Hello folks, 1st post and all that

 

I daresay this has been done to death and that the answer will be "hard to tell without actually seeing it" but I'll have a stab, if you'll bear with me.

 

Just bought a '99 1.3LXi (£500, 62k miles). What's wrong with it is: rev counter seems to have life of its own, often just not working at all, front left tyre well worn, pulls to left a bit, just tracking I think. The ubiquitous wheel arch rust, quite bad I guess. I went for it because it has a year MOT, so whatever, maybe I'll try and save it, depends on...

 

I think it's rear left, didn't pick this up on test drive grr. When I turn hard left on 3 point turns, also when I hit speed bumps, also when I pull away sometimes as the clutch bites, I get this sound that isn't quite a groan, isn't quite a grind, isn't quite a creak but a mixture of the three. It's a bit random, doesn't happen every time in above situations, but I certainly won't go for a drive without hearing it several times at varying lengths. It can be pretty loud. The only way I can induce it every time myself is to put the rear wheels on say, a speed bump, with the fronts on the flat, then slowly release the front brake. As the thing just starts to move, I'll get the noise, albeit in a short burst. Creaky, groany, there's something wrong m8 :( .

 

I'm pretty sure it's not pads grinding on discs, as I don't get it it all the time under braking and it's just different to that noise/feel. I'm a biker as a rule and know bugger all about drums, but I'm guessing it could be related to that. I'm also seeing CV joints on googling, ,but I'm hoping it's not that as there isn't a clicking quality to it. It certainly seems to happen when the rear suspension is operating under load. Struts, bushes, wheel bearings <shrugs> .

 

Whatever it is, I'm thinking about cost to fix , have I bought a lemon blah blah. I also will be driving my little lad about (haven't yet!) in it so wanting it to be safe. There's plenty about the car I like, very spacious, engine seems fine. View through rear window bit crap for parking. Unusually (I believe) it has PAS, wonder if it's aftermarket, and if it's the cause of the slight pull to the left rather than tracking (I had a Corsa with old electric PAS that pulled to the left badly and rectified it simply by adjusting a sensor in the PAS).

 

Penny for thoughts? Thx folks

Edited 29 May, 201412 yr by Pax

the sound you're describing is suspension related or brakes relater.

the latter has a name.

it's called creep groan and all cars have it.

the former is usually the result of a worn or bad installed suspension top mount.

I would first ask a friend to pinpoint the location of the noise from outside.

sitting inside the car and listening could be misleading.

anyways, no matter what cause, it's cheap to fix.

the rev counter issue is from cold solder joints on instrument cluster's PCB.

I'll help you identify which one are bad if you post a well lit, high resolution photo of this region:

Ahh, my 1.6 GLXi does this too, if you find out then let me know, it's something of a mystery to me.

 

Saying that it's been doing this for a year and so far all of the wheels have stayed attached and I've not suffered a fiery death...