Anyone knowledgeable about car mechanics?

[lilylover]

I was driving my 2005 Honda Civic around this morning with zero problems. Later on today I drove over to FI''s apartment and noticed that sometimes, when I would turn left, a metal against metal noise would come from the front right of my car. It did not sound nice! It didn''t happen every time that I turned left, only on turns that were sharp and load bearing.

Then, as I was leaving his apartment I noticed that when my car was in reverse and I was moving straight backwards applying only the gas and not turning the steering wheel, my car made a slight high pitched hum.

I continued to drive home (noticing the metal noise again when turning left out of his apartment) and about 5 minutes into the drive as I was heading in a straight line down the road this awful noise started. You know what your garbage disposal sounds like when you accidentally turn it on with a spoon or fork in there? It sounded just like that. I started to panic and looked for someplace to pull over when the noise suddenly stopped. It lasted about 10 seconds.

I tried to recreate the scenario so that I could take someone in the car with me and have them listen to everything again and get a better idea of what is going on, but of course everything has been acting normal since.

Anyone have any idea? I really don''t have any money to take it to the mechanic for diagnostics.

 

[treefrog]

I''m not sure about the left turn only thing but when you... ok... when most people turn, they touch the brakes a bit. A metal on metal sound 9.8 times out of 10 is a brake issue. May only be brake pads. I wouldn''t hesitate or it could be brake pads AND brake rotors. Most brake pads have a metal tab or something similar built in to them. When the pads are worn low enough to expose the metal, you get that metal on metal noise. As long as you don''t wait too long, it shouldn''t be too expensive. Smaller auto shops...Midas and independent local shops... will probably be a fair amount cheaper than a dealer and should be well equipped to do it. In fact, I believe Midas does free inspections.

Treefrog

 

[MonkeyPie]

It could be a number of things - your right wheel may be touching in hard inside of the wheel well, you may need new brake pads (at least on that side), or maybe your tires need balancing. It could also be your timing belt - it tends to whine when it needs replacing. If you know someone that knows where the belt is in your car, have them take a look and see what it looks like. If it''s cracking, get a new one.

 

[somethingshiny]

Did you feel any shaking through the steering wheel?

 

[Lynnie]

The first thing I thought of was rotors as well. Metal on metal will make that type of noise, as Treefrog said. If you need both frnt brakes and the rotors cut, it will probably run you around 300-400 bucks.

ETA, if it only happens when your foor is on the brake, then it's probably the brakes. If not, yes, get your timing chain checked. Does your car have a lot of miles on it? I don't think timing chains are supposed to just go like that... mine had to be replaced at around 120000 miles. And it was expensive, like $900.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

It doesn''t sound like breaks to me, it sounds like either CV joints or bearings.

 

[somethingshiny]

ditto on HH. That''s why I asked if the car was shaking. A CV joint or bearing will always shake through the steering wheel.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

CV joints make a "chunk chunk chunk" noise as you turn and bearings just sound like something is grinding or catching under the car/axle.

 

[Amethyste]

Date: 8/14/2009 12:24:53 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
It doesn''t sound like breaks to me, it sounds like either CV joints or bearings.

Yup... Wheel bearings!

 

[lilylover]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. FI says he is going to take a look at it for me. He''s pretty good with cars.

On an interesting note.. I drove it around quite a bit today and it seems 100 percent fine. I am wondering if maybe there was a rock or something stuck up there between something, causing the noise? Maybe the spoon in garbage disposal noise was it (whatever it was) falling out?

 

[Elmorton]

Lily, call Click and Clack!!! I''ve always wanted to be able to call, but a) you have to have a mysterious problem and b) you need to have your car make some sort of noise because they looooove imitating it on the air. http://www.cartalk.com/menus/show.html

I have no truly helpful advice...hope it turns out ok!!