Technical Very annoying sound... it's making me crazy!!!

[osvaldocm26]

Hello!

I have a JTD 1,9 115hp 2003 Stilo. A few weeks ago I had a minor accident (icy road, ended up in a ditch). After that the car needed an alignment (the biggest impact was on the front-left side of the car). So before the alignment there was a very annoying noise, kind of tyre roll noise but I thought that it would go away after the alignment, but it did not.

The noise starts from 60 km/h and it increases and decreases on intensity until 91-92 km/h where it gets very intense (the trims of the cabin, specially on the back vibrate and do that plastic "cracking" noise a lot). Then over 93 km/h it completely disappears. I drove until 190 km/h and no noise or vibration at all.

Also this vibration cannot be felt on the wheel, but on the body.
It makes no difference if i'm accelerating, braking, turning or if there is a gear engaged or the engine is idling.
I thought it could be some wheel bearing but normally that noise increases with speed and doesn't suddenly disappear, or does it?

It's very hard to explain what kind of noise it is (I tried to get it on video but it didn't work), but at 92 km/h I can actually feel my ear drums vibrating along with the car!

Sorry for the long text and hope you have some clues for me!
Thanks and greetings from the Arctic Circle!

 

[Stealth123]

Check your engine mountings. But really not a good idea to drive at 190+kmh when you have a potential fatal problem.

 

[osvaldocm26]

Thanks for your reply! A couple of times I accelerated until 100-110 km/h and then put the in neutral, let the engine idle and the speed drop and the noise/vibration came anyway. Could it be related to engine mounts under those conditions?

 

[Stealth123]

I did do some checking for you. I think measuring the symptoms with what speed you are going are not important.
Since you cannot feel it on the wheel, only the body the most likely cause is your engine gearbox mountings.
I do suggest you book it into a garage as soon as possible. Any more driving especially at high speeds could cause a catastrophic failure which could lead to your car being worthless or worst of all an accident.
Probably a couple of hours labour should get it safely on the road again.

Get those checked first and then the wheel bearings.

 

[osvaldocm26]

So I took the car to a garage and they said that the problem is the rear-right side wheel bearing. It would make sense since the vibration was felt mostly in the back and couldn't be felt on the steering wheel. I hope their diagnose is right and they fix it on the first try.

Appreciate the comments Stealth123!

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

Could be cupped tires ( sawtooth tread), makes almost the same noise as worn wheel bearing(s).
Rear tires are most affected on fwd cars...

 

[Ze86]

If it's not the wheel bearing I would check the drive shafts...both.

 

[osvaldocm26]

So in the end the problem was the rear wheel bearing but apparently there was a problem with the ABS sensor so the dash went bananas with ABS, EBD and power steering errors. Tomorrow I have to take the car back to the garage but I'm driving without ABS for now.

Thanks for the replies!