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Grinding noise when turning left and hard acceleration

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Bedford
#1
I don't do this real often, but sometimes I just need to get on the gas while turning left so I can get into the small gap in traffic. Get a bit of wheel spin and I get a terrible grinding noise that sounds like it's coming from front right of car during wheel spin. I first noticed this on Friday July 9th. I checked for wheel bearing play and as far as I can tell there's none. I checked suspension stuff and am not seeing anything obviously wrong, no torn boots on anything. Steering and suspension still feels solid when driving. The other thing I noticed right about the same time is that the engine seems louder (but not significantly so), especially during a cold start. It could be placebo because I hear one sound and now I'm looking for others because I don't like abnormal noises coming from my vehicles. Haven't replaced anything that would make it louder. The trim in the interior plastic also vibrates more at first cold start and during driving which also started at the same time. I know correlation doesn't always equal causation and these don't really seem linked at all, but I wanted to put that in as something I have experienced. I'm not really worried about the trim vibrating, it's a nearly 6 year old economy car, so it's expected. I mention it because it wasn't doing it prior and suddenly I'm getting a louder noise from the engine and more trim vibration

I don't feel any vibrations or noise from the front right when driving normally. The grinding only happens on a hard left with acceleration. I tried it with sport mode as well and it has the same result. My first guess was wheel bearing or CV joint, but wheel bearing feels fine as I mentioned and I spun the wheel off the ground and didn't hear any noises from the CV joint. I've had bad wheel bearings in my other cars and know what they sound like which is a constant low whirring noise when the wheel is spinning that goes along with the speed of the wheel and I don't hear that in this case. I've never had a CV joint failing on any of my cars but from what I read it clicks constantly, and I don't hear any clicking. My other thought is an issue with the transmission, but not sure how to diagnose that. I did try a couple accelerations when turning right and couldn't make the noise, so it's only left turns on the right front corner of the car to the best of my hearing ability when inside the cabin. I checked for loose plastic near the wheel and didn't see any. The sound is more metallic from what I can hear, but I'm not 100% certain on that.

Recent work on the car: Passenger side motor mount (torqued down with a torque wrench, but I haven't checked and they could have backed out), coolant replacement, transmission fluid replacement with Ravenol MTF-2 75W-80, spark plugs. About a month after doing that work I drove the car on a 3000 mile road trip that was uneventful as far as car issues other than getting the engine temps a bit high driving up inclines in Utah and Colorado. As soon as I realized it both times I slowed down and turned on the heater to full blast to help cool it down. It's been a month since the trip. Engine oil was replaced right before and right after that trip. Haven't noticed any drips or leaks from anything.

I had read something of an issue that sounded similar that someone had and they said once their front brakes were replaced the issue was gone after having replaced the wheel bearing that didn't fix the issue. I still have life in my pads, but there's a good sized lip on the rotor from wear. Probably time to swap the brakes. I replaced them before somewhere around 3 years ago and ~45K miles and I now have 93K miles. I used the brakes a lot harder my first couple of years of ownership. I didn't realize how much they would wear and ran them down to nothing for my first set to the point that the lip of the rotor was rubbing on the metal back plate of the pad. It's not there yet, but I won't wait this time.

I suppose I could just do a brake replacement and test but I was just wondering what others may suggest. It only does this when accelerating and turning left from a stop when I get wheel spin. I've done hard left corning at speed and did some fun turns around some roundabouts without any grinding when driving it to test.
 


dhminer

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#2
Disclaimer: I have no damn idea. But I'd check first the passenger side mount you replaced. Bolt could be broken or worked itself loose? Just a thought since that's the side it's coming from and that mount takes a lot of pressure when accelerating.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #3
I finally got a moment this evening to check the torque on all the passenger side motor mount bolts. The only one that needed a little tightening was the main bolt that goes in the middle of the mount, but it wasn't significant. It also didn't change the loud noise or vibration in any way.

I investigated a bit further and listened to the engine to try and pinpoint where the loudness is coming from. When I first cold start the car it goes to about 1200-1300 rpm as it normally would before settling down to 800-900ish at regular idle. During that 1200 rpm idle is when it's the loudest. It's normal at normal idle. When I rev it up I get the loudness when it goes through the 1200-1300 area (I didn't pay attention to the exact range, bit likely up to 2000), and then the loudness settles down and it's just engine revving. When the rpm comes back down it again hits that range again and vibrates and is louder until it goes down to idle and then it's fine.

I will have my roommate rev the engine for me tomorrow so I can actually check from outside the cabin, but as far as I can tell the loud sound is coming from behind the engine. It doesn't really sound like vibrating heat shields. But it does make the whole car vibrate which is why the interior trim is vibrating like crazy. Checked the engine oil and it's fine.

I ordered new brakes, just waiting for them to ship in. I don't know if that will solve the grinding noise. These two issues don't seem at all related from what I can tell.

Driving my truck for now in case this is a serious issue, don't really want to do more damage.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #4
Replaced the front brakes but the grinding noise persists.
 


XR650R

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#5
U joint on the right driveshaft?
 


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Springfield
#6
My work vehicle makes an annoying clicking sound. It too is front-wheel drive, and the technician said the CV axle needs to be replaced. Maybe it's your CV axle making the noise.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #7
Maybe. I drove it to work today and it seems like it's getting worse. I could hear a rotational noise sometimes. I just dropped it off at the mechanic this evening. Seems like two separate issues and I'm just not skilled enough to diagnose them. I don't like wasting money throwing parts at it until it works again.
 


XR650R

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#8
I think Sprinkle Star nailed it. I guess we'll see.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #9
They looked at it some more after hearing the noise and couldn't figure it out. Said everything looks good. They point to the Cobb rear motor mount as the problem for the vibrations. But it's been on there since nearly new. The car was pretty much vibration-less when brand new with the stock mounts, and only added small amount of vibration after I installed it. Since then it's been fine, until suddenly there's a lot of vibration.

They said they've done all they can. They swapped out the transmission mount as it was the only original mount in the car still. It probably needed to be done anyway judging by how bad the passenger side mount was. So I'll pick it up and look at the Cobb mount to see if it looks damaged or something. Maybe swap in the original rear motor mount to test if I can find it in my storage unit. That wouldn't solve the grinding noise though, so I don't know.
 


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BC, Canada
#10
Can you try recording the noise(s) inside the cabin and maybe with a gopro/otherwise attached to the right fender?
 


OP
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Thread Starter #11
I thought about grabbing my dashcam footage and seeing if it captures the sound. If that doesn't work, when I have time I'll try to attach a camera somewhere outside and see if I can get it to do it. I plan to be going out of state this weekend and driving back with another car so I don't have to daily drive my truck anymore since this Fiesta is going to take awhile to figure out.
 


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#12
I thought about grabbing my dashcam footage and seeing if it captures the sound. If that doesn't work, when I have time I'll try to attach a camera somewhere outside and see if I can get it to do it. I plan to be going out of state this weekend and driving back with another car so I don't have to daily drive my truck anymore since this Fiesta is going to take awhile to figure out.
I may have missed it in your other posts, but I'm also wondering whether the noise is present everywhere after certain steering wheel angle or only in a certain range and disappears if you keep cranking the wheel past it? How far is the wheel turned before it starts grinding?

Either way, you can probably note the wheel position and then raise the right wheel on jack stands, set the wheel angle, put the car in neutral and see if you can reproduce it by just spinning the wheel.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #13
Been a bit if time because I bought another car and had to fix a few things on it quickly since it's my daily now and then I got covid so I had to get past that.

I drove the car around a bit more and it definitely makes the noise during harder acceleration when going straight now. So it's getting worse. It only makes the noise when accelerating from a lower speed. So if I was already going at a decent speed and got on it the noise would not be present. My dad said he thinks it the CV axle based on how I described it. That's what makes the most sense to me because I feel zero play in the wheel bearing and I can't imagine what else it could possibly be besides a transmission issue.

For the vibration issue the shop kept telling me it's the Cobb RMM so I found the original one and put it back in. The vibration is better, but that's to be expected since it's softer; I can move the rubber with my hands kinda soft, and the original mount doesn't have more than 5k miles on it. I don't think the problem is ultimately solved though because even if I put in a brand new Cobb RMM I would still vibrate more than it ever has in the past 90,000 miles that I've had a Cobb RMM in the car. No idea on that... I'll circle back to that issue after I get the other issue fixed I suppose.

I ordered a right side CV axle. I thought I could do it myself but I just hate working on cars anymore and it's so freaking hot and humid here in Texas. I gave up and put it back together. Going to drop it off at the shop and have them swap it out for me and see if it fixes it or if I wasted a bunch of money for nothing again.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #14
Had the shop replace the CV axle. It didn't fix the issue.

I guess when I have time next week I'll try and attach my dashcam to the fender and drive around to try and capture the sound. It really seems like the sound is coming from the front passenger, but it also could be just me placing the sound there because that's the wheel that takes the beating during a hard left turn which is when the sound is the worst.

I don't really know what else to do to maximize getting this thing diagnosed and repaired correctly and not spending anymore money that needed. My roommate keeps telling me to go to the Ford dealer but I hate the dealer with a passion and I feel that experience may make me more frustrated than I already am. I don't know of other reputable shops in my area. I have the feeling it may be a transmission issue. I could take it to a transmission shop, but then it may end up not being a transmission issue and they can't do anything with it. But if I take it the the dealer they would probably just want to replace the entire trans rather than rebuilding whatever is wrong with it if it ends up being a transmission issue.

All this and I still have the stupid vibration to figure out.
 


Rocketst

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#15
I had a grinding noise once and you may be referring to me in your first post about someone replacing everything.... Yeah I replaced the brakes, CV axles, control arms, bearings, hubs even the knuckles all brand new parts.... After that it went away and I never really figured out what it was. But it was so frustrating that I just decided after 3 months of it grinding to send everything at it. At least the car rides smooth as shit now haha. throughout the entire experience I really felt like it was the caliper locking up but my first repair being a bearing replacement due to this issue, I also replaced the hub and knuckle at the same time and it continued so I was worried it would screw up the bearing again so I just replaced everything because getting a bearing replaced at the shop her is 4 hrs and 120 dollars -.- really wish I had a press sometimes

Sent from my IN2019 using Tapatalk
 


Sam4

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#16
I had a grinding noise once and you may be referring to me in your first post about someone replacing everything.... Yeah I replaced the brakes, CV axles, control arms, bearings, hubs even the knuckles all brand new parts.... After that it went away and I never really figured out what it was. But it was so frustrating that I just decided after 3 months of it grinding to send everything at it. At least the car rides smooth as shit now haha. throughout the entire experience I really felt like it was the caliper locking up but my first repair being a bearing replacement due to this issue, I also replaced the hub and knuckle at the same time and it continued so I was worried it would screw up the bearing again so I just replaced everything because getting a bearing replaced at the shop her is 4 hrs and 120 dollars -.- really wish I had a press sometimes

Sent from my IN2019 using Tapatalk
Ahhh, good times..I too tore into the suspension looking for strange noises. I learned to turn up the volume on the radio.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #18
This car hasn't been a priority since I own a truck and a Volvo wagon that I've been driving and having to fix the Volvo wagon a lot... But I took it to the Ford dealer on Saturday Oct 16. I called them yesterday and the update was that the front end techs looked at it and determined it was likely an engine issue so the car has been passed to the engine tech queue. They are backed up so probably mid next week before they can look at it. But I hadn't driven the car more than 150 miles since mid July. It was sitting in the garage being used as storage. So it's whatever if it takes awhile.

I was really hoping it would be some stupid cheap fix, but engine issues usually aren't. Hopefully its something that can be rebuilt for not too many thousands of dollars.

I honestly haven't missed the Fiesta that much if it ever dies get fixed I'll drive it again for awhile and see if I just have lost interest and it may end up being put up for sale. If the repair cost is outstanding I may just have to sell it as-is. Would be a bit of a sad ending to my car. But I'm tired of spending tons of money on car repairs so it may be preferable to just sell it as is.

I'll update again when I know what the issue is for those following along or anyone searching in the future. Maybe it won't end up being an engine issue. Here's to hoping that.
 


Intuit

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#19
.................get on the gas while turning left .......get a terrible grinding noise that sounds like it's coming from front right of car during wheel spin. .............. Replaced the front brakes but the grinding noise persists. ................. I could hear a rotational noise sometimes. .......... Had the shop replace the CV axle. ..................makes the noise during harder acceleration when going straight now. So it's getting worse. .............
It has to be something that is rotating. If you hear it more through the vehicle than through the air, it is something that is beefy/solid metal.

Take the caliper and carrier off and look for evidence of contact between rotor and inside of carrier, caliper.

Inspect along the axle shaft and look for evidence of contact between it and some part of the wheel well.

Rougher idle... as long as it isn't missing, wouldn't stress about it. For my own vehicle, the colder the weather, the stiffer the (stock) mounts, and the more vibration I get on cold start as a result. The balancing on in-line cylinder engines aren't nearly as smooth as the V-type.
 


Last edited:
OP
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Thread Starter #20
The latest update is that the dealer that I took it to was so backed up that as of October 29th, they wouldn't be able to look at it for another six weeks. They offered to transfer it to a sister dealer in the area who could look at it sooner.

That dealer was able to look at it last week and diagnosed the issue as motor mount issues and said the engine was fouling on the frame. I guess that's consistent with the issues, lots of vibrations and the engine hitting the frame causing the grinding noise I thought was a rotational noise.

I was told yesterday that they would be receiving the parts today so I'd expect it will probably be completed tomorrow or the next. I went ahead and had them replace the timing belt and water pump as well since it's nearly due anyway. I guess I will see soon if that's all the issue was or if they can't diagnose anything either.
 




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