Chryslerdude
Well-Known Member
Hello fellow E-People 
I got my first "e-Body problem", for which I need to ask for help.. my "new" 71 Challenger makes an annoying sound, emerging around 15-20 mph.. peaking around 50-60.
As I don't know the car, (or e-bodies in general), I am a bit in the dark.. and hope for help from some experts here.. ;-)
My Challenger was stationary for a couple of years, and I just got it running yesterday. First trip btw, was a 80 mile trip to go see a 70 Barracuda for sale.. and what a lovely car that was!
The Challenger has been pushed around quite a bit during it's "hibernation", so tires are still round.. I had to replace the electronic ignition controller, as the original one in the car, apparently just "gave in" while sitting.. (how silly is that? The battery was even disconnected..), Systematic progress with a multimeter had me suspecting the module pretty early on, and swapping it did the trick. The engine started, and purred like a kitten.. The alternator turned out to have "gone defective from sitting" as well.. and the ones I had laying around, are both single wire (with built in charge relay I suppose), so until I get the correct one, I get by charging the battery at night (like a damn Tesla :-D ), but enough rambling.. The Challenger drives, and thus we can move on to "The Noise"!
Here are some hints:
The sound itself, is a little like tire noise, but somewhat louder than what I have experienced so far, just from bad tires. It's probably best described as the sound you would get, if firmly pressing the end of a decent size stick, against the thread of a spinning tire, but as no "sticks" seem to be lodged in the wheel wells, presenting such a possibility, it probably could be a bearing too.. (car has newer Cooper Cobras, which despite them probably not being the VERY best tires you can get, is very unlikely to make this much noise just from road contact!)
It IS however proportional to the rotation of the wheels (NOT engine RPM, or any lower gear), and accelerating, decelerating does NOT affect volume, character or intensity of the noise. I suppose that the 906 has a "slip-spline-type" yoke, somewhat eliminating the chance of the noise coming from there.. thus leaving the rear end, as a more probable culprit.
The car clearly "clonks" when shifting btw D and R, while holding the brake, but if the problem is a worn universal joint, pinion bearing, or even pinion / ring gear wear, I dont understand why the noise don't change character, when acc/de-celerating.
The car is nice and original, and appears to have ALL it's insulation intact, which makes it harder to determine the "directional origin", from within the car. So, me and my buddy agreed, that next step was to let one os us sit in the trunk for a little spin, leaning out over the fender, to listen for rear wheel bearings.. :-D
However, as we are both 50+, and (slightly) overweight, I'd prefer to locate the noise another way..
Hope to hear suggestions. I am ordering parts soon.. and hope to locate the source before ordering.. ;-)
Thnx in advance..!
440 kind greetings,
Kasper - (aus Dänemark, as they say in Germany) :-D
I got my first "e-Body problem", for which I need to ask for help.. my "new" 71 Challenger makes an annoying sound, emerging around 15-20 mph.. peaking around 50-60.
As I don't know the car, (or e-bodies in general), I am a bit in the dark.. and hope for help from some experts here.. ;-)
My Challenger was stationary for a couple of years, and I just got it running yesterday. First trip btw, was a 80 mile trip to go see a 70 Barracuda for sale.. and what a lovely car that was!
The Challenger has been pushed around quite a bit during it's "hibernation", so tires are still round.. I had to replace the electronic ignition controller, as the original one in the car, apparently just "gave in" while sitting.. (how silly is that? The battery was even disconnected..), Systematic progress with a multimeter had me suspecting the module pretty early on, and swapping it did the trick. The engine started, and purred like a kitten.. The alternator turned out to have "gone defective from sitting" as well.. and the ones I had laying around, are both single wire (with built in charge relay I suppose), so until I get the correct one, I get by charging the battery at night (like a damn Tesla :-D ), but enough rambling.. The Challenger drives, and thus we can move on to "The Noise"!
Here are some hints:
The sound itself, is a little like tire noise, but somewhat louder than what I have experienced so far, just from bad tires. It's probably best described as the sound you would get, if firmly pressing the end of a decent size stick, against the thread of a spinning tire, but as no "sticks" seem to be lodged in the wheel wells, presenting such a possibility, it probably could be a bearing too.. (car has newer Cooper Cobras, which despite them probably not being the VERY best tires you can get, is very unlikely to make this much noise just from road contact!)
It IS however proportional to the rotation of the wheels (NOT engine RPM, or any lower gear), and accelerating, decelerating does NOT affect volume, character or intensity of the noise. I suppose that the 906 has a "slip-spline-type" yoke, somewhat eliminating the chance of the noise coming from there.. thus leaving the rear end, as a more probable culprit.
The car clearly "clonks" when shifting btw D and R, while holding the brake, but if the problem is a worn universal joint, pinion bearing, or even pinion / ring gear wear, I dont understand why the noise don't change character, when acc/de-celerating.
The car is nice and original, and appears to have ALL it's insulation intact, which makes it harder to determine the "directional origin", from within the car. So, me and my buddy agreed, that next step was to let one os us sit in the trunk for a little spin, leaning out over the fender, to listen for rear wheel bearings.. :-D
However, as we are both 50+, and (slightly) overweight, I'd prefer to locate the noise another way..
Hope to hear suggestions. I am ordering parts soon.. and hope to locate the source before ordering.. ;-)
Thnx in advance..!
440 kind greetings,
Kasper - (aus Dänemark, as they say in Germany) :-D
