Drive shaft bearings - think I've killed them!

[Tamsin]

Hello all. For about a week my car has been making a sort of higher pitched sound hen driving at 30mph and obviously over. I thought it was a broken wheel bairing but apparently not. Wor fitha thinks it's my drive shaft bearings... How much are they to replace in a garage? I have far too much month left at the end of my money! Haha
*this car is falling to bits*

Ooh it's a Citroen xsara 1.4 petrol 2001 plate if that helps any!

Thanks!

[RichardW]

That's the sort of noise wheel bearings make (modern ones tend to just be noisy all the time, rather than varying with steering angle which older ones tended to do). Having said that, the gearbox fitted to 1.4 Xsaras is known for lunching the bearings in the differential - although I think this tends to make more crunching noises, and is worse with the power on, whereas wheel bearings usually make a constant (speed related) noise.

[addo]

Could be a few things, the one which will stop your car dead is the gearbox input shaft bearing. £15 worth of bits that people skimp on when changing the clutch. Failed bearing means exploded gearbox.

Driveshaft support bearings, and wheel bearings will get hellaciously noisy but soldier on for a good while.

Another one is the tensioner rollers in your accessories belt system, they can run dry with age. The test here is to run the motor with the accessory belt removed and see if the noise is gone (you'll have no PAS and no battery charging, so be careful).