new mystery noise

[joatmon]

Over the last month or two, I have been noticing a noise. Kind of a growling. Sometimes it seems to be a stready howl, other times it seems to whirr a bit. This whirring is of great concern, since it sort of reminds me of the sound the tranny made when the bearings went bad, and at the time I said that if I had another tranny go bad I'd get rid of the car, and I really don't want to do that. Also reminds me of the sound a different car of mine made when one of the rear wheel bearings went bad and disappeared in a few miles and almost caused a rear wheel to fly off. So I have been obsessing about the noise, and trying all kinds of things to narrow down when the noise happens.It only happens when I am moving, speeds between 30 and 60 mph or so. It doesn't matter what gear I am in, of whther the clutch is in or out, or if the engine is runing or not (yes, I have shut of the engine at highway speeds to see if there was any change in the noise)The tires have high mileage on them, and although I plan to replace them soon, there is still plenty of tread on them. The noise does not seem to vary with speed, it is the same sound regardless of speed, although it does seem to be louder at higher speeds.THe sound does not seem to be affected by road surface, dry or wet pavement, driving with the wheels on one side on the road paint stripe. Doesn't seem to be affected by going straight or hard turns. No sound at low speeds.hard to locate a sound, but it seems to be coming from the back half of the car, perhaps the passenger side., lowSome days it is really noticeable, other days it doesn't happen at all. Somedays I wonder if the car will hold together long enough for me to get where I am going, other days it seems perfectly fine.After a long drive, I feel all of the wheels, none of them seem to be overly hot.2003 base vibe 5 speed 150K milesI am pretty sure I know what the problem is, but wanted to see who'd be the first to guess the cause.

[JohnC]

I would guess the noise is coming from your tires, my perili p3000's started doing the same thing after 30k miles on them. I can't wait till they are fully worn out so I can get rid of the noise. Mine comes and goes at speeds over 50 mph and the road surface doesn't seem to make any difference.

[ragingfish]

Stellar troubleshooting joat!Your service advisors must love you. My initial instinct was something with the exhaust manifold...right before I traded the Vibe I had issues with a growling/rattling from the engine area, they replaced the exhaust system, the exhaust manifold, and a whole bunch of other things, but were never able to actually resolve the issue.BUT...since you said the issue is present regardless of engine status (on/off), then that kinda squashes that theory.Only other thing I can think of is maybe a loose heat shield somewhere? I would think that at higher speeds the wind patterns under the car could cause a loose heat shield to rattle (I had also experienced a loose heat shield around the area of the cat converter at one point, it would rattle at high speeds or on bumps only), and even if you turn the engine off, the wind patterns underneath are the same, and the rattle/growl would still be present.Just a thought...

[Digger]

Even with the clutch in and the engine off everything up to the clutch is still moving. Does the sound have a location. If you rotate the tire will the noise move? My OEM tire noise changes when I rotate them and they are worm also.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by JohnC »I would guess the noise is coming from your tires, yes, it was the tires. The sound was so much like when the tranny went, I was pretty worried, but new tires = no howl, so I'm happy ( and somewhat poorer)