Grinding my gears

[kaylins]

I've just had my Puma in for repair and had the following replaced

Water pump
Drive Belt
Idle Pulley

The guy who repaired her was a friend of a very good friend of mine and made sure to check everything else over for me just in case anything else needed doing. As far as both him and my friends dad (ex mechanic) are concerned, there was nothing else wrong.

She was driving beautifully until I've noticed a couple of times, only when in lower gears and going slow that a grinding noise appears. It sounds pretty much like when you miss a gear, but gears aren't being missed.

Any ideas?

 

[TGPlayer1]

Possibly a bearing, I know the input shaft bearings go noisy. Mines pretty grumbly but not got too bad. If it makes a noise in neutral with the clutch in then goes away when you press the clutch it's most likely that. If not it could be on the output or even the diff. Have you checked the oil in the gearbox recently?

 

[kaylins]

I'll try and pin point when it happens if/when it does it again.

Apparently they gave it a thorough check over when it was in for repair, including all the oils and said everything looked fine. Will double check with them and give it a look myself, when I say myself I mean my partner as I have no idea what I'm looking for :lol: I'm fairly new to all this car stuff!

Thanks for the advice!

 

[TGPlayer1]

It's a steep learning curve for sure but once you know it, you'll probably only forget it and have to relearn it two times before it sticks :lol:

 

[kaylins]

Haha sounds just like most things!

 

[lusid666]

Could possibly just be the abs self test

 

[kaylins]

Could possibly just be the abs self test

My partner did mention it could be that.

It doesn't happen very often, just something I'm going to have to keep an eye on I guess.

 

[kaylins]

An update to this...

Still no idea what the noise is! It's not the abs as I've noticed this happening when I get to about 14mph after first pulling away and the noise is completely different.

We thought we had it pinned down to what it might have been, we noticed the noise was coming from the back drivers side and whenever the noise appeared I could feel some vibration feedback off the brake pedal. It was originally only doing it in low gears however it started doing it in high gears now as well. We figured it could be something to do with the back drum brakes so we took it back to my mates dad for him to have a look at. He retensioned the handbrake and said that it could be due to the rusting on the drum brakes and the fact the handbrake wasn't tensioned enough could have caused some rubbing which would have caused the noise. Seemed legit!

Was driving around quite happily for 2 to 3 weeks, no sign of the noise and then it started doing it again :-( again she does it intermittently but have noticed it most after parking on a hill or driving around town centres and she only ever does it at slow speeds. I've been trying to get a recording of the noise but it never happens when my partner is ready with his phone to record. Some times it will happen once for about 5 seconds and that's it, other times it's happened about 5 times within a few minutes of each other. There's no performance issue with the car when it happens, she still runs fine and no jerks to indicate that it could be a gear/clutch issue. The disc brakes on the front have also recently been replaced by the previous owner. I have also noticed a ticking coming from the engine when idle, can only be heard if you're outside of the car - I don't know if this is a normal thing for Pumas but thought I'd mention it in case it helps with any diagnostics.

I've only had her since August and I've barely been able to drive her as much as I've wanted to I also still haven't passed my driving test yet as I'm doing the test in my car and can't do it unless I've got this issue sorted. I think I may end up asking the guy at the garage to keep her for a week and use her as his car to see if she makes the noise then.

Any suggestions appreciated, I really need to get this issue resolved!

 

[748]

This is the ABS activating.
You have an intermittent signal from one of the sensors, this can cause the ABS to kick in at low speeds. And it is different to the normal 13 mph self test because it actually operates the ABS pump and you can feel it through the brake pedal.
I had the same issue, turned out to be one of the rear sensors not picking up.
Paul

 

[kaylins]

Thank you for this!!

It's a much louder noise, sounds awful. When I first heard it, it sounded like something was dropping out the back and dragging along the road!

I'll mention it to my mates dad and see what he thinks. Did you manage to solve the issue yourself or take it to a garage? If so, how much would it cost to get it sorted?

 

[748]

It's a much louder noise, sounds awful. When I first heard it, it sounded like something was dropping out the back and dragging along the road!

:? Doubtful this is your ABS :?
Looks like you need a mechanic to drive it and hear it to properly diagnose the problem. Something you said earlier made me think it was your ABS activating when you were braking. Not sure now.
Does the ABS/Traction light on the dashboard come on when you hear the noise?
Paul

 

[kaylins]

I haven't noticed the ABS light if i'm honest. I'll look out for it the next time it happens. Been driving about in her the last couple of days and she's not done it once now I want her to make the noise! Leaving her with my mechanic for a while might be my only option.

 

[Van_Dammesque]

Check to see if it is the bearings: put the car into gear, release the handbrake, jack up the car on one side (repeat the other) and manually spin the wheel, any noise and it sounds like your bearing need replacing.

 

[lusid666]

[post]346036[/post] I also still haven't passed my driving test yet as I'm doing the test in my car and can't do it unless I've got this issue sorted.

You might want to check with DVLA about this. My dad is a driving instructor and part of north yorkshires road safety team and I am sure he was saying DVLA wont let you use a puma for a driving test.

 

[kaylins]

I already have.

I took a drive out to my test Centre and spoke to an examiner (who was the examiner I took my first test with) and she said it was fine to do my test in the puma.

I got no joy from emailing the DVLA they just forwarded me to what it says on their website and ringing them is a bloody nightmare!

 

[kaylins]

[post]346091[/post] Check to see if it is the bearings: put the car into gear, release the handbrake, jack up the car on one side (repeat the other) and manually spin the wheel, any noise and it sounds like your bearing need replacing.

If it was the bearings, wouldn't it make the noise all of the time?

 

[Van_Dammesque]

If it was the bearings, wouldn't it make the noise all of the time?

I found sometimes the noise was only audible at higher speeds, some speeds louder than other (resonances).

 

[kaylins]

[post]346269[/post]
I found sometimes the noise was only audible at higher speeds, some speeds louder than other (resonances).

See, mine is only making the noise at lower speeds but not all of the time. It happened again the other day when my partner was driving it, so I'm glad it's not just me it's happening to. I started to think I might have been doing something wrong!

 

[yippeekiay]

If it's your wheel bearings it 'should' get louder when going round a roundabout or a sweeping tight-ish bend. Mine did and got to a point where they were humming all the time as some idiot screwed the drums so I ended up with new drums and bearings.

Out of interest, it's not simply a loose heat guard underneath? I just be tempted to wiggle and tap everything under the rear with varying degrees and strength of wiggle :lol: