at diagnosing a problem?? - Page 2

Scott · 06-11-2007, 10:18 AM

If it is that life threatening then why not tell the good folk of AFF so that no-one dies before you save their lives?

my guess - brake caliper

**ebxr8240** · 06-11-2007, 10:23 AM

Could be anything from loose wheel bearings to stone caught in rotor on brakes...

XR06T · 06-11-2007, 10:56 AM

rear diff bush is my guess.

DayTE · 06-11-2007, 11:27 AM

Most things I'd guess are probably here, but with out hearing it which helps me a lot in diagnosing where the sound is coming from, I'd probably start
1 Wheels Nuts/Tyres as well while there (delamination, bubbles etc)
2 CV's or drive shaft bearing or connection to the diff
3 Diff mount
4 Brake's

But with what you saying I'm wondering if it's not further up the car and the sound is transmitting backwards. ie Gearbox/engine mounts etc.

But my way of diagnosing I usually try to start with the simpilist things first. Intrigued to know now!

cuz · 06-11-2007, 12:06 PM

Have you checked the air in your tyres?
Maybe your battery is flat?

Cheech & Chong

Neeek · 06-11-2007, 12:09 PM

I'll go with buggered CV joint(s) or stripped wheelnuts.

Although my first "gut" reaction was wheel bearing...

||| · 06-11-2007, 01:05 PM

empty stubby in the centre console

Kryton · 06-11-2007, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |||

empty stubby in the centre console

nah, i already did

tapeworm · 06-11-2007, 01:33 PM

[QUOTE=The Robot Devil]You ran over Neil Crompton yet he's still banging on about the Watt's linkage?

Haha hilarious...Crompo would have this little problem diagnosed in a flash~

Um, tailshaft is about to drop out? ,lol.

superroo · 06-11-2007, 02:29 PM

I'm going to be different and say improperly balanced front tyres. Maybe due to the wheel weights falling off.
Or something in the front end was left loose by the tyre joint.

Cheers

AWD Chaser · 06-11-2007, 04:02 PM

Sounds like your CV joints in the shaft, or could be your diff... Sounds very much like an LSD issue if you have one...

If it's not the drive train, I would say loose brake disc...

Kryton · 06-11-2007, 07:42 PM

the answer is..................................
ALL passenger side wheel nuts were all loose.
they were so loose infact that the tightest nut on either rim was finger tight.
many wheel nuts i could do up a FULL turn before they even touched the rim.
spoke to the tyre shop today about it and they checked both rims and hubs for damage. luckily there was no damage at all.
they apologised and explained how they use the rattle gun to tighten them and then check them by hand.
i watched them do this when they put the rims back on and the rattle gun alone provided enough torque to do the nuts up properly. using the tyre iron (whatever you want to call it) after the rattle gun got maybe 2-3mm extra of a turn on each nut.
so, unlike others, im not putting the tyre shop at fault here, im suspecting worn wheel nuts that may need thread lock or replacing. i havent had the wheel off at all since ive had the car so ill watch it over the next few days.

congrats to all that got the problem diagnosed correctly!

jason_85 · 06-11-2007, 07:53 PM

geez

in all honestly i dont think wheel nuts would wear..... especially all of one side. they shouldnt wear if they were tight in the first place

at least ur ok

Kryton · 06-11-2007, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason_85

geez

in all honestly i dont think wheel nuts would wear..... especially all of one side. they shouldnt wear if they were tight in the first place

at least ur ok

this only started happening 2 days after and progressively got worse.
i dont see how wheel nuts can wear either BUT like i said though, i stood there today and watched them put the wheels back on. they used the rattle gun and that would be enough to hold any wheel.
the only other possibility is someone has deliberately loosened them off at some point.

imagine what i felt when i found them loose. i had literally only just got home from work which is a 30km drive @ 100kmh (plus the drive to get there that morning).
things you DONT need to know especially when you know what could have been.

[dave] · 06-11-2007, 08:12 PM

do u park on the street or where your car and be easyily gotten too.

some1 might of started to steel your mags got scared and ran

Yellow_Festiva · 06-11-2007, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Loose wheel nuts causing play between the wheel and the rotor?

Hole in one

:

nb_351 · 06-11-2007, 08:25 PM

had a problem with this at work last week...
i started doing wheel balances on a car and got caled off the job, smoeone else put the wheels back on after i balanced them... came back after 3 days with a knock, getting worse progressively...
it was on a falcon aswell...
youll probably find they did them up, and the rim wasnt located on the hub properly... but they were still tight at the time... and worked themselves loose every revolution...
the main cause of this is hub rust, which evidently falcons suffer chronically... so do commodores mind you...
so there you go, if i read this post today i would have written that...
and i find it hard to believe they do that process to every car, they probably only did it cause you were watching...

1970galaxie · 06-11-2007, 08:34 PM

And my philosophy has always been to never trust a rattle gun, and check the nuts yourself.
I bought some new wheels for my XR8 a few months ago, and took them home and put them on myself.

A medal for Yellow Festiva!

dave351cid · 06-11-2007, 08:40 PM

i would have found it on my way in deeper.

AUXRVIII · 06-11-2007, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davway

this only started happening 2 days after and progressively got worse.
i dont see how wheel nuts can wear either BUT like i said though, i stood there today and watched them put the wheels back on. they used the rattle gun and that would be enough to hold any wheel.
the only other possibility is someone has deliberately loosened them off at some point.

imagine what i felt when i found them loose. i had literally only just got home from work which is a 30km drive @ 100kmh (plus the drive to get there that morning).
things you DONT need to know especially when you know what could have been.

Rattle gun will only do the nuts up tight if it has sufficient air pressure in the line.
Other factors will also include what setting the rattle gun is on? Was a torque stick used on a gun which is on it's way out? If it has a variable trigger and was the trigger fully depressed?
I have a BluePoint gun which has a variable trigger and 3 forward settings and I bet you would have no idea what setting it was on when i used it or if the trigger was fully depressed. I still check all wheel nuts by hand after using the same gun for almost 10 years and sometimes surprised at the variation from one wheel to another when all felt like they had the same tension.

Nostalgia · 06-11-2007, 09:03 PM

Maybe the workshop had a problem with their compressor and were running low air pressure !!!

Yellow_Festiva · 06-11-2007, 09:12 PM

These rattle guns can be hit and miss at times.

I have never had personal experience with them not tightening up nuts enough as I always do a once over of my car after any mechanic has touched the car.

But I have had the experience where they have been done up too tight! Every time I have a service or wheel / tyre / brake work done I ask them to not do things up too tight caus I end up having to use a 6 foot steel bar (for leverage) on the end of the tyre iron at home when doing a rotation.

I used to have a 59 Bugeye, and warned the fellas at the front desk of Bob Jane to either put the gun on a very light setting when doing up the nuts while getting new rubber or do up the nuts by hand. The studs were very prone to shearing off.

Naturally, they didn't pass on the message. (they knew better) Got told 1 of the nuts were sheared off. Then as I was walking out to the car, I was watching the guy do up the other wheel. Did up all the nuts, then went around the rim again, then proceeded to have a 3rd go, as if the wheel wasnt on tight already.

2 more fell off in front of me. I went off at the guy for going over the same nuts 3 times.

Couldnt drive the car home now. And refused to pay for the tyres or the new studs seeing as they didn't listen to my warning...

They ended up rolling the car to the workshop next door and replaced all the sheared studs for me free.

Never a dull moment ay!

redisg00d · 06-11-2007, 09:20 PM

had the same thing with my parteners shirty charade today. i changed the bearing 1week ago he rang to day to say it banging etc.. if he had let me tighten the wheel nuts they would have been done propely never trust any one including the one you love

jason_85 · 06-11-2007, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [dave]

do u park on the street or where your car and be easyily gotten too.

some1 might of started to steel your mags got scared and ran

hahaha good point .... but i think he may have noticed the fact it was sitting up on some jacks!

**aussiblue** · 06-11-2007, 10:14 PM

Possibly tread seperation on one of the new tyres - it is rare but it happens.

broken_suave · 07-11-2007, 04:16 AM

The very same thing happened to my friend about a week ago. VS Commodore, just had new front tyres put on (and the old fronts put on the rear) and that very night, there was a faint tapping, almost scratching sound in the car. Sounded just like there was a stone caught in the tread. Next night, it was the same, until exiting a servo, then it started sounding really bad. We were running late, so I just jumped out for a quick look, and there was nothing hanging off the car. Carefully drove the rest of the way at 50km/h and it was getting worse as we drove, fine under accelleration, crappy when coasting, and terrible when breaking. It was starting to sound like a wheel bearing. After work we jacked it up, eventually pryed off the shitty holden wheel trims, and found 1 nut barely sitting on the hub, 2 nuts able to be turned by a new born, one nut tight-ish (was able to loosen it by simply resting my hand on the wheel brace) and only one nut done up tightly. We were both bloody shocked that it was still on the hub. I thought I might just check the wheel just in case. Good thing I did, the wheel was completely shagged. Sat it on the studs, tried to push it against the hub, but it just rocked, wouldnt sit even close to flat. Pulled out the spare, slipped on no troubles and sat snugly against the hub, did up the nuts, we drove home.
Apparently he went to a JAX quickfit centre. Anyone had any troubles with them before? Anyway, he went back the next monday, and they tested the wheel and admitted it was shagged, replaced the wheel, even replaced it with a new tyre.
I had to test the nuts the next day, just to be sure.

Eu-GenixX · 07-11-2007, 09:22 AM

why would you continue driving at high speed when the problem is getting worse..?? you suspected a wheel nut.. but didn't check it?

i'd say they only went around by hand coz you were watching them... i'd be blaming the tyre shop for sure... i'd also go with the fact the nuts weren't located in the holes properly.... i know my au.. the nuts are convexed shaped on the ends.. so need to be located in the centre of the hole.. or they will not hold properly... if the nuts were off centre... they would work loose as the wheel corrects itself....

i still think you should not have made a game of this.. and told ppl straight away what the problem was... it could have saved someone.. as you pointed out in your origial post about being life threatening... yet you make ppl wait a day or so before giving reasons..

either way.. glad your car is ok now... and nothing bad happened...

just my 2 cents...

Tealglow · 07-11-2007, 10:06 AM

Many years ago I had some custom steel wheels made for my MkII Escort

They were drilled for MkI Studs with a tapered nut & would not fit.
The manufatured reamed out the holes so they would fit and all was supposedly well.

I put the new rims and tyre on and drove about 100km & parked it.

Went to drive away some time later and heard a rattling on the front wheels.
Found all wheel nuts loose on the front & rear.
Cursed the potential thieving freaks and prided myself on catching them in the act.

Driving a bit further same rattle - wheel nuts loose again!

It turns out that the reduction in taper on the wheel was insufficient to engage the taper of the nut and provide a locking force.

A year or so later I worked for a alloy wheel manufacturer as a design/test engineer and one task I had was to investigate the wheel stud taper and engagement with the wheel.

Every tapered nut was bowed or rounded on the taper and only provided a small knife-edge contact area.

In alloy wheels this is less pronounced as the alloy material will deform around the nut and provide greater contact area, but it will not happen with steel.

yift · 07-11-2007, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitelightening

Couldn't have put it better myself !!
Worn wheel nuts??? Are you kidding me? How the hell would they wear?
they are either tight or loose, thats all.
Mate, seriously, buy yourself a bicycle before you kill yourself or someone else please!

sorry mr ba xr8 who doesnt think wheel nuts wear, oviously you dont know from clay about anything mechanical. i get at least 5 ba's a month coming through my workshop doors for new wheel nuts and sometimes studs. BA FLACONS! so before you start bagging someone who posted a simple and honest question why dont you find out some facts about wear and tear on mechanical parts on a vehicle. wheel nuts and studs do wear wether its in 20,000km or 2 million kilometers, some cars wear them faster than others. i had a camry with 15,000km on the clock today for new studs and nuts on all wheels because they were worn. rattle guns destroy wheel nuts, because kicker tyre fitters and mechanics tighten them up at too high of a torque setting and the nuts/studs flare, that is why we are now meant to use torque sticks calibrated to one setting of the rattle gun for consistency. same reason why e series, camry/corolla, te on magnas and other vehicles with fuel filters that have nuts holding onto the fuel lines are dogs to get off and its all to do with over tightening.

as for t2te50 grow up! what the hell are we doing on these forums? are we here to bag everyone or ask a question and get an answer? your attitude sounds more suited to a prius forum!

Kryton · 07-11-2007, 09:02 PM

some peoples attitude here leaves a lot to be desired.
funnily enough, it is yet again the 'newer' know all crowd.

as for those that are asking why i kept driving the car when i 'suspected' wheel nuts..... i didnt suspect my wheels were loose or i would have checked them straight away.
at the time the problem was intermittent but rapidly grew worse on the way to and from work.
yes, in hind sight maybe i should have checked them earlier, but if you happened to read my first post, i was thinking of other causes at the time.
anyway, i could give 2 sh!ts what the few in this thread think.