2000 V6, 96k miles, garage kept
I've been hearing a whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound for a while now and couldn't determine the source. It sounds as though it is coming from the rear. I had the rear diff serviced last year after noticing a slight leak, sound still there. Found some tiny round ball bearings by back tire one morning, googled the **** out of what it might be from, took her to a shop to have them check wheel bearings, even though everything says she has roller bearings in wheel hub assembly, not *****. They put her on the rack and did the wiggle test and looked her over, said it must be from something else in my garage. Still whooshing, and periodically more bearings found around the car. While looking up info for why my aftermarket pioneer stereo will no longer re-seat into the cradle (no power...a later story), I came across a 1A Auto video about strut/shock bearing mounts and what they look like inside...and there they were! My little *****! (LOL, yes girls have ***** too, they're just on the inside). So, DID they fall out?
Symptoms:
- whooshing that increases/decreases with speed
-6mm ***** on floor around car
- in park, with steering UNLOCKED, there is a 'clunk' sound every time I turn the steering wheel, right or left from what seems to be the driver side front wheel area, the same side I keep finding ***** (she said *****, he he).
NON-SYMPTOMS:
- no squeaking when driving
- no noise going over speed bumps, clunking, banging or squeaking
- no alignment issues, drives straight, no drift
- no noise when turning while driving , like the clanks/clunk I when in park, at least not that I can hear and with no stereo sound, I can now hear all the **** I usually drown out.
- no noise going over speed bumps with the wheels turned to hit it an angle
- no uneven tire wear. I have 18" Mossa Mosaic wheels with Falken 245/40ZR18 tires with probably under 1k miles.

I don't drive much, I've barely put 100 miles on her since my last oil change 15 months ago (though now I have a F'n oil leak that I never in 20+ years...m***f**s). I have a limited budget (disability) so I've avoided driving, but I miss being in my baby, t-tops off, rammstein drowning all thoughts and sounds...especially if there's a light-medium rain cleaning up the air....sorry, off topic...

Question: coil over shock (that's for you liberty...) mount gone bad?
There is a slight squeaking when I first sit in the car, front passenger side, so I'm thinking I need to just get, if the concession concedes, to replacing both front shock assemblies, but $ is tight, and I am unable to do it myself, so what brand would you recommend?

Thank you if read this far, any for any assistance you can provide.
Chark (like shark)

 

have someone bounce the steering wheel back and forth while you get down under the front as best you can and see what's moving and what is not. if the steering shaft going into the rack is turning and the shafts that come out of it on each side are not moving I would suspect the rack is not happy. if the shafts are moving in and out but the ends are flexing then I would look at outer tie rod ends. outer tie rods are a common failure point on these.

 

Thanks craby, will do

 

Also put your hand on the shock tower under the hood when it clunking.

 

Will do, gorn.

So, can a bad shock mount be the cause of the whooshing sound? Or do I have another issue I need to check on? It's really hard to determine where the sound is coming from while I'm driving, whether the front or back.

 

can you get a recording of it and post on here. a guess would be power steering pump, only thing I can think of.

 

Craby, it'll be a few days, but I'll try.
Thanks

 

Whooshing sound is not a term I am used to. I have worked on a lot of cars and I have never heard anything I would descried as a whooshing sound. I have had friends descried sounds to me for a half an hour on the phone and I had no idea what they where talking about. Only to have them pull in the driveway and I knew what was wrong with the car before they got out.

 

LOL, Gorn.
I know, trying to describe a sound with words is not that easy. All I can say is that it is not a clanging, banging, whirling, squeaking, clicking...etc.
I will try to get a recording of it to post as craby requested, but for now, I'll try to give a better idea of what it sounds like to me:
It is a repetitive, low-end sound (not high-end like a squeaking) that increases in repetition with speed. It continues whether I'm accelerating, braking or turning. There are no additional sounds in those conditions either, even when going over speed bumps. I guess it sounds more like a rubbing sound than anything, but not a metal-to-metal, it sounds too low , more low-level mid range vs tweeter. I'm sure that helps you not at all, lol, but it's all I can think to provide without a recording.
Thanks for trying to help

 

lol, my car makes a whooshing sound when I pass,,, also one more thing to consider would be the driveshaft carrier bearing.