Grinding noise

[rgoers]

My 2000 Sport has developed a grinding noise, and I can't figure out where it is coming from. It happens at speeds as low as 10-15 MPH... and sounds pretty bad. I thought it was the rear diff at first, so I went ahead and changed the fluids (full synthetic, to the tune of $80). The grinding sound did not go away, and now my ABS light came on. Thanks to this forum, I ohm'd the rear sensor, and found it to be bad. I replaced, and all is good there.

The next component I suspected was bearings. I tried the swerving trick, and it doesn't change the noise at all. So, I'm ruling our bearings, I guess.

Does anybody have an idea where I should look next??? This noise seemed to have started a day or so after driving through some flooded roads.

 

[Glen4X4]

The wheel bearings is what I would deff. suspect. Jack each side in front up and try moving the wheel back and fourth it may take some effort to show some movement but yeah not always will you notice by swerving plus thats pretty dangerous if you're not careful (could break lose anytime). But yeah check those front wheel bearings good because with the abs light coming on that also leads me to believe it could be a bad wheel bearing.

 

[rgoers]

Thanks for the reply. I'll check the front bearings. They should be sealed, and I changed the right one about 10k ago. Running through the water probably didn't help.

I'm pretty sure the ABS problem was simply a bad rear sensor. When I put a meter on it, is showed an open circuit. I checked the replacement before putting it in, and it read 1800 ohms. The ABS light went off with the new sensor. I also have been having some issues with the flashing OD light - and I've read that others have solved the problem by replacing the rear speed (ABS) sensor. I haven't driven it far enough (because of the grinding noise) to see if the rear sensor fixed the flashing OD light.

 

[Pontisteve]

Yep, bad wheel bearings. On sealed hub assembly/bearings, you can't repack them. So if you drive thru water, you simply damage the bearings a bit and reduce their life. No fix, except to not drive thru water.

The ABS is heavily dependent on the vehicle speed sensor. It probably was indeed your problem, good call.

 

[Bastek]

Hope you found the problem, but it could also be parking brake pads separating...