Hi, An '85 Golf 8v, auto transmission. 262,000 kilometres. When accelerating or pulling up a hill, I can feel and hear a slight whomp whomp whomp in the front, most likely from the area of the left front tire. I can feel the thumping through the steering wheel. The whomp whomp is at the same frequency as the revolution of the tires so I don't think it's an engine problem which would be at a much higher frequency. At low speeds the steering wheel will wobble a bit back and forth. Initially I thought it was a separated belt in the tire, but doing a tire rotation and switching the axles the tires sit on didn't change anything. Also the tire shop said the tires were not the problem. I've lifted the car and rotated the tires and the left front wheel bearing sounds fine and quiet, though I haven't entirely eliminated the wheel bearing as the culprit.
When easing off the throttle after accelerating or after pulling up a hill, the whomp whomp whomp goes away. The whomping is also absent when going down hill and using the engine as the brake.
If I slowly turn in a circle with the steering wheel turned fully to the left, I can hear a click. That is, there is one click per tire revolution instead of a click for every ball in the cv joint . I don't think the tire is rubbing on anything when the steering wheel is turned fully left or right.
So looking for some thoughts? Left outer CV joint? Wheel bearing?
My other thought is the tranny. Since the time of the last transmission service a couple of years ago I've noticed the tranny fluid is way over the full mark. Could an overfull tranny be causing some backlash in the torque converter? However, the whomping noise is more recent than the tranny service so probably unrelated to the tranny.
Thanks in advance for any diagnostic tips or confirmation it's the CV joint.
-Tony