Hi all. I just had a recon engine and dpf fitted to my car after gunk in the engine only to be told my wheel bearings are shot. I said oh I thought it was road noise but after driving the car it's clearly not like it was. The droning is terrible and very loud. I certainly can't hear the engine after 15 mph.

This is after the car has been jacked up for a couple of weeks for the rebuild. Question is is it likely that the wheel bearings are shot. The garage said there is no play yet and the wheels are cold after 20 miles.

It doesn't sound dry like the rear bearings in my old escorts but it does sound like worn out bearings.

Were the drive shafts removed and if so were they torqued up correctly.

As above, it sounds too coincidental to me that before it went in they were silent but after driving home they are drowning out the engine noise above 15mph!

Torqued drive shafts would that be noisy then. Can I drive the car. I'm 20 miles from work in the morning and ill call the engine place tonorrow

In your first post you say that the noise was there before the car had the engine repair work carried out? (granted the noise wasnt as bad as it is now) sounds to me like the wheel bearings have failed,did the garage even remove the driveshafts from the hub? ive not had the engine out of a octavia but on some cars you can just seperate the innner joint from the box to give enough clearance to get the engine/box out without removing the complete driveshaft,your car has done over 100,000 miles hasnt it (it was for sale recently wasnt it?) My mk1 octavia front wheel bearings failed at 106,000 miles. Does the humming noise go louder & quieter as you go round corners?

In your first post you say that the noise was there before the car had the engine repair work carried out? (granted the noise wasnt as bad as it is now) sounds to me like the wheel bearings have failed,did the garage even remove the driveshafts from the hub? ive not had the engine out of a octavia but on some cars you can just seperate the innner joint from the box to give enough clearance to get the engine/box out without removing the complete driveshaft,your car has done over 100,000 miles hasnt it (it was for sale recently wasnt it?) My mk1 octavia front wheel bearings failed at 106,000 miles. Does the humming noise go louder & quieter as you go round corners?

 

I had road noise and I mean road noise, more than in my L&K, but after driving the car it is clearly not road noise. Yes the driveshafts were removed when the engine was removed and it was all out for 2 weeks while the rebuild happened.

 

Yes the car is on 105k miles, the noise is fairly constant, changing according to speed, but not really round corners as far as I can tell. But then again i have the lurgy at the moment and am a bit bunged up so cant hear properly.

 

I have spun the wheels this morning and felt the suspension which has vibration on both sides as the wheel spins. So, bearing?

Ah,i must agree the mk2 does suffer alot with road noise,thats the first thing i noticed when i came from my mk1 to my mk 2 vrs,ive known noisy bearings still spin with no roughness,if you can feel it when you spin the wheel it must be bearing,driveshaft or transmission related then,silly question but the garage has filled the gearbox back up with oil havent they? I believe the front bearings on the mk2 octavia come as a complete hub assembly that you bolt into the hub,not pressed in like the mk1. Another thought is has the garage moved the car around with the driveshafts removed this could cause damage to the bearings as the driveshaft bolted/torqued into the hub keeps the bearing all together.

Ah,i must agree the mk2 does suffer alot with road noise,thats the first thing i noticed when i came from my mk1 to my mk 2 vrs,ive known noisy bearings still spin with no roughness,if you can feel it when you spin the wheel it must be bearing,driveshaft or transmission related then,silly question but the garage has filled the gearbox back up with oil havent they? I believe the front bearings on the mk2 octavia come as a complete hub assembly that you bolt into the hub,not pressed in like the mk1. Another thought is has the garage moved the car around with the driveshafts removed this could cause damage to the bearings as the driveshaft bolted/torqued into the hub keeps the bearing all together.

 

I dont know about the gearbox oil, can I check it? Yes they would have wheeled the car in taken the front crossmember off and removed the engine and pushed the car out again judging by the other cars there. I didnt see them do my car though.

There is a level plug halfway up the gearbox on the front face of the box,i think its a big allen key fitting (i changed my box oil last year but honestly cant remember what tool i used). If they wheeled your car out with the bearings not fully supported (cv joints fitted & tightened up) then that could well of damaged the bearings.

There is a level plug halfway up the gearbox on the front face of the box,i think its a big allen key fitting (i changed my box oil last year but honestly cant remember what tool i used). If they wheeled your car out with the bearings not fully supported (cv joints fitted & tightened up) then that could well of damaged the bearings.

 

Right oh, ill have it looked at. I will call the engine place again today. Question though, why would they remove the oil from the gearbox? it was an engine rebuild and DMF/Clutch not a gearbox that was fitted?

It depends if when they removed the driveshafts they also unbolted the fitting thats bolted to the box on both sides,if they did then all the oil would drain from the box,if they left these in place & just unbolted the driveshaft then no oil should be lost.

Oh right. Well I just called them and said they are confident that everythign was completed as it should, but they would wouldnt they. Fair enough, Ill ge tthem to do the bearings when they do the 600 mile oil and filter change since they tell me I can drive the car. So if the gearbox fails or CV joint goes.... its down to them.