[Arment76]

My '00 starts lightly tcking when the car gets rolling along. It's not the engine as I can put the car in park or neutral and the ticking will go away, even while revving up the rpms.

This is getting highly annoying and I'm having trouble diagnosing the problem...I can't run alongside the car with the hood up!

 

[rsay777]

I'm assuming that the ticking is related to the rolling of the car? change in sound as speed increases?

CV joint?
wheel bearing?

 

[Erling]

Does it get more pronounced if you turn left or right? This would indicate wheelbearing on the load side.

 

[Woody '04]

most likely wheel bearing and/or CV joint.

if you happen to have wheel covers, it could be them! the clips grasp the outside of the rim and if the cover is damaged or the clips a little loose with age they can make noise. mine drove me crazy for awhile until i figured it out.

try going REAL SLOW and have someone stand outside the car listening to see if it can be pinpointed. try this with and without any brakes on so you can see if any braking makes noticeable difference in the noise.

 

[Arment76]

It doesn't get worse when I turn. The clicking does get faster along with the car. So there's a correlation...

I know I need to put more tension on th fan belt as it's been slipping on occasion, but the two symptoms don't really seen related.

 

[baires60]

You probably did this already, but I had the same thing with my VW Jetta and thought I had something stuck on the tire - it was more of a click than a tick but it ended up being the oil was low..I was just able to get to the gas station when the oil light went on, after he added oil the clicks went away. Just a thought.

Silvia

 

[Arment76]

No wheel covers on the Foz...
It's a very light ticking sound but amazingly annoying.
I've heard a bad cv joint on other cars that sound significantly worse in their ticking or knocking...especially when turning. As far as I knew, cv joints only really made noise when making a turn. Is that wrong?

Thanks for all the ideas so far!!

 

[Arment76]

Baires60 - did the clicking correlate with the actual speed of the car/revolutions of the wheels? Or with the rpms of the engine when you gave it gas?

I checked the oil this morning to be sure, levels looked ok, if not a little high.

 

[RayinAlaska]

First do the following:

1. Park the car in a level surface, transmission in neutral, parking brake off

2. Check the tire pressure of each tire

3. Now look at the treads very carefully (use a flashlight if needed). Look for a small rock, a piece of metal, screw heat, nail head, or anything else

4. Push the far backward or forward to inspect the rest of the treads

If one of the tires is low on pressure, concentrate on that one first. If the pressures are good, then inspect every tire tread. After you have done this, then continue trying to isolate the problem. A screw, nail, a rock, or a piece of metal stuck on the tire will make a ticking sound that corresponds with tire speed.

 

[Arment76]

The ticking seems to have gone away for now...
Hopefully for good! Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[RayinAlaska]

The ticking seems to have gone away for now...
Hopefully for good! Thanks for all the suggestions!

A good indication that it was a piece of metal, or just a small rock in one of the tire treads.

 

[ohforester]

clicking

most likely wheel bearing and/or CV joint.

if you happen to have wheel covers, it could be them! the clips grasp the outside of the rim and if the cover is damaged or the clips a little loose with age they can make noise. mine drove me crazy for awhile until i figured it out.

try going REAL SLOW and have someone stand outside the car listening to see if it can be pinpointed. try this with and without any brakes on so you can see if any braking makes noticeable difference in the noise.

I had an 84 Reliant wagon bought new that had a clicking by about 25,000 miles. The dealer said nothing was wrong.

Firestone tried to sell me all new cv joints and struts. Before spending any $ I tried to find the problem. I pulled one wheel at a time and found nothing. Drove it before putting the hub caps back on- it was the hub caps!