Driveshaft Bearings

I've just been for a drive with my boyfriend who suggested to me that my driveshaft bearings were going; 'listen,' he said, 'they're making a noise.' I couldn't hear anything, to be honest, and it recently had £300 worth of work to get it through its MOT, plus a full service so I'm bemused but rather worried....if they are going, how would I know? Should they have been spotted on the service and MOT? What's the worst possible scenario? The best? The cheapest?

All ideas appreciated....

Someone else thinks it could be the clutch plate! What's the general concensus out there?

What is the noise like?

If your driveshaft bearings are going (mine have gone before) then you will get bad vibration through your steering wheel when you accelerate.

If it's a constant noise then it could be a wheel bearing perhaps, but that would become more apparant when turning.

We need to know when it makes this sound that you can't hear though to give a proper diagnosis. And what it sounds like. If you can't hear it - don't worry about it.

(Boyfriend envious of your thunder? Trying to find fault where there is none?)

Doubtful an MOT would of picked up on this as the car isnt driven for its test, so they wouldnt notice any vibration.

We went out again and he now thinks that it could be a wheel bearing.....I'm going to have a mate look at it up here and see what he thinks, but to be honest, I can't hear any noise at all.....

Definitley needs a second opinion, methinks

Jack a corner up, grab the wheel at the top and bottom and see if you can rock it at all. If you can, then the bearing is on its way out. Repeat for all four corners.

But surely if it was the wheel bearing thwey would've picked it up on the MOT?

Ha! A friend of mine brought a Golf to me that had passed an MOT the day before, and both of the front wishbone rear bushes were completely separated from the wishbones, so the wishbones themselves were visibly resting on the subframe. Just as passing an MOT is no guarantee of road worthiness, passing an MOT is no guarantee it's even up to MOT spec.

Peter said:

Jack a corner up, grab the wheel at the top and bottom and see if you can rock it at all. If you can, then the bearing is on its way out. Repeat for all four corners.

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Id agree with this!!



CV joints on the driveshafts can "click" when they are on thier way out and when really bad will cuase lots of vibration.

Zenithus said:

But surely if it was the wheel bearing thwey would've picked it up on the MOT?

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Not necessarily!! the tapered roller bearings used on most FWD fords can break apart quite quickly and become noisey even after a short distance when they seemed ok only a short time before.