eternal981

and no, its not my supercharger i think i already know the answer to this, but i want to hear it from someone else, too.

low down: 2000 Mustang Saleen S281, 5 speed, 3.73 ford rear end.

The car makes a whining noise. I don't really notice it below ~40, and its pretty quiet between 40-45. above 45, you can hear it loud and clear, as long as you're in the proper gear. (Obviously at 45 in 2nd gear, my RPMs are loud enough to mask the noise).

It doesn't matter if you're in the throttle, coasting, decel, in neutral (clutch in or out), in gear with the clutch in. If I throw it in neutral and coast to a stop, I can hear it all the way down to 5 or 10mph. If I hit my brakes, it quiets down a lot, but doesn't quite go away. If I'm driving (again, doesn't matter in gear/neutral/whatever) and turn the wheel just barely to the left, it gets loud. Either it gets loud, or a whole new noise is coming in at the same frequency.. so I'm assuming its the same noise. Turn further to the left, and it goes back down to the normal volume. It changes if I turn to the right also, but just barely.

Oh...the last part to the equation. I can't really tell where it's coming from by ear. All I could tell you is that it pretty much resonates through the entire chassis.

what are your ideas?

samseed101

how long ago did you put the 3.73s in? It's a long shot, but new gears can make a whining soud that resonates in the passenger compartment. It kind of sounds like what you are describing. But I'd have to hear it to be sure. It's like a deep whining mechanical sound who's pitch slightly changes with speed.... I guess that's the best way I can describe it.

eternal981

it's been a while since the 3.73 gears went in. thats been on my list of possibilities, but what throws it off is that it changes when i turn..

samseed101

yeah.. the "turning" thing is what made me say it was a "long shot"..... was thinking possibly two different issues... but that's unliely, especially if they have been in awhile.

just grab an audio recorder and get a good copy of it for us!

pete1665

i just posted a thread about this same problem a couple weeks ago. Driving straight or turning right the noise was loud, turning left it got quieter. I replaced both front wheel bearing/ hub assemblies to fix the problem(driver side was bad). $60 a piece and an hour of work.

Dan04COBRA

Wheel bearings or u-joint would be a good place to start.

eternal981

U joints were my first guess a couple months ago, but after driving around this summer, I've been thinking wheel bearings. There's a good chance I'll change the u-joints also, since they're so cheap...but the wheel bearing is what i suspect.

i've heard that you can rock a tire "up and down", sorta, and check the wheel bearing that way....but how much play should i be able to feel, if any?

also, Pete - did you have to replace the whole assembly, or could you just replace the bearings? I've never looked into the front bearing assembly on these cars (never had to). and $60 is pretty cheap, where was that from?

samseed - you're right on the money, i've wanted an audio recorder a MILLION times to record little noises with this car! where in the world do you get one that picks up good sound though??? all the ones i've seen you can barely hear voices, and even those arent very clear.. i'm beginning to see that its practically a requirement if you want to do your own work though. haha