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'93 ZX Auto diesel - loud whine when coasting

I have a '93 Citroen ZX Avantage Auto 1.9D (non-Turbo) about a year ago I got a strange whine whilst on the motorway, I pulled over and it never did it again until now.

Essentially if you're accelerating, or you remove your foot from the accelerator everything sounds fine. But if you're driving on the level and only lightly pressing the accelerator there is a terrible whining noise. Unfortunately it's one of those noises that is difficult to pinpoint exactly where it is coming from.

Interestingly it doesn't do it when cold, it takes a few minutes driving before the whine kicks in. I once got rid of it for a few hours after I went through the car wash, it also seems to get better in wet conditions (a lubrication issue somewhere perhaps?) although it doesn't go away entirely.

I initially thought it was a slipping belt as this sometimes squeaked when using the power steering heavily, but having tightened the auxiliary belt it's made no difference to the noise (other than I no longer get a screech when the steering is at full lock). The timing belt is toothed so there appears to be little likelihood of this slipping...

Anyone shed any light on this?

Regards, Jason.

Reply to
Jason Arthurs
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does teh noise change with road speed or engine speed? This is teh first stage of diagnosis ...

S
Reply to
drd

Difficult to say as it's a transient noise, it 'appears' to be linked with times when there is minimal torque being delivered to the wheels. The sound doesn't occur when you take your foot off of the accelerator when going downhill. I even tried coasting down a local hill on Sunday to see if the noise appeared but in neutral there was no whine at all.

As in the previous post its a noise that only appears when 'coasting' along, any positive or negative torque and it disappears.

Hope this sheds some further light on this.

Regards, Jason.

Reply to
Jason Arthurs

we've got a ZX that does just the same. I believe it's the inner bearing on the driveshaft, in our case it's the offside one. comes and goes as it likes and once did it for an 80 mile journey then didn't do it for months.

hth

RT

Reply to
[news]

I'd have said a diff bearing but I could believe driveshaft also ...

If you really want it fixed then probably no alternative but to start changing bearings until it goes away - expensive and not fun ...

best of luck

S
Reply to
drd

it's deffo in that area. diff bearing is one I hadn't considered.

I'm leaving my 'pet' whine well alone. annoying but not terminal we're in the AA and nice as it is it's just a ZX, albeit a mint [ish]

50,000 miler which drives like new.

apart from teh odd howl :-)

RT

Reply to
[news]

Assuming its a bearing is it likely to fail suddenly or will it simply whine away happily for thousands of miles? Also would it be likely to respond to a decent dose of lubrication as an interim measure?

Regards, Jason.

Reply to
Jason Arthurs

it would be unusual for this sort of thing to fail suddenly and catastrophically - bearings tend to make a variety of noises during their demise - watch out for changes in quality and/or quantity of noise and any accompanying vibration. Then its time to check it out properly!

re lubrication: if anything were whining for lack of lube it would have probably totally failed by now ... whining generally implies incorrect clearances eg gear meshes too tight, or shaft mis-alignment issues etc.

I suggest the standard treatment for a variety of annoying noises - turn the stereo up

all the best

Steve

Reply to
drd

Further to all this diagnosis, it turned out to be the drivers side CV joint. Drove to London and suddenly found we had a nasty clunk-clunk-clunk noise when turning corners.

Managed to nurse it home and just got the drivers side driveshaft replaced. Guy at the garage said the CV boot had perished and the whole joint was red with rust.

Thanks, Jason.

Reply to
Jason Arthurs

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