Xantia 2.1TD Droning Noise

[bddeazeley]

Hi Folks, I am getting a droning noise from what sounds like the front wheel drive above 25 mph on my '98 Xantia 2.1TD with 71,000 miles on the clock. The strange thing is if I turn the steering wheel slightly to the right the noise disappears. By slightly I mean from 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock when holding my hand at the 12 o'clock position. Turning the steering wheel to the left has no effect on the droning noise. I also imagine I feel a slight vibration on the steering wheel. I have read in the Forums about similar symptoms on Xantias and wheel bearings or drive shaft CV joints are suspect. The question is how do you determine which one is at fault and on which side? There appears to be no play on either side and putting the steering on alternate full lock produces no noises. I would appreciate any advice.

[RichardW]

I had very similar on one of mine, thought it was a wheel bearing, but the noise reduction on small steering input wasn't convincing me. Eventually tracked it down to a small amount of play in the track rod end, combined with a slightly out of balance tyre! Check for play in the track rod end with the wheel on the ground at normal height - if you put it on high / jack it up the load on the TRE hides the play...guess how I know that

[citronut]

to check for/and which side wheel bearing jack one front wheel just clear of the ground, chock the rear wheels, start engine put into second 1st gear with hand brake off, now bring the clutch up to drive the wheel which is off the ground, mind you cover the foot brake just in case,

you should hear the bearing if it is noisey,

if it were a CV joint it would usualy make a clacking noise on lock,

it has also been known for the O/S driveshaft intermediate bearing to be noisey, this is harder to determine though, as the only true way would be the remove the shaft from the car and spin thre bearing by hand,

regards malcolm

[bddeazeley]

Many thanks for the replies and I appreciate the advice and the benefit of your experience and knowledge. The track rod ends I will definitely look at as the o/s track rod end was replaced in October 2011 as it was an MOT failure so I guess the n/s track rod must be suspect. I have now tried the the advice of jacking one side up and both sides sound noisy to me although the nearside does sound slightly louder. What level of noise should you get normally when you lift a wheel and drive? The original droning noise is getting worse and a vibration can be felt on the passenger side floor according to the wife so I will need to have a serious go at fixing it weather permitting. I have had this Xantia for 12 years and always enjoyed driving it. It is now a second car and it was off the road for about 10 months as it needed an MOT but I took a notion to get it back on the road again last October and it is now used daily. In this part of the world (West of Scotland) the Xantias have all but disappeared overnight. It needs other work carried out though so it looks like the summer months will be busy. I will need to put another post on about air in the fuel line and an intermittent diesel knocking. There is a lot about air leaks and the Lucas Epic pump going into full advance on various forums so I will work my way through all the tips and advice. I will come back and post the eventual outcome of my now loud droning noise.

[Peter.N.]

If its a bearing you won't normally hear it with no load but if it sounds like a tram when driving its likely to be the bearing, it will normally go quiet when you take the load off the bearing i.e. the right hand bearing when turning right and vice versa.

Peter

[bddeazeley]

I have now replaced the right hand (offside) wheel bearing and I still have the droning noise which disappears when I steer to the right. I have the other side stripped down ready to get that bearing replaced and I will update the outcome shortly. Fingers crossed.

[411514]

Are you sure its a mechanical problem. I tend to get a droning noise in my c5 at any speed. It comes from the front passenger seat but strangely only seems to happen when the mrs is in the car , good luck with sorting it

[Peter.N.]

Strangely enough I have a similar noise on my 406, I thought it was a wheel bearing but turns out its from the gearbox, easy to tell though, just dip the clutch when its there if its the gearbox it will dissapear, if it doesnt 10-1 its a wheel bearing.

Peter

[bddeazeley]

At last I have cured the droning noise by replacing the nearside front wheel bearing so to recap the droning noise could be heard above 25mph and got louder with speed. The noise disappeared on right hand bends only and I first replaced the offside (right side) wheel bearing but it made no difference but the nearside wheel bearing (left side) cured it completely. Now for a beer

[Peter.N.]

Does happen sometimes - defies the normal machanical laws. Pleased you cured it anyway, I have just comer back from Scotland and one of mine is droning but I don't know which.

Peter

[Mandrake]

I had very similar on one of mine, thought it was a wheel bearing, but the noise reduction on small steering input wasn't convincing me. Eventually tracked it down to a small amount of play in the track rod end, combined with a slightly out of balance tyre! Check for play in the track rod end with the wheel on the ground at normal height - if you put it on high / jack it up the load on the TRE hides the play...guess how I know that

Richard,

This sounds a bit like a noise I have on my V6 - at about 70mph and only noticeable on smooth surfaces there is a significant drone, together with a vibration from somewhere at the front, I think from the left, but its very hard to tell. Unlike the original poster its not noticeable at all at speeds below about 50mph.

I haven't really been able to investigate it yet, the front tyres are pretty old/worn and I suspect out of balance and/or out of round, and I do also have reason to believe that the left track rod may have significant play... The left clatters quite a bit on bumps in a way that can be felt on the steering, particularly during tight slow turns on broken surfaces...like doing a 180. I'm also getting low MPG which could potentially be due to wheel tracking.

So from what you say a combination of tyre balance and wear in a track rod end could be what I'm experiencing ? The only other things I could think of for the drone would be the long drive shaft intermediate bearing, but that wouldn't cause a vibration, or inner driveshaft joints. (Outer driveshaft joints are fine on full lock under power) If it was wheel bearings I would have thought it would be noticeable at lower speeds than 50mph.