Getting there...

Arkady001

Arkady001

Club Member
Apr 2, 2013
461
129
Iserlohn, Germany
Triffic... Got the wheels balanced this morning and the quiet, but annoying wa-wa-wa-wa-wa noise (which gets faster in synch with the wheels as I accellerate) is still there. So that was 60,-€ well-spent. :/
Which means it's probably nothing easy or cheap to fix. I'm still hoping with fingers X'd that it's something like a partially-binding rear caliper as that would also help explain the abysmal fuel consumption compared to my old Cougar... however... knowing my luck...

On the plus side, I swapped out the vacuum pipes and air-filter/throttle pipes so the cold-start 'moosing' should be a thing of the past - if not it's the rest of the air-filter assembly and throttle-body. Easier than drilling and filing down washers to put into tubes...
Also I managed to swap over the broken radio antenna base-unit (zero stress, nice and easy), the tailgate Mercury badge and US-spec front grille...
Finally, washed it all down and scrubbed away the last vestiges of moss and green mould from under the top of the boot-lid and from under all the plastic trim... I think the previous owner must have abandoned it under a tree... :(

Now I just need to try and remember how to install a B&M short-shifter as it's nearly 9 years since I installed it and can't for the life of me remember how to get it out...lol

...and find the cause of that bloody noise...
 
I did the front wheel bearings and the intermediate driveshaft in December on the old one (in the past 12 months there was a lot of remedial repair-work done: new aircon, front wishbones, new rear calipers and hoses/cables - which makes it doubly annoying that I just totalled it - all that money spent for nothing!) and it's a completely different noise, like an intermittent rubbing that increases tempo with the wheel rotation: at slow speeds - around 25mph - it's a low-pitch dub-dub-dub, increasing in pitch and frequency until it's a high whining at about 100-120mph - at that speed, some light vibration is also felt through the steering wheel, which is absent under 80mph.
Unless it manifests differently with back wheels (also, the noise appears to be emanating from forward, but I know that can be deceptive - the front right wheel bearing failure caused a noise to appear from the left of the car), the noise it completely different: I would also expect it to be a constant grinding rather than intermittent.
 
Procomm said:
do you have cheap budget tyres on, some of them can make loud noises, if its not down to the tyre I would suggest you need to replace the wheel bearing (y)
Click to expand...

The 'other' Cougar still has a set of standard wheels with my Winter tyres on - as soon as we negotiate the 'breaking', I'll have those wheels back as well as the double exhaust and I'll do a swap and test drive with those wheels and tyres.
I also have another full set of alloys (they were waiting to have new Summer tyres fitted) that I can play with if it turns out to be a rogue wheel, but that should have been picked up when they were balanced yesterday.
Also the Germans are s**t-hot on old tyres: anything over 5 years old, regardless of tread wear, gets you an 'advisory' to change them. As I went to a specialist tyre dealer, I wouldn't expect them to miss a chance of making another 600,-€ off me...
 
Procomm said:
do you have cheap budget tyres on, some of them can make loud noises, if its not down to the tyre I would suggest you need to replace the wheel bearing (y)
Click to expand...

Tyres...possible - I had some Potenza tyres on my previous Cougar which were left standing for 6 months through the winter after the chap I left the keys with was unexpectedly deployed to Afghanistan also, meaning it didn't get its weekly 'drive-around'.
Those tyres subsequently displayed abnormal wear and eventually came apart...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arkady001/sets/72157625258173698/with/5122903002/

If it were something as simple as flat-spotted tyres, I'll be very happy, as these ones are displaying signs of age - crazing and cracking etc.
 
Can't see your pictures as it's demanding a Yahoo login. But I agree with Paul - I'd be looking at wheel bearings next. (y)
 
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