Ok, here's the story. Son's 95 850 Turbo sedan with 191K on it started making an "annoying sound" according to him. He said that after driving the car at highway speed for about 20 miles, it starts making a sound like squealing brake shoes. I took it for a 25 mile drive and after much frustration, I was able to sort of duplicate the sound.

I never got a squealing sound, but I got a low to medium pitched whine that acted speed dependent (basically above 30 MPH) It souded sort of like differential whine on a well used RWD car. I tried turning the wheel and such, but that never changed the sound, so I don't think it is front bearings. It seems to sound a little more pronounced when accelerating or decelerating. I also took the transmission out of gear and alternately coasted and revved the motor, and it never caused the sound to change (eliminating the transmission and motor as a cause)

Lastly, I got home and parked the car. I stuck my hand in both rear wheels and felt the calipers and they were cool, and the right rear wheel hub/e-brake drum was cool.However the left rear hub/drum was uncomfortably hot to the touch.

So, what do you think. Wheel bearing going out? If so, how bad are these to change? Special tools or procedures, or is it pretty straight forward for a shadtree mech.

Thanks in advance

Glenn

 

It is possible it is going bad. I have never changed one. So that tells you they don't go bad that often.
But usually the noise will change some going from side to side taking weight away and adding it to the wheel.

 

I agree it should change the sound a bit going from side to side. the tires are Kumhos with about 20K on them and they are abit noisy, making it hard to pick out the "annoying" sound from road/tire noise.Today the boy drove the car on a 40 mile trip and said he didn't hear the sound, so maybe it was an intermittant thing. I'll keep my eye on it and when I get the chance (or it starts to sing again) I'll take a look at it. I'm also going to check the adjustment of the e-brake shoes on the left rear.

Glenn

 

Reviving this thread, I'm getting a noise out of the rear wheel. It seems to only do it when I first drive off in the morning and it is worse when I am turning (only in one direction though). I assume its the wheel bearing and the turning is putting strain on it. When I've been driving for a minute or so, the noise disappears. Sound like a wheel bearing?

 

Wheel bearings slowly deteriorate, so you can easily wait until there is play in the bearing. Jack up the suspect wheel, but leave the tire attached. If you can wiggle the wheel when your hands are working the tire from the sides and also wiggle when you're working top/bottom, you have a bad wheel bearing.