Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 23:08:45 -0800 (PST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: dworkin <dworkin@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Clicking in Wheels - Ideas of why?
On Wed, 8 Feb 1995, Jack Agnew wrote:
> OK, so now I got another wierd thing going on with my '86 Westy.
> It is a heavy clicking that seems to be comming from the wheel(s) that is
> rotational (it speeds up when I do) and then goes away when there appears
> to be enough rotational speed to keep whatever it is in place. This is
> not a heavy metal sound, but neither does it sound "tinny".
There are four possible sources of this problem, two of them covered by
others. They are:
(already covered causes)
1) Wheel bearings - much as I hate to admit an auto shop mechanic may
have two or more gray cells in communication, this is the most likely
source of the noise.
2) Hub caps - especially the "wire wheels" aftermarket variety, which
clack at low speeds and whine at high speeds. Less likely, but WAY
cheaper to fix, so by all means, give it a try.
(other stuff)
3) CV Joints - you don't say if it is a front or rear wheel noise. If it
is in the rear wheels, check your CV joint boots and mileage. If your
boots are torn or you have 60K-100K miles on the beast, suspect CV joints.
4) (last, and most personally embarassing) Loose lugs. I drove around for
a couple of days once with the wierdest low-speed-only click scrape sound
as my lugs wore the holes in my wheels into perfect ovals and the wheels
scraped all the threads off my lugs. I finally had a friend follow the
car (a '47 Dodge super-duper beetle) and watch the wheels to see if he
could see anything moving. He did.
By all means, let us know how this turns out.
H Steven Dolan
dworkin@netcom.com
PS (unrelated and non-VW) I just got home from the house I bought in
foreclosure last week. Finally got the heat working (radiator hot
water). if all you water-cooled volk think the vanagon is complicated,
try bleeding a house. Spent 4 hrs travelling from floor to floor
bleeding 6 radiators in turn as the air bubbles moved between them. And
no way to raise the front end 36"!