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Pulsating drone sound 98 Intrigue
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n8frog
New User
Apr 26, 2010, 7:13 PM
Post #1 of 5
(2160 views)
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Pulsating drone sound 98 Intrigue
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When driving my 98 Olds Intrigue, I can hear a pulsating drone sound. When I apply the brakes I can feel a pulsating in the brake petal that corresponds to the sound. At first I assumed a bad tire but after rotating the tires around the car and drive testing I did not notice the sound moving as the wheels were changed in position. I then jacked up the car and tried to "wiggle" each wheel to see if there was any play. I found that the front passenger side wheel had some play and then assumed that the wheel hub and bearing needed to be replaced. I replaced the bearing and hub and now the sound has gotten much quieter. The problem is that I can still hear the sound (barely) and the brake still pulsates in correspondence with the sound. I have looked at each of the 4 brake rotors also and have not noticed any of them looking warped or misshapen. Also if another hub/bearing is to blame I can't hear the sound loud enough now to locate the hub/bearing that still needs replacing. Any advice or possible diagnosis would be appreciated.
Car has alot of KM (290000) but everything handles well... rides smooth, engine is quiet and starts very easily. This has got me going nuts!
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nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Apr 26, 2010, 8:21 PM
Post #2 of 5
(2156 views)
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Re: Pulsating drone sound 98 Intrigue
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get on a straight empty road and swerve it from side to side to see if the noise gets louder to one direction or the other. Often a bearing that is starting to go gets noisy before it gets loose, and this test will tell you. If you are swerving left and the noise gets worse, its the right bearing as the weight of the car is shifted onto it when swerving.
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n8frog
New User
Apr 27, 2010, 8:23 AM
Post #3 of 5
(2150 views)
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Re: Pulsating drone sound 98 Intrigue
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Ok I took the car out on an old country road that has been recently re-paved so road noise would be at a minimum. When swerving to the right or the left the sound stays constant. The sound is very quiet now since I had replaced the front right hub and bearing but still noticeable with the windows closed and radio off. The pulsating feeling in the brake petal is still there and the sound gets louder when braking hard. I have removed each wheel again to inspect the brake rotors again and still I do not see any warping or unusual wear that would indicate warped rotor. (this vehicle has disk brakes all around) I did notice today however that one of my aluminum rims has a very small dent (about 5mm indent) near the center cap. Could this be the rim causing this?
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nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Apr 28, 2010, 6:42 AM
Post #4 of 5
(2137 views)
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Re: Pulsating drone sound 98 Intrigue
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bent rims causing issues usually occur at the bead surface. Beware at counting rotors out after visual inspection. The only way to determine runout is with a dial indicator. As little as .005 of an inch can make it shake to beat the band and would look fine on a visual check. The eyeball micrometer isn't calibrated well enough to see that. With the noise you have, I'd guess a bad tire is doing this. Sometimes they can look good on the outside and the tread itself makes noise. When the wheel bearing was going out it could've affected the tire, as it wasn't held true and straight as it should've been.
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n8frog
New User
Apr 28, 2010, 7:04 AM
Post #5 of 5
(2134 views)
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Re: Pulsating drone sound 98 Intrigue
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Thanks for replying again Nick. I anticipated your response lol. It was in fact a bad tire that was causing the barely noticeable sound after replacing the bearing. I brought the car to a tire shop yesterday afternoon and had them remove the tires from the rims to inspect the tires. It was somewhat pricey however they have some kind of scanner machine (x-ray maybe?) that can see the steel banding within the tires and sure enough one of the tires had a problem in the side wall. The problem was not visible to the naked eye however. The technician at the tire shop explained that the reason for the pulsating in the brake petal was due to the tire slightly folding on the bad spot in the side wall when braking. I replaced that tire and now everything is good. No more sound and the pulsating in the brake petal is gone. 
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