Whirring/humming from front, driver's side
 

Hey Everyone:

Did a search and couldn't find exactly what I'm experiencing. Whenever the car starts hitting 60km/hr+ I notice this whirring noise that seems to be coming from directly in front of the driver's seat, from under the hood. The faster I go, louder it seems to get. To me it sounds like a motor.

The noise is there even if I'm not accelerating. So if I hit 100km/hr and then take my foot off the pedal, the whirring noise is still there while coasting. It's very possible the noise is there at slower speeds but I don't start noticing until about 60km.

The noise is NOT there if I just rev the engine while parked.

I noticed this a few weeks back when I did a 5000Km road trip. Any ideas? ​

Wheel bearing maybe? While you're driving, turn the wheel left and right. Like this..

Hmmm it does sound like it... guess it could be the front-left wheel bearing.

If it is the wheel bearing, is that a complicated job? How much would a shop charge to change it? Also, is it safe to continue driving it another 6 days until I bring the car in for an oil change? Or is this hard to say?

Depends. Are you doing it? Have tools and time? Or doing half and half like you removing knuckle and taking to shop ($25-40) to press hub/bearing?

I took mine knuckles from Honda out to shop before when I did not have bearing tool kit and time. After that I bought the kit (about $70). I also did several DIYs write-ups (honda, toyota) on it and did the work myself on 2 cars (= 4 front bearings, 1 car 2 rear bearings also). Also improved the process.

Check this out from another member here and decide. It is a DIY so it serves as a good reference of the work and tools involved...
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...tallation.html

As for doing immediate or wait... depends on how bad it sounds. Of course sooner is better than later. At least you can plan it out. Good luck.

Before you go replacing parts, make sure it is the wheel bearing. To find out drive the speed that you hear the noise, then gentle turn the wheel if the noise goes away then theres a high chance it could be wheel bearing. If the noise or pitch of the noise doesnt change then the wheel bearing are good. Another thing to look for can be the tire. You might have a worn or chopped tire, run your hand across the tread if its lumpy then you have a problem in your suspension

Could be something like a plastic bag wrapped around a suspension component of stuck in one of the underbody panels. That could make a noise like what you describe, and would become louder with increasing speed but independent of acceleration.

I'll probably bring it into my mechanic next Wednesday or so - wouldn't be comfortable doing something like this.

Hmmm thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely try them out and check them out to try and narrow it down.

Check your under carriage plate. It is probably loose and is vibrating.
The plate is the protective plastic cover that covers your undercarriage under your engine.

Have that looked at before it comes off completely.

Just an FYI, did turn out to be the wheel bearing.

Thanks for the update, glad everything is back to normal

How many miles (or km) were on the clock when the bearing started to fail?

It was around 165000KM (just over 100000miles for my friends to the south :p )

Hmm I just hit 100,000 miles last week, and no hums yet – knock on wood. As you're in the frigid north, I'm guessing you have an AWD? :p

Lol and two of the most useful things I learned in freshman physics: 1mile = 1.6km = 1609m, and 1inch = 25.4mm

Yep, AWD - need to be able to escape those polar bears on my way to work.

Yeah one of my old hockey coaches said that polar bears attacking cars was a big problem when he was growing up in Ontario too. Of course, he then moved near San Francisco, where we sometimes get chased by an entirely different kind of bear :D