Hi Folks, Saturday I took my 355 out for a bit of a drive round some nice roads I know, gave it a bit of stick here and there, nothing outrageous, just string pulls in 2nd & 3rd gear, no standing starts or anything. Anyway, on the way home I heard a droning noise form the rear of the car, dependent on road speed, wasnt too loud, and I assumed it was wheel bearing and planned to have a look later this week. Today I had to pop out and immediatley noticed this noise, which was definatley louder, I had to jump on the "freeway" for a junction and it was a bit unsettling, throughout my journey it got louder, to the point where i was driving at 50mph in the slow lane with fear of something breaking. I got home, decided to check the rear wheel bearings, usual procedure, jack up the rear one side at a time, release handbrake, gear in neutral and give the wheel a good tug all round....nothing, no play at all, same on the other side. Tried turning the wheels and listen for bearing notchyness and they were quite stiff to turn (Slip Diff in 355s?)...one thing i did notice was what felt like quite a bit of play between turn the wheel back and forth and the diff takin up the slack, also there was, not a clunk as such, but a definate noise at the slack take up by the diff happened. Any thoughts? Do 355 rear bearings usually have play in them when the bearings go? Do they usually get louder that quickly (over the course of a day) when they are shot? From my experience on other cars, wheel bearings, even the driving wheels have some play in with the amount of noise Im getting, and the light clunking when moving the wheel back and forth against the diff sends nightmare thoughts of diff bearings gone Any suggestions, help MUCH appreciated Dan
This thread is one you will want to read. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66320 Exactly what it is, you will only know once you did into it. The clunking could be a bad cv joint? Another possibility is the ring nut that holds the cv joint to the axle connecting flange could be loose? But if the wheels aren't turning freely the you are looking at having to change the bearing/s. What ever the case it is something that you can fix yourself. I have replaced the axle bearings on both sides of my 348 and an axle connecting flange. The thing that you will need to get ahold of is a socket for the ring nut. Either buy one, or make one.
One more thing. You can run a search of the archives to find more info, and fill out your profile would ya.
From what I understand.........there is an issue in the diff/gearbox. Could be a inner CV joint, but I dont think so for some reason. Def not wheel bearings if there is no play at the wheel and you only heard a noise when you slowly turned the wheel back and forth as you checked the excessive back-lash in the diff. I would check your gearbox oil level first, to make sure it is full. Then I would drop the gearbox oil and check the condition/smell of it. What gearbox oil are you using mate? Also be sure to check the magnetic drain plug to see if there is any crap/metal on there when you drain the gearbox oil. They usually tell a story if there is an issue in there or if there is an issue that is about to develop. Another thing you could try before you drop the gearbox oil is to jack the car up and place on chassis stands. Start the car and have someone put it in gear and drive it while it is on stands. Slip under there and try to listen for the noise and pin-point the area it is in. Most times, noise travels in situations like this. So you will probably have some trouble trying to pin-point the noise, but you never know. The noise may be A LOT louder in the diff/gearbox area, but you will also be able to hear the same noise at the wheel bearing because the noise travels down the CV shaft and into the wheel area. Crazy sh*t, isnt it? You can also use the favoured FBB method to listen for noises by using a large screwdriver or solid steel pipe and place it on the noisey area and place the other end on your ear and listen for the noise. Has worked MANY times in the past. Let us know how you go mate. Also fill out your profile would ya!!
I can't resist this, so please forgive me, as I would never intentionally insult our 355 brothers, but I'm going to because the setup is so good, I think I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't, so here goes....... I thought all 355 guys had disturbing noises coming from their rear ends. Forgive me......
LOL funny plugzit Anyway, bit of an update, thankfully i think the box is ok....I replaced the clutch not so long ago as there was oil leaking from the tripple seals all over it and it was slipping, so....my first port of call was to check the box oil incase Id done something wrong and it had all come out.....thankfully, there was about 4 liters of it, it was clean, and no metally bits at all in it, or on the sump magnet....*Phew* Must be wheel bearings then, so jacked up the motor and once again gave them a good tug, still no play....plan B, take the wheel, caliper off, undo the hub nut and check for play then, perhaps the nut is holding it all tight...i thought. Couldnt get the nut off for love or money..(which way does it go on a RHD model driver side, is it reverse thread?)...so, take the disc off so I have a bit more room to work the nut....well.....I couldnt get that off either. It wouldnt come off either, about 1/4inch then spring back on....hmmm....stuck a screwdriver through adjusted the shoes, still wouldnt come off. Ok I'll turn the disc, see if that frees it up, sercuring nuts back in, turn, at which point I get.....A NICE GRINDING NOISE! not dissimilar from the noise I get when driving. Decided on a brute force attack, finally got the disc off, stuck some wheel bolts in the hub and turn it with a bar, no noise...no notchy, infact very smooth! Cleaned up all the shoes and drum, theres a BIG lip inside the drum, upon reassembly, the parking light doesnt go off, tried backing out the drive and I can feel the wheels binding up here and there as it goes around. Conclusion....I think the rear drums are binding and making the noise, the shoes look quite worn (about 1.5 mm left) so I can only assume that the metal part of the shoe is rubbing on the HUGE lip in the drum.....phew! Better than a gearbox...going attack it again tommorow!
NO worries, I pretty much always post a "buy it now or Best offer" I rarely turn down offers.... Adam
Another update on my saga for those that are interested. Spent some more time today messing about with it, ordered some new grooved rear discs and handbrake shoes, but they dont arrive till tommorow, in the mean time I wanted to make SURE that this noise is from the brakes. Today, stopped the rear right wheel from sticking, and wound the shoes all the way back, so essentially no handbrake on that side, decided to do this one side at a time, bolted everything back up and went for a spin....the noise is still there but definatley a LOT less, so seems like good news. Went back home and did the other side, interestingly the left side looked like it hadnt been apart that long ago, there was still fairly fresh copper grease on the disc face when i got the wheel off. Opened up the drum and everything looked a lot healthier this side, good ammount of material on the shoes, not much of a lip at all, still, did the same thing and wound the shoes this side all the way back....set off on another drive, wasnt much difference if any from my first outing, still there, just quieter. Also seemed to move a lot easier when backing out from my garage than before, theres a slight slope and I dont recall it ever "rolling" slowly down there before today. Got it up to about 70mph and the noise wasnt anywhere near as loud as it was a few days ago, it really was fear inducing, now its just "a concern" if I were to hear it now for the first time. One thing that I didnt measure was the box oil change, I didnt take it for a spin after I changed that to see if that made a different before I started pokin about with everything else. The right ammount was in before and it didnt seem that old, so Im not sure if could really of made any difference....if the box was shot, oil change or not, i would imagine it to still make the same awful noise. Eitherway its not as bad, will see what all new rear brakes do tommorow, adios.
