Since Gerrard is currently enjoying a holiday in my old mum's garage whilst I sort out the Body Control Module problem that's preventing the headlamps from working (MOT won't pass)... I have managed to ponce my sister's Renoort Megane as a temporary run-around even though (in her words) "it makes a bit of a noise".

True enough, the beast was making a terrific din - from what sounded like the o/s front driveshaft area.

I replaced the wheel bearing, since they are just a tenner and I had also just bought a wheel bearing fitting tool which I wanted to try out.. and that reduced the noise by about 30%..... but the beast is still half rumbling, half howling from the back of the gearbox/differential.

I'm not sure whether this could be one of the inner CV joints or the diff'.

Is there a good way to test the CVs to work out which one it is (or whether it's the diff)?

From memory the o/s inner CV is a JTD-like cup with a tripoid doodah inside it, whereas the nearside one looks different - just the CV boot bolted to the diff' with the driveshaft attached to it.

Ta,


Ralf S.

You should get some indication of CV condition by jacking the wheel off the ground and rotating back and forth. Look for play in the driveshaft.

How hilly billy do you want to be?

The car is most likely to have an open diff, i.e. not limited slip. You can do this one of two ways.

Jack the entire front end (assuming front wheel drive) off the ground. Chock one wheel to prevent it from spinning. Stick the car in 1st and let the clutch out slowly. Assuming it is an open diff the wheel in free air will spin.

Or just jack one side up so that one wheel is in free air and the other still on the black top. Works just the same.

I've done it before, although it is a bit bodge it does work. Of course if it all goes wrong the picture you get to draw on the insurance claim form will be an utter masterpiece.

You know the risks - proceed with caution.

Drive shafts, particularly the outer CV, will usually 'tell' themselves on cornering. If they're really failing you can get hold of them and rattle them about. Some lateral push pull is to be expected but no up or downy-ness.

A visual inspection of the CV boots might also tell you if one of them has failed causing a dry / prematurely wearing CV.

Probably also have a visual inspection of the diff to see if it looks wet, which might tell if seal has gone.

After that change the gear oil and see what that looks like, smells like and if that makes a difference. It's hard to describe burnt oil smell but you'll soon get an idea of whether it feels right or not. You're looking to see if the oil is low, or lacking and whether or not it looks glittery / shimmery. If it is glittery / shimmery - brown trouser time. The oil plug should be magnetic, with any luck, so if there is metal stuck on there you know you've got a problem too.

My money would be on the gearbox.

I took the beast out for another spin after I packed some grease into the inner CV joint (which is a conventional Fiat-like tripod arrangement) and that made it slightly quieter for 10 minutes or so.

There was still a background drone like a World War II bomber squadron....and I think the extra grease on the inside (tripod) was only damping the vibration/humming, so if it's the CV's... then I suspect it's the outer CV.

Now... which one? I think it's coming from the offside but my brother-in-law who was in the passenger seat thinks it's more nearside.. but we agreed that the humming noise gets louder on a right hand bend, like a roundabout.

There's no clicking, jerking or other "symptoms of a worn CV"... just the bomber squardron.

I'll have a delve into the transmission oil. I'm hoping it's not the 'box box but on the other hand, brother-in-law only tends to fix things after they're broken... so it wouldn't surprise me if the beast is running old/low oil...

The only "leak" it has is a minor rocker cover weep and evidence of some coolant loss.. so not bad overall



Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

I took the beast out for another spin after I packed some grease into the inner CV joint (which is a conventional Fiat-like tripod arrangement) and that made it slightly quieter for 10 minutes or so.

There was still a background drone like a World War II bomber squadron....and I think the extra grease on the inside (tripod) was only damping the vibration/humming, so if it's the CV's... then I suspect it's the outer CV.

Now... which one? I think it's coming from the offside but my brother-in-law who was in the passenger seat thinks it's more nearside.. but we agreed that the humming noise gets louder on a right hand bend, like a roundabout.

There's no clicking, jerking or other "symptoms of a worn CV"... just the bomber squardron.

I'll have a delve into the transmission oil. I'm hoping it's not the 'box box but on the other hand, brother-in-law only tends to fix things after they're broken... so it wouldn't surprise me if the beast is running old/low oil...

The only "leak" it has is a minor rocker cover weep and evidence of some coolant loss.. so not bad overall



Ralf S.

Click to expand...

OK that does sound more drive shaft / CV related. If you watch some old touring car videos on youtube ([ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmJH84FnQa8]like this one[/ame]) you will understand what a noisey transmission sounds like.

These lovely old touring cars run straight cut gears (as opposed to helical cut on a road car). The cogs meshing makes a much, much louder noise when straight cut but you get much less transmission loss on straight cut vs helix.

If you have a listen under load the thing makes quite a pronounced whine to the point of a scream at the top of the rev range when under load. Of course being a touring car it's completely stripped out and straight cut gears, so it's loud! But when a box (or possibly even diff) starts to have issues you'll get the same kind of mechanical whine but without the high pitched scream and not as loud! haha.

Rumble does sound more CV related though.

Might sound stupid, but check the tyres too! If she has a cheap ****ty tyre, damaged tyre or even on backwards it can do weird and wonderful things.

Hi, please could you write what was source of that noise? Thanks.

I checked out the nearside driveshaft with the wheel off the ground snd the caliper off the disc... and it became clearer that the noise was coming from the wheel bearing, even though from in the car the noise had initially seemed to be louder from the offside.

Anyway I had a new wheel bearing tool and the Megane wheel bearings cost just £12 so I took the hub off and swapped the bearing. Once exposed you could see it was quite knackered.

New bearing on the nearside (to match the new one on the offside) sorted it.

I can’t remember the last time a wheel bearing on one side was knackered and the other side also didn’t need replacing shortly afterwards. I’m starting to think bearings should be replaced as pairs.

Ralf S.

"Anyway I had a new wheel bearing tool and the Megane wheel bearings cost just £12 so I took the hub off and swapped the bearing. Once exposed you could see it was quite knackered."

so am i right in taking from this that Megane wheel bearings fit stilos!!!!!!
if so what year Megane and do the fit the 2.4 abarths

Infinite said:

"
<SNIP>
so am i right in taking from this that Megane wheel bearings fit stilos!!!!!!
if so what year Megane and do the fit the 2.4 abarths

Click to expand...

No they won't, see http://www.impocali.com/img/catalogos/Skf/WHEEL%20BEARINGS%20KITS.pdf
OD is different.
The OP was in a borrowed Megane and was nice enough to sort it out.
I guess he just used the Stilo forum out of habit and to tell us the BC was still broken.

g8rpi said:

No they won't, see http://www.impocali.com/img/catalogos/Skf/WHEEL%20BEARINGS%20KITS.pdf
OD is different.
The OP was in a borrowed Megane and was nice enough to sort it out.
I guess he just used the Stilo forum out of habit and to tell us the BC was still broken.

Click to expand...

Yes.. the bearing noise was in the Megane .. but it's a generic type of problem so I wanted to ask advice on here, since the Renault forums aren't quite so good..

The Megane bearing isn't exactly the same as Stilo but they're the same type (bearing pressed into a hub). The Stilo bearings are like this one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/For-Fiat...555869&hash=item4d56682d28:g:UHUAAOSw5cRZFWqL

If your driveshafts are okay, it's not an expensive item to replace the bearing... but check the driveshafts.

My Stilo has worn out one inner CV (spider) and the other driveshaft has some free play at the inner end (spider) and a clicking at the outer end (the C joint) and those didn't make a "noise" (just clicking and juddering) so if yours is juddering or vibrating, then it's the driveshaft. If it's making a droning or howling noise, it's a wheel bearing.


Ralf S.