Car suddenly very loud but no rpm increase?

[ecchristian]

I have a 03 vibe with 146k miles

Hey so I have posted recently about increase rpm when idling and what felt like the car catching when it would try to shift between 2k and 3k rpms on the highway. This issue is still happening and some had suggested that I had a vacuum leak from my intake manifold. It now seems to have become a bigger issue?

So today nothing changed however when I was driving on the highway all of a sudden my car starting being extra loud from the engine bay, it sounded like the car had slipped into neutral and I was revving it up but I was still just around 2500 rpms. I was close to home so I just coasted back home going a bit slower and I noticed it would completely get quiet when braking at a red light but the faster I’d go the louder it would be but it wouldn’t change my rpms at all. No check engine lights on etc.

I’m curious if anyone has had this issue and knows if it’s related to the vacuum leak or if this is something with my exhaust that just happened to break?

[ecchristian]

It sounds very similar to the noise at the end of this video but I have already had my front wheel bearings changed twice now in the last 15k miles. First mechanic must have had bad parts or something and then second mechanic installed new ones maybe 6 months back. Is there really a possibility that they’ve gone bad again?

https://youtu.be/xwfeKEXkpeo

[SeattleJeremy]

it would completely get quiet when braking at a red light but the faster I’d go the louder it would be

This is the description of a wheel bearing failure. This is an easy fix for any mechanic. They will put the car on the lift, and turn each wheel by hand, and it's easy to hear the crunchiness.
A rear one went out on my car and I purchased "POWER STOP 512217" from Rockauto, it worked great. The front one needs to be pressed out of the wheel hub, and a new one pressed back in.

[ecchristian]

Do you have any idea how long it is safe to drive on one for? I won’t be able to fix it for a couple days but still have to go to work

[SeattleJeremy]

Mine wasn't too loud when I changed the bearing. My Mom's Geo Metro was quite loud by the time we changed it, she had been driving (around town, never freeway) for a week or two.

After driving the car, carefully put your hand on the middle of each wheel. The warm/hot one will need to be changed. Order that one, and scheduled some time to do it. Really, the sooner the better.

Edit: did a quick search found this link... like I said the sooner the better.
https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/is ... aring-gone

[zbyers]

If indeed the bearing, I'd recommend doing it sooner than later. It's not overly difficult, but does require a bearing press. Cheapest option is generally to buy the bearing, remove spindle/hub from car, and have a shop press the old bearing in and out. I think a local shop charged us around $40 to press it in and out