Hey i just bought an '88 GTA and when i accelerate, i hear a kind of grinding sound. It sounds like its coming from the front right part of the car, but i dont really know since hard to tell while driving. It doesnt constantly grind, just twice for a couple of seconds when i accelerate from a stop. I can only hear it when i accelerate slowly too. When i can hear it grinding is at different speeds between 13-30 mph. If you have any idea what this is please let me know. Thank you, -Austin

 

Safety first. Pull the wheel and inspect the brakes and wheel bearing. I had a rock get caught between my caliper and wheel once. Made a racket.

 

ok, i didnt find a rock stuck anywhere near the wheel or brake. Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

did you inspect the brakes and wheel bearings?

 

im kinda a noob, so how do you check the wheel bearings? And the sound doesnt happen everytime i accelerate, just about half of the time, no matter how fast i accelerate.

 

Probably not the wheel bearings. They don't have anything to do with accelerating about half the time.

I'd be more inclined to suspect your exhaust is rubbing against something when the motor torques over a little.

If somebody hacked off the electric fan and stuck a mechanical one of some sort on it, that could also be rubbing against something.

 

Im thinkin it just might be the exhaust, because i was sitting idle earlier today and reved the engine to about 5000rpms and it made that sound for a second. Do you think that this is an easy fix?

 

does it do it when you turn

 

if im excellerating into the turn, yes. If my foot is not on the gas at all when i turn then no.

 

does it do it when you turn a certain way like left or right, if it only happens when your accelerating my guess would probaly be exhaust might be rubbing on driveshaft.

 

no, it does it when im goin straight down the road and when i turn either way, but it doesnt always do it, thats the strange thing.

 

my car makes a rubbing metal kinda sound when i speed up or at a steady cruise and not when im off the gas im starting to think its the converter going bad as i just had the tranny rebuilt and it had did it before rebuild also.

 

mine doesnt do it when im at a steady cruise, just when im accelerating. Maybe the converter, i dunno.

 

ttt

 

my 89 Formy does the same. it's the exhaust. right near the front passenger wheel. where the exhaust makes it's angle towards the rear, the hanger has come unbolted, and i can't manage to push it back into place, so usually in between 1st & 2nd, i get a little hum which is the exhaust and fuel return rattling. it's annoying, but in the year and a half i've owned the vehicle, it hasn't gotten worse, or caused any problems. otherwise, have fun hanging exhaust (my least favorite job)

Czm

 

Yea thats exactly the problem im having. thanks man. If i cant fix it ill just bring it to a muffler shop and get them to do it.

 

I had the same sound, ended up being the smog pump bearings were goin out

Try running without a belt and see if it still makes the noise