I put my soob in retirement a few years back. Now I finally have the funds to fix some stuff. I would really like to figure out why when I start off I hear a grinding sound in the front end. All my CV boots are in good shape. The steering boot is torn but I do not think that is the problem. Perhaps the bearings? I am not sure. Any ideas???

My loyale was grinding awhile ago too. Then it got really horrible sounding and abruptly stopped.....taking with it power steering, air conditioning, charging, and cooling! My main pulley worked off (the bolt worked out). Check that out! It would suck if it strands you. That bolt is a 21mm I believe so you may not have the tools to fix it on the road.

I had the crankshaft pulley fall off just randomly one day with no warning. Luckily a few miles away were my inlaws, so they helped me out. Now I always carry a socket to fit the bolt and a breaker bar. Probably won't need it anyway since last time I put it on I used blue locktite. Never hurts to be prepared.

 

As for the grinding sound, What does it sound like...is it related to the car rolling under its own power or only when you hit the gas? Only when you decelerate with the engine connected, with a manual tranny? Is it constant or does it pulse? Is it high pitched or lower pitched. If its high pitched and kinda sounds like scraping it could be the wear indicators on your rotors.

I will check out the main pulley but I do not think that it has anything to do with the engine itself. The sound only occurs when accelerating from a dead stop or going very slow and accelerating. It dose not matter if I am turning or going straight. Once on the roll everything is normal. It dose not make the sound if I let the it roll down a hill from a stop with the engine running or not. It is a manual tranny and has no problems at all. It shifts in a out of gears smoothly. As for the sound, it is not high pitched at all. It sounds like a dull grinding poping noise from the front end.

 

Thanks for the tip on the crankshaft pulley. I will check it out this weekend.

when was the last time the clutch was replaced? It could be clutch chatter, in other words, the clutch plate grips, looses grip, grips, looses grip, that kinda thing.

Check your motor and tranny mounts, pitch stopper bushings also.

 

Sounds very simular to what my '82 BRAT was doing. Slight noise taking off going straight, more noise if taking off and turning either direction. I swapped axles, knuckles, hubs, installed new wheel bearings, ball-joints, tie-rod ends, ect.. Nothing seemed to make a difference.

 

BRAT is now up on jack stands under going major surgery. But when I pulled engine and tranny, the mounts were way soft and squishy feeling. So maybe that was cause, don't know for sure.

sounds like it could be wheel bearings. any vibration associatated with it under acceleration?

The clutch was replaced about two years ago so it should be ok. The sound is not constant and there is no vibration, so I am thinking it is not the bearings. Also, the sound dose not get worse when turning, it is constant under all conditions. I will check out the motor mounts and tranny.

 

Thanks for you help guys

Might also want to check to see if you have a loose castle nut. I've had those make all sorts of strange intermittent griding noises.

if you split a ball bearing or several of them and crack the race where the balls run it can make a grinding/crunching sound and turning doesn't have anything to do with it. it will not do the normal characteristcs that bad wheel bearings do and the wheels won't feel loose at all either.

 

just my 2 cents worth from my own experience on my 86 wagon. if you can't find it try taking the bearings apart and seeing, i could find the source until i took the bearings apart and found the broken ball bearings and crack races and it fixed the problem.