On my way to dialysis this morning i hear a noise coming from the front of my Ford 500 humming noise which i think is a wheel bearing, how can i tell which one it is?. I turn the wheel to the left and the humming goes away?. I simply can't afford to replace them both at the moment so any help here would be great.

 

If it goes away when you turn left, it is usually the left one. Turning right puts more pressure on the left one, and you should hear it better. Usually, if you jack it up and spin the wheel, you can hear/feel the roughness of the pitted bearing.

 

Also if you jack it up and push/pull on the top of the wheel and bottom of the wheel there shouldn't be any play at all.

 

It's AWD so i'll try the push pull and go from there. I just hope it lasts until the weekend...

 

If you're just now noticing it, if it's a wheel bearing, should last awhile. I hope it's not something in the AWD.

 

I agree with Bluejay, a wheel bearing usually won't fail for a long time after it starts making noise/vibration.

FWIW, it might just be loose and need a bit of tightening (not too tight, though!). Don't know about the 4x4, but on a 2x4 it's pretty easy to pack in a little more grease and snug it up some. All that costs is a few pennies worth of grease and a new cotter pin.

 

Bucky - a question, since I don't know: Does your car have CV joints? Your saying it's an AWD makes me think it might. If it does, it's possible one (or both) are failing. A CV joint will often make noise when turning one way and not the other. (I think turning away from the effected joint is what puts stress on it and causes the noise, but I could be wrong.)

Anyway, if it has CV joints, have a good look at the boots that cover them. They're easily torn, which lets in dirt, which damages the joint. If you see any cover damage, I'd bet that's where you'll find the problem.

- Jack

 

Excellent point. I never thought about CV joints. I don't know if AWD uses them or not. Probably do.

 

All front drive mechanisms I'm aware of that aren't solid axle use CV joints.

 

I'll check it out thanks everyone