What is the whining noise coming from the rear end of the car?

Hi again!

The tires are very new and have only about 1,800-2,000 miles on them, if that. I have checked the tire tread within the last few days and no unusual wear pattern is evident. I have not noticed any change in the sound when going around corners.

Yes, I thought of the yoke too but forgot to mention it. I will see if I can find out if there are any oil leaks in this area (I say it this way because my car jack has broken so I will have to get another one or come up with another way of looking under the car in this area).

One of the projects I had on the to-do list was the rear axles and bearings. If it's the carrier bearing in the differential or the differential itself, how will I know for sure without taking it apart? By eliminating the other potential causes?

The 323 is basically the same car but with a bigger engine.

Hi,

Sorry about taking so long to update this thread. I've moved twice since my last response here.

I have had an interesting time dealing with this particular issue. I started doing the 'simplest' thing which was the wheel bearings. So I began on the right rear and found that this side was the issue (lucky!).

It took 6 months for me to sort out as I had to change the wheel bearing 3 times due to errors I made when trying to install it. Plus I found other issues.

I discovered that the axle shaft (or half shaft?) Was impossible to remove so I had to get a 7-ton puller to press it out and it moved with a very big bang, which I later discovered was not normal after changing the wheel bearing on the left.

I then had to undo the bolts holding the upper and lower wishbones in place because I was having issues with removing parts from this area. When trying to put everything back together again I found it impossible. I realized that the trailing arm had been damaged in some way because of this problem of putting things back. So I got a second hand one and when installing it everything went back together again without a hitch. When changing things out I also found that one part of the lower wishbone was bent at 60 degrees or so, so I purchased a new one of these too. I also found that the lower part of the spring, that sits on top of the upper wishbone, was broken (as was the left side when I got to that side)! So I got used ones for both rear sides.

I also had to buy a brand new half shaft (axle shaft - what is the correct terminology in North America?) Because the outer CV joint would not move freely - it was very hard to move around. So I was 99% sure that THIS was the culprit of the whining/droning noise.

So the prior owner had an accident on this side by either something hitting this side or going into something where this side of the car hit an obstacle. The owner fixed it up (the quarter panel was new on this side) and had cut corners doing so and had done the bare minimum to make it look ok and then sold it.

So I was driving around with this problem for 9 years before I was able to put it right!

When I got everything fixed and put together I went out for a drive and the droning/whining had completely disappeared.

I then went ahead and, as a preventative measure, changed out all the other corners, changing the wheel bearings, brake rotors, brake splash plates and pads (and parking brakes on the rear).

When doing so I discovered that the front wheel bearings were dangerously loose (they were loose and 'fell apart' when I removed the hub from the knuckle) so I was very glad that I decided to do this preventative maintenance.

I dread to think how much unnecessary force had been going through the differential. When I have the time I think I am going to overhaul that next as a preventative measure.

Thanks again for the help.