1997 Taurus front end noise

Hi All,
Purchased an $800.00 beauty for my kid. I have replaced the tensioner and belt, rotors and pads, filters and oil change and replaced the lower transmission coolant hose. The car idles and revs fine, drives and brakes fine. The transmission shifts fine and without any drag or anything but I have this problem and it seems like the front end passenger side. When I drive there is an immediate grinding type sound like marbles in a blender kind of thing. Does anyone know what this might be? Is there a bearing issue at the rotor on these cars or is it a C-V joint kind of thing by my description? Any help would be great because I need this car fixed to get my kid on his way.
p.s. 3.0 motor [8th letter of vin is a "U"] single overhead cam if this helps Thanks to all, BrnDmgInc

First off, welcome to the Forum. Glad to have you. Hope we can help you. Secon, any time you post, pleasse provide the year and engine of your vehicle so we all can respond with some intelligence, since otherwise we make lousy clairvoyants :frown:. However, you are in luck, in that most Ts have similar enough front ends that we can provide some general observations and advice. Right off it sounds like worn suspension(s) are complaining. Typically they are heard when going over bumps, holes, etc. My guess, as I have experienced and others have also tlked ot it here, you probably have a worn sway bar tie link worn. I let my go fro awhile that was really noisy every time it went over something. To check it from underneath, raise both sides, letting the tires hang, and start yanking and wiggling stuff. The links attach to the strut assembly up high and down to the sway bar that goes to the other side of the car. Good Luck

grinding type sound like marbles in a blender kind of thing


Sounds like a wheel bearing to me

Mike
:smokin:

Thanks for the info. I'm a little green to computers and forums. Do you really think its the suspension? The noise doesn't change over bumps or turns, it's just a grinding noise that gets louder the faster you go. We jacked it up and yes there is some play [more than some] but the noise we get from thrashing the front around is more of a clunking and pinging. Just thought you would like to know. BDI

If there's play, you'll want to replace what's loose (unless it's supposed to move and that's what you're noticing) before you rule anything out. However, Taurii have two well known problems I should bring to light. First, the struts go bad, especially in the rear. Second, the wheel bearings go with regularity, especially if you get the cheapos. Go to NAPA and get one there because they have a lifetime warranty and are about the same price (within $5 here, don't know about where you are) as one with a 1-year warranty from any other chain I've priced out.

That sounds like the wheel bearing to me, but I'm no expert. When the bearing went on mine it was more of a howl than a grinding. If something's grinding you'll want to fix it ASAP, not that you didn't know that already. :)

Good luck!

Did it make this noise before you did all the work on it, or do you know? Specifically, before you put the pads and rotors on?

Does the sound seem correlated to engine speed or vehicle speed only?

Will it only make the noise when you're driving it, or will it make the noise if you slowly increase the engine speed with the car in park or neutral? The sound you describe also sounds similar to what you might experience with a broken weld on a catalytic converter heat shield.

-Rod

My heat shield rattled. There was no other way to describe it, so I didn't think of it. Good catch, Rod.

Hi all,
The prize goes to none other than UsedtobeSmart! You were correct in assuming that the wheel bearing was the culprit. From what I gathered from my local NAPA guy these things are a regular buy for the Taurus and Sable line. The part consists of the entire wheel hub and bearing $122.00 and change out the door. A major pain to replace I must say but it did the job. Afterward we took the car out for a spin and the grinding was gone on the right side only to reveal grinding on the left to a lesser degree. I'll do that one next week when I have more cash and a better stock of tools at hand. I want to thank everyone who responded to my quandry and to the forum as a whole, nothing less than a positive experience on my end.
Sincerely,
BDI

One more thing? What is the brake bleeding sequence for the 1997 Taurus? Pedals a little soft but a good bleed off wouldn't hurt.Thanks BDI

For manual brake bleeding, the factory service manual simply states, "The primary and secondary (diagonal split) hydraulic brake systems are individual systems and are bled separately. Bleed longest line first on individual system being serviced." This is pretty much the rule of thumb for any hydraulic brake system. An exception would be if you need to bleed air from an ABS pump. In that case, you'll need a special scan tool to interface with the ABS computer and the pattern changes somewhat.

-Rod

Thanks much!

$122 is more than I paid for both of my wheel bearings from NAPA. $58 apiece, but I didn't get the whole assy, just the bearing.

I'd link you right to it but I don't know if you have a G, GL, LX, SHO, sedan or wagon. Take a look on their website. Might be worth ordering if it'd save you $50.

http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=100

That'll take you right to the parts catalog section. Since you said you're new, I'll walk you through the basic steps -- Upper left-hand side of the page you'll see a link under the heading "current vehicle". Click the link and fill out the information as it asks for it, then click the links for the part-type you want, and narrow it down from there. Or, if you're lucky, you can just do a search for a wheel bearing and it'll come up. Ordering online requires a credit card, and security on these big-name shopping sites is about as tight as properly-torqued lugnut.

Good luck with the other side!