1998 Ford Contour "growl"/vibration when left pre

GOTTAHOT1

MEMBER
1998 FORD CONTOUR
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
240,000 MILES

I have a 1998 Ford Contour, 4 cylinder, manual transmission with 240,000 miles on it. When there's any counterclockwise (left turn) pressure on the steering wheel, there's a growl or vibration coming from car - most likely the front end somewhere.

The noise is most noticeable at 40-50 mph and in fact can get quite loud.

Are there any bearings or anything that I can check? I have driven front wheel drive cars for years and have replaced worn out half-shafts, but nothing ever sounded like this.

3 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,885 POSTS

When you turn left, you take the weight off the left side and move it to the right. Based on your description, I would say the right front wheel bearing is bad.

Check that and let me know what you find.

Joe

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Friday, October 15th, 2010 AT 11:03 PM

GOTTAHOT1

MEMBER
2 POSTS

It was in fact the wheel bearing. I bought the part and tried to fix it in my garage (knowing I would needa trip to the machine shop to press the old bearing out/new bearing in) but couldn't get the lower balljoint out of the pinch bolt! I even bent a crowbar trying to pry it out. I hope it wasn't as simple as using the fork tool to separate it. Since I already had the majority of the balljoint shaft exposed, I figured all of the hard part was done.

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Monday, December 13th, 2010 AT 5:53 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS