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H3 Annoying grinding/vibration sound

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Bsg424

Member
Messages
9
Location
New York
I need help, please. I have a 2006 h3 with the adventure package—140k. Never took it off-roads. At about 2k-3k rpm’s I have this resonant metallic vibration when I accelerate. Front end—mostly on pass side. It sounds like a heat shield rattle, but it’s not.
Replaced manifold shield and thought the shield could be slightly off.. I drove the car without the shield to test it—vibration was still there. Replaced both motor mounts(it did need it but sound is still there), replaced both hubs (left side needed it), replaced crossmember bushing (needed it, used Polyurethane one), replaced steering rack bushings (as a precaution with Polyurethane, but they were fine), replaced trans mount which looked fine. Replaced both bump stops for lower control arm. Replaced all 4 sway bar links.
What could it be???
 
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Bsg424

Member
Messages
9
Location
New York
I know there have been a few of these posts but I think I reviewed them all and replaced the possible parts.. I just need this sound gone lol
 
alrock

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,447
Location
Scottsdale
Brake lines along the top of the firewall, near the cowl, can come unclipped and vibrate. Stock intake? If not, check for rubs through fenderwall and check clamps. Next I'd be looking at idler and tensioner with the belts.
 
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Bsg424

Member
Messages
9
Location
New York
Thank you Alrock! The intake is stock. I just checked the brake lines near the firewall yesterday and they were secure. (I do tend to check all the lines more often just because I lost my brakes in the past—thank goodness I was the first car stopped at a red light). I’m glad I saw your motor mount replay on an another vibration post because mine were due—but noise is still there. I was thinking that the belt and tensioner should be next! Thank you!
 
lowtrac

lowtrac

Well-Known Member
Messages
222
Location
Georgia
Something under the plastic cover below the steering wheel makes a heat shield sounding vibration for me sometimes. I haven’t pulled it down to find out what it is, but I just push it up towards the steering column with my foot when it does it. May be worth a look.


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Bsg424

Member
Messages
9
Location
New York
Noise is basically passenger side—not on the drivers. But I did just remove that plastic housing and the steering wheel yesterday, to replace the intermediate and lower steering shaft. SO MUCH FUN RIPPING THIS CAR APART! Lol
 
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08H3

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,315
Location
United States
My parking brake cable rattles at times. Occasional and only on really rough surfaces, do I've never done anything about it, but you might check that too. Good luck. I know how much of a pain mystery sounds are to uncover.
 
rascole

rascole

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,587
Location
Bellflower, CA
Have you changed the oil in the front diff? Check for unwanted metal shavings. Otherwise the heat shields under the body could be loose.
 
SlcHummer

SlcHummer

Well-Known Member
Messages
368
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
Is there an actual sound that you can hear from outside of the vehicle? If so I assume the sound is only present when the vehicle is moving? I recently replaced an ac delco cv axle that had a ripped boot with a new cardone cv axle but immediately was experiencing a minor vibration/grinding in the gas pedal and steering wheel. I would also hear a squeal while in reverse. The vibration/grinding was very minor and I even had two friends test drive it to make sure I wasn't crazy and they didn't notice anything. I had also put on an OD steering rack reinforcement kit and differential bushings so originally I wasn't confident in where the vibration/grinding was coming from. I put a new boot on the original ac delco cv axle and swapped it back in and issues fixed!
 
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Bsg424

Member
Messages
9
Location
New York
Front diff oil was changed already about 20k miles ago. All the factory heat shields are basically off and used metal brackets to resecure them.
I did a CV axle already beginning of this year.

Gas petal and steering wheel vibration/clunk for my car was the drivers wheel hub. I replaced both of them in December.
 
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Bsg424

Member
Messages
9
Location
New York
Yeah that horrible sound you hear inside is worse outside.. It’s embarrassing and sounds like the car is going to break down
 
Outlaw Son

Outlaw Son

Member
Messages
13
Location
Bixby, Oklahoma
Hmmm...I recently replaced everything you can replace in the front end of my H3, upper arms, tie-rods, ball joints, CV's, everything. Oh it was fun...not! But I also added a lift and raised the front with the torsion keys. In doing that I raised it a little too high and had a crazy grinding sound because the CV was rubbing the upper arm. (I know I didn't even notice that..until I drove it.) I lowered it down just a bit and BAM, problem solved. BUT, I'm in agreement with Rascole in that it may be in your diff. I'm tearing mine apart today after work as I have a nifty little sound much like you describe happening when I just replaced everything in the front so it has to be the diff for me. I'll let ya know what I find.
 
Outlaw Son

Outlaw Son

Member
Messages
13
Location
Bixby, Oklahoma
Yes I did and I changed the fluid and it definitely made a "diff"erence ...lol Sorry i couldn't resist. But yeah, I flashed back to when I was installing all the new frontend stuff and for whatever reason, probably tired, I didn't drain the diff I just topped it off with additional fluid. So yesterday I drained it, douched it out with some new fluid a bit and cleaned it real good. The fluid was nasty black, don't know what I was thinking not doing it right the first time. Good news is it's nice and fresh and it no longer feels like I have the brakes on. I'm thinking it may improve mpg a tad. What's weird is my H3 with the Adventure package gets 16 mpg regardless of what I'm doing, even pulling a trailer. The base model, daily driver only gets 12 if that. We'll see what happens as I'm in the midst of adding new bells and whistles in hopes to get it top notch.
 
Outlaw Son

Outlaw Son

Member
Messages
13
Location
Bixby, Oklahoma
Bsg424 said:
Outlaw—did you have time to check the diff?
Click to expand...

Yes I did, I thought I replied to this already but I don't see it so here we go. Yes I changed the front diff, back and tranny fluid the other day and it made a big "diff"erence. I'm going change the Transfer case tonight just so it's all good. You may not believe this but changing the fluids in all of the listed increased my gas mileage by 2 mpgs!!! Can you believe that...freakin' awesome. I was wondering why my other Hummer gets 16 mpg and this one only got 12 mpg. Now its up to 14 mpg. So it was well worth it.
 
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