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  • People more knowledgeable about cars than me ...

    So, I will be the first to admit, I'm not exactly a mechanic. Which makes moments like this, when my car is not behaving itself, sort of problematic.

    It (1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee) is making a couple of different strange noises. One is a rather loud rattle - laypeople more knowledgeable than me seem to think this is a hole in the muffler or exhaust pipe, and I have no reason not to believe them. Underneath that is a sort of high-pitched metal-on-metal sound, kind of like what you'd get if you put a ball bearing in a metal pipe and rolled it around.

    They started at the same time - I was driving on the Interstate (doing 70-75) when the car started to shake violently. It did that for about ten to fifteen seconds and then stopped, and it's been making this sound ever since (although the rattle has gotten significantly louder). The ABS light came on at the same time, it turns on occasionally but not often. Both noises are coming from the front of the car, somewhere to the right of the centerline.

    Neither noise is present when the engine is idling, only when the car is actually moving. Looking beneath the car, I can't see anything that's obviously not where it should be (nothing hanging down or anything like that).

    I'm reluctant to go to a mechanic unless I have to, because I know perfectly well that I won't be able to afford to fix whatever's wrong. Unless it's a "car going to stop moving in the middle of the street" or "car will try to kill me / other motorists / pedestrians" situation, I'd like to be able to grin and bear it, but I don't know if that's possible.

    Anyone have a potential diagnosis?

  • #2
    I can't help you out.

    I suggest posting the problem at http://www.allpar.com/forums/ in their General Technical Support and Help section.

    You have to register and you may get a 'You need to take it to a mechanic,' response, but there are people there who work on these vehicles as well as a large membership, some of whom may have experienced something similar. I know they've helped me on several occasions before.
    I'd tell you where to go, but I work there and I don't want to see you everyday.

    My photo blog.

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    • #3
      My guess would be wheel-balance weights having fallen off. One fell off and caused the vibration, which shook the other one off to mostly restore the balance. One or both of the weights seem to have been retained within the wheel, causing the rattling and scraping sounds, and the location of the noise suggests the front-right wheel is the culprit.

      Any competent mechanic should be able to confirm or deny this diagnosis very easily. It also shouldn't be very expensive to fix.

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