Bearings, Brakes, whining - same old story

Gentlemen,

There seems to be seasonal trends with the P38. Doing extensive research through the threads it seems a few have found the same problems I have but I cant seem to find a definitive answer.

Noticed a increase in driving noise, similar to that of whine but cannot put my finger on it. My diagnosis at the moment stands as being a shot wheel bearing - however I can't identify which one of the four? It doesnt occur until the car has properly warmed up and is most noticeable above 40mph.

I have minor steering wobble at random moments generally 40-50mph.

Sometimes under braking i have heavy shudder, which can be controlled by pumping or pressing progressively harder.

Seems to have a knocking noise (tyre hop?) from the front left wheel on left full lock at slow speed however no visible or unusual wear on the tyres. Noise doesnt change when steering left or right at 30-50mph

VCU? did the one leg cock to check if the wheel spins - yes with a fair bit of effort. No play or movement in any of the wheels however it feels like the pads are touching the calipers when they spin - only lightly which gives a faint rubbing sound? Call me stupid but is this normal or not with ignition of? The wheel has those black greasy spots on them to on the inside- More on the front left - wheel bearing?

Theres the possibiliy of warped discs, however they're fairly new. I have noticed when gradually and gently braking at less than 5mph I can feel the pressure in the brake pedal changing as if the brakes were warped. But diagnosis warped disc or wheel bearing?

Has anyone had experience of OEM discs warping prematurely? And no I don't bury that middle peddle all the time - knowing the weight of the vehicle and the size of the discs!

Flywheel bearing? Noise doesn't dissapate with braking or dipping the clutch. No bush play except for anti-roll links with only slight play.

I tried to provide as much info as possible in the hope of drawing on your expertise. Any hints and tips on what to look for when checking bearing and brakes for failures would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all

aerofabrique said:

Gentlemen,

No play or movement in any of the wheels however it feels like the pads are touching the calipers when they spin - only lightly which

Click to expand...

What I meant was pads touching discs

Sounds like VC seized. But you say it's not. Maybe a constant velocity joint on it's way home. Discs are warped did you run them in or just use them normally. No heavy braking for around 250 miles with new discs or pads.

or CV joint? or all 3!?

Discs fitted before before I brought the vehicle- Grease spots on wheel suggest CV joint? Easy fix? Where can I look at getting a new VCU other than fleabay. Can't see that any of my "main suppliers" have them.

i would remove pads and spin wheel ,if also tied in lock you can check cvs at same time ,modern wheel brgs can often be noisy before play become apparent ftc1507g timken brg £70 ish pattern cheaper at £50 ish but i would use genuine timken if thats needed

aerofabrique said:

Gentlemen,

Sometimes under braking i have heavy shudder, which can be controlled by pumping or pressing progressively harder.


VCU? did the one leg cock to check if the wheel spins - yes with a fair bit of effort. No play or movement in any of the wheels however it feels like the pads are touching the calipers when they spin - only lightly which gives a faint rubbing sound? Call me stupid but is this normal or not with ignition of? The wheel has those black greasy spots on them to on the inside- More on the front left - wheel bearing?

Theres the possibiliy of warped discs, however they're fairly new. I have noticed when gradually and gently braking at less than 5mph I can feel the pressure in the brake pedal changing as if the brakes were warped. But diagnosis warped disc or wheel bearing?

Click to expand...

Mine was doing all of the above. I think the light scraping of the pads when you spin the wheel is normal, but it does make it hard to listen to the bearings!

I had all sorts wrong with mine so I'm not sure my experiences will be any help, but I had warped disks, a knackered wheel bearing and a knackered diff....

My brakes were doing that funny changing in brake pedal pressure thing way before the other symptoms kicked in. I never really worked out why the brake shudder was intermittent on mine, but given all the other problems I don't care now. Is all fixed.

Ashcroft Transmissions do replacement VCUs, but if you can turn your wheel then it sounds like it isn't knackered.

Knocking on full lock could be a CV joint.

It's a right bugger accurately diagnosing any of this though.

Guy

Thanks Guy,

A big help. It's reassuring when others have experienced the exact same symptoms and able to offer their sound advice to make others lives easier! The P38's reaching that age now where most of its compenents reach the end of their useful life, and as you say, it's easier on the wallet if we can diagnose the specifics rather than trial and error!

Im guessing CV joint now also for the knocking and grease spots on the wheel. If I can pinpoint which wheel (s) are the trouble makers I may just do Hub assembly and CV joints and brakes in one swoop.

Thanks again!

aerofabrique said:

Thanks Guy,

A big help. It's reassuring when others have experienced the exact same symptoms and able to offer their sound advice to make others lives easier! The P38's reaching that age now where most of its compenents reach the end of their useful life, and as you say, it's easier on the wallet if we can diagnose the specifics rather than trial and error!

Im guessing CV joint now also for the knocking and grease spots on the wheel. If I can pinpoint which wheel (s) are the trouble makers I may just do Hub assembly and CV joints and brakes in one swoop.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

I ended up replacing the whole axle. My local indie used microphones to identify the problem areas and it turned out to be cheaper to replace the whole thing with a good low mileage one. I'd have preferred to replace the damaged bits with new, but I couldn't even get started on doing it myself.

I have a brand new unused n/s front hub which I won't be using any more if you need one.

Guy