Thread: Couple of Problems

First off - whenever I drive my car regardless of speed it makes a sound from the rear passenger side wheel thats kind of a rotational sound (like a ts-ts-ts-ts-ts) which is quite loud and gets significantly louder whenever I turn to the right. Any ideas?

Problem two- same spot (rear passenger side wheel) whenever i hit a pothole in the road or go over a bump i hear a clank sound like something back there just got bounced around

Third - randomly my ABS light will come on and the trac off light will too and stay like that until i turn off the car and start it up again. this will also just come on randomly while driving, its been like this for a couple months and i haven't seen any rhyme or reason as to whats causing it to come on, it just seems totally random

Also, lastly today I went to take the rear passenger wheel off, had the car jacked up with the e-brake on and i turned the tire iron on one of the lug nuts and the whole wheel turned. I'm assuming thats not good at all.

Any help on any of these problems would be greatly appreciated. While I was away at school my dad took the car to a shop to fix the first three problems and obviously they didn't fix jack squat lol. Thanks, Mike

Hello, the first problem sounds like a bad hub bearing which can also cause the third problem. There is a speed sensor in the hub bearing assembly which sends wheel speed information to the ABS computer and the traction control computer. If the bearing or the sensor is no good it can cause the noise you are hearing and an intermittant fault in the ABS computer. Have the codes stored in the ABS computer read by a shop that knows what they are doing or go to the dealership. They will definately have the right equipment to retrieve the code history. Thats the first and third problem, the 2nd problem could be anything in the rear suspension that has come loose and is banging around, or one of the exhaust hangers has rusted out and broken, making the exhaust system bang into the car over every bump.
Are you sure someone did not spin out and hit a curb with your car while you were at school? All these issues could be caused by one good whack to the car...

alright thanks man im gonna take it and get it checked out and see what they say, and yea i had the only set of keys with me while I was away I dont trust anybody with my baby haha. Any idea what the fourth problem could be?

Sorry, forgot the 4th issue... sounds like the parking brake cable could be broken or stretched. If you have rear disc brakes it is easy to see if the cable is pulling on the levers. Jack the car up, pull off the rear wheels, and have someone operate the parking brake while you watch to see if the levers attached to the parking brake cable are moving. If not, the cable is broken/seized somewhere. If the levers are moving when the cable pulls on them, but not enough to clamp down on the rotors, then the parking brake cable simply needs to be adjusted. On my 94 Grand Prix the adjustment/equalizer is under the car on the driver side close to the rear of the car. Yours could be by the E brake handle/pedal. Check Autozone.com for access to free repair guides. You just have to register on the website... its free

alright tried what you said with the parking brake and nothing moved whatsoever... im guessing thats worst case right there right? lol and to replace the wheel hub bearing? is that something id be able to do myself or would i have to take it to the shop??

If nothing moved at all when the parking/emergencey brake was applied, then it could be the cable is broken or severely stretched. If it is broken and hanging loose somewhere under the car, that could be making the noises you are hearing. Trace the path of the cable from the calipers to where they join up to one cable (the equalizer) which then goes to the parking/emergency brake lever. Should be pretty easy to spot any problems.
The wheel hub bearing is not hard to replace if you have the tools and experience with working on the rear brakes. Try jacking the car up again and spinning the wheels by hand while listening to the hub. If you hear any scraping, grinding noises then its a good chance the bearing is no good. also grab the top and bottom of the tire and try to rock it back and forth. if there is excessive movement/play and or a slight knocking noise, that is also a sign the bearing is no good. Hope this helps.

thanks alot for all your help man, unfortuneatley im about 4 hours away from my car at school but when i get home for thanksgiving ill definitly give all your advice a try
thanks,
mike