Just had a drive in my brother's mx5, which has a noisy bearing. I'm trying to identify where the noise is coming from, it sounds as if it's coming from the front left wheel bearing.

Have jacked the car up and spun all the wheels indepentantly, but I'm not convinced it's coming from the wheel bearings. I'm now thinking of rear gearbox bearing,diff: mounting bearing, or rear diff:

Anyone familiar with these cars, and are they prone to bearing noises? I'll have a better look tomorrow.

what mk of mx5, im sure the latest version is common to have diff failure....

Hmm..That's interesting, I'm not sure of the vintage 54 or 55 plate? I'll check...it's got the six speed gearbox.

I'm sure many have lsd as standard as well, at least the mk2 did from memory. Not sure if this could be relevant to what the problem could be, maybe have a browse on the owners forum for advice.

A good tip I was given recently for detecting wheel bearing faults (which I hadn't tried before and it works....) is to jack the car up and spin the wheel but put a hand on the strut body. If you can feel a 'thrum' from the strut chances are the bearing is on the way.
Saw this being done on (of all things) an Alfa 147 at the dealers in Inverness. I tried my conventional method on the same wheel (roll wheel, push and pull wheel and feel for 'give') and felt nowt.
Tried the 'new' method and there was a slight thrum, I thought it would be wheel balance but they stripped the bearing out there and then so I could see and the bearing was indeed badly marked and on its way out.

Useful tip.

The hassle is it could be so many things and speculating/long range diagnosis is always 'tricky'. It could be a CV joint, to test for a CV joint find a nice quiet space and get the wheel hard over on one lock and bung the car in 1st gear. If there's a continuous ticking/clunking noise on one lock which changes on the other lock then it could be a CV joint on the way out. Unless a wheel bearing is really properly shagged the noise can only come from a CV joint as you'll be moving too slowly for it to be a bearing.

A chap who works in the same building as me has an MX5 and has grumbled about the brakes making weird noises and knackered exhaust mounts making him think the 'box was on the way out. Worth checking.

I'm now out of ideas :fie:

H

Right then...Had a better look today, this time taking the pads out of the caliper so as brake noises won't mask the offending noisy bearing, and spining the hub. It was quite apparent that the front left bearing was noisy. Down at the local motor factors..."No problem get one in for 11:30". Usually when parts are readily available, means that they are prone to failing!

Anyway part comes as a complete hub unit with bearing and abs ring included (£124) Job was completed in 3/4 hour. Has anyone else noticed that the bolt fixings on Japanese cars are weird!! They tend to use the hex size of 14mm on bolts of M8 or M10. whilst this is ok for M8, when it comes to M10 and especially corroded suspension fixings, you just don't seem to get the required torque. Crazy but true!!

I agree, jap does even sizes 12,14 sockets mixes with 17 and 19 ....

IS all like that in the civic M10 with 14 heads~~ snappy happy

Ming

I'm still in negotiations with the old dear over her MX5, there is a noise from the back, but then you dont hear it with the roof down!

Glad you found the cause though, This still wont put me off getting one tbh, great little motors and great fun to drive.

Yeah..my brother was convinced that the noise was coming from the rear, but on the test drive loading and unloading the bearing by turning left then right, there was a slight difference in the noise. Which pointed me in the direction that I had suspected.

It is very hard to argue against getting a MX5 as a convertable, as they are so good. But...I was very surprised with the amount of rust on the car...sills, arches, and underneath. It was, by no means sinister at this stage, but I was surpriesd nonetheless.

P.S.....The Spider's better!

Have seen a fair few Jap cars, late 90's/early 00's with that sort of rust - more so on imports that haven't been protected for Scotland's winter roads. s13/14 200sx's are notorious for needing sills welded because of it for example. Think they just need waxoiled to within an inch of their life and perhaps left off the salt ridden winter roads as much as possible to reduce the chances of it happening.

Having said that, my '53 Stilo has a few rust spots - on the passenger sill, small bit on the door, around the rear number plate light assembly and on the corners of the boot as well as a few other patches. Considering one of the selling points of it was the galvanised body, it's not great though some of the rust is down to lacquer peel - another feature of modern cars. Mind you, I've seen a fair few Fords from the same era in a worse state.

remember seeing a 2005 mazda 6 with rust you wouldn't believe in Perth a few months back

too widespread to even have been botched accident damage repairs

did we not see another mazda 6 round these parts that had the rust on it mark bloody jap cars and rust im gonna have to get some sort of armed gaurd for my jap car to keep the rust away

there was a bloke in dundee who had a turbo mx5 it was nuts

Well I totally agree, Coz the old boys mx5 has rusty sills and may need to sand them soon and putty them up with something to get it through it's next MOT, but what a lovely wee car!! N plate mk1, And only a 1.6, but I love driving it Coz it makes my feel 12 yrs old again! Lol

In case you can't tell I've fallen head over heels over it!! Lol

The old boy has said he will sell it to me for 550! roll on the end of next month!!

abyss113 said:

did we not see another mazda 6 round these parts that had the rust on it mark bloody jap cars and rust im gonna have to get some sort of armed gaurd for my jap car to keep the rust away

Click to expand...

aye, says alot about the rustproofing on the 6's :laugh:

i found a new leak on the sol....back window panel, sounds like theres a swimming pool in the boot even though the boot is dry

steve119 said:

Well I totally agree, Coz the old boys mx5 has rusty sills and may need to sand them soon and putty them up with something to get it through it's next MOT, but what a lovely wee car!! N plate mk1, And only a 1.6, but I love driving it Coz it makes my feel 12 yrs old again! Lol

In case you can't tell I've fallen head over heels over it!! Lol

The old boy has said he will sell it to me for 550! roll on the end of next month!!

Click to expand...

Don't sell Bumbleebee Steve, you'll only regret it....

Andi, I've absolutely have no intentions of selling the bumblebee, I need the derv to get me back and forth to work!

This would defo be a weekend car for me!!:man_in_love:

I had an A reg nissan sunny as my first car, good engine, and would of gone forever more had the doors not become totally rotten!


The joys of Jap motoring eh?

An MX-5 is on my hypothetical list too. Never had the privilege of driving one yet, but my mate Ally's Mrs had one before it got written off. Was an absolute blast even from the passenger seat. That engine sounded amazing even just with a Typhoon kit on it