John Hobson wrote:
>
> Just so you don't all think I am totally stupid, I did actually query the
> noise 3 months ago when I first heard it with my local TSSC. They said
> that was a normal noise and nothing to worry about at the time, 'old cars
> develop all sorts of strange noises that are often nothing to worry
> about', bad advice maybe... .
At risk of picking sides between two people I've never
met, ignoring noises is a lot different than ignoring
regular service. (oil level checks)
A lot of times noises can be safely ignored, because frankly
the car might go for 15 years without getting any worse so
why not wait and see.
Fluid levels, sadly, should never be ignored. Those types
of things can get expensive really fast.
If you ignore a noise and it gets worse, you are often
spending no more later you just don't get to pick the
weekend to get the repair done. ;>
> I also had the car service a week later and
> they didn't pick up on anything.
Likely, unless you specifically asked them to check
the diff oil, they wouldn't, and I wouldn't fault them
for it. Time is money, and you can't expect them to just
"snoop around the car" looking for things to do. You
might even be angry if you took it in for a small job
and they presented you with a 4 digit estimate based
on "what they found while they had the car".
Please keep us informed on what you find when you
rip it apart.
I have a similar story to this actually, a local MGB
friend had me over to try to figure out where the noise
was coming from. We drove around a bit as I sat on the
deck lid trying to decide which side it was coming
from to no avail.
When we got it back to his driveway I looked underneath
and mentioned "hey, leaky diff" and he said "yah it's
been doing that for years".
"Um, have you checked the level recently?" Nope, sure
enough, spun pinion bearing.
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
"My car gets 40 rods to the hog's head, and that's the way I like it!" -Abe
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