My wife has an 89 Tipo DGT, done just under 100,000 miles - when pulling away quickly, there is a grinding noise from the right hand front wheel, this only lasts for a few seconds. If she pulls away slowly, the noise is not apparent. It's been like this a couple of months now, but as it has not got any worse we've not bothered too much about it. A cursory inspection has shown no obvious signs of problems. Any ideas?
Cheers
Hellraiser..........>
Engine mounts? Don't know the Tipo but, did have a back to front Fiat (exhaust at front) where the engine rocked enough for the driveshaft to rub the exhaust. Looked ok, reasonable clearance, but under a vigorous take off, grinding noise, sprayed paint on the driveshaft, all became apparent, grind line in paint.
Nope, doesn't seem to be - the mounts are solid enough. Any more ideas?
Hellraiser..........>
CV Joint?
The other possibility could be the anti-rollbar bush on the rhs.
These bushes in Tipos and Tempra are renowned to creeking and groaning noises.
In your case pulling away will result in nose lift and tail droop. This will mean that the anti-rollbar will come into play and as the body lifts relative to its neutral position the roll bar can grate in its bushes. Manually bouncing the car/suspension may not be able to reproduce the problem.
Now that could be a definite possibility - when pulling away hard if you get the wheels to spin and suspension to bounce, you can actually modulate the grinding noise which would fit in with what you have said. If it was a CV joint, I'd imagine it would have failed a lot sooner!
Will have a look the weekend, cheers :)
Hellraiser..........>
You are supposed to drive the car not abuse it! :-)
I would try gently driving over road humps (neither accelerating or decelerating) to modulate the front suspension over a reasonable range and see if the problem still exists. If not, but still exists with power drive through the wheels then we might be back to CV joints again.
I assume you have checked the gearbox oil level? Could be running low and you are hearing the differential complaining under load.
Nick /////
It's a Fiat! How else am I supposed to drive it :)
Tried this, it is only under acceleration the noise occurs, so looks like it might be CV joints :(
Why would it only make the sound from the right hand wheel when the diff is nearer the left hand?
Hellraiser.........>
Cheers for that, I'll have a look the weekend.
Hellraiser...........>
This noise is DEFINITELY caused by the suspension wishbone rubber bush being worn out. It has happened on 2 of my Fiat's (Tempra and Tipo). Sadly, you can't just buy the bush but have to get the whole wishbone. Mine would make that grinding noise if pulling away sharply yet stay silent if pulling off gently.
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