2000 Chevy Cavalier Grinding noise from front passenger whe

CLEVOHIO

MEMBER
2000 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
121,000 MILES

I have a 2000 cavalier 2.2, and I just had my passenger side CV Axle and hub bearing replaced about 1 month ago with no problems. Yesterday, I went on a mission to fix the whining sound coming from one of my pulleys. I took the belt off and spun all the pulleys, all of which seemed fine. So I started with the PS pump, replaced that and it still made the noise. Then I replaced the tensioner, still made the noise. But, in order to pull out the old tensioner, I had to disconnect the passender side motor mount because the tensioner bolt was too long and was hitting the fender before I could get it completely out. I only dropped the engine about an inch or two. Once I got everything back in, I purged the PS system till the fluid was perfect. Although the whining sound still exists, I have developed a grinding sound on my passenger front wheel area. It only happens when you accelerate hard from a dead stop, or doing the same while turning left. Once the car reaches about 3000 RPM in 1st gear, the grinding goes away. Accelerating hard in any other gear is perfectly fine. Turning hard either way while at speed so far does not cause the grind. Reversing hard does not produce the sound either. Only from dead stops. It sounds like two metal points rubbing together somewhere, like dragging a big screw driver across something metal. Accelerating slightly slower than normal creates no grind. Any suggestions?

2 Replies

CLEVOHIO

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I guess I should also mention that the night before I started any of this, I got a flat tire on the passenger front tire. When I pulled the car into the garage to start on the whining noise, I put the space saver spare on. Once I was finnished with purging the PS system, I drove it around the block, slowly. Although the spare seemed a little loud, I didnt think it was a problem, just that its a spare and thats just how it is. The next morning I drove on the spare about 20 miles or so to get a new tire. Im pretty sure they balanced it, but since I drove it carefully with the spare on the car, I never noticed the grinding till I got the new tire on. Although I am almost positive I accelerated from a stop hard enough once with the spare that I noticed a new noise from that tire. But, again, since it was the spare, I just kinda figured that was the reason. Could a spare cause a bearing or cv axle to go bad?