'90 DX hatch with '90 Si drivetrain, knuckles, axles, brakes, etc. Noises started about 2 weeks ago and I can't figure out what the hell it is. There's two distinct sounds that may or may not be related to one another. Prior to this I had been visiting a friend several times a week and he lives down several miles of rough gravel road which I think played a role in this issue.

-There's a higher-pitched squeaking that sounds like it is coming from the front driver side. Its speed seems to match the motion of the car and doesn't appear to be affected by braking or steering. Having someone walk along the driver side of the car while I drove forward slowly helped somewhat confirm where the noise was coming from.

-There's a much lower-pitched squeaking that sounds like it is coming from the front middle area. Like the other noise this one matches the speed of the car but isn't affected by steering or braking.

I removed the brake/rotor and even removed the dust plate to see if maybe there was a rock or something lodged somewhere. I can't find anything out of the ordinary and with the front end up in the air I can't reproduce the noise by spinning the wheel/rotor/hub so weight seems to be playing a role here.

I'm thinking it may be that front driver wheel bearing but I'd like to be sure before I go replacing it. I'd also like to know if that second sound is just the first sound traveling through the axle or possibly the transmission. Both sounds started at the same time so I'll assume they're related.

What would be a good way to figure out where the noise is coming from? Would it hurt to soak that front driver bearing in something like PB Blaster to see if the noise changes or goes away?

 

I did popped cv shaft on the driver side and noticed something off about the bearing...

That main flat-faced bearing ring(or is it a race?) wasn't freely spinning around the hub shaft. It was real rough and kept sticking which made it spin with the hub. The face of that ring looks like it was grinding up against the face of the cv shaft.





The hub and bearing also have a bit of play and I'm not sure what would be considered normal. I sprayed the **** out of it with PB Blaster while spinning it both ways until it smoothed out almost completely and that outer ring doesn't seem to be catching anymore. Haven't re-assembled everything for a test drive yet as I think the bearing may be the culprit and if I have to replace it I'll just leave the car on stands for now.

I checked all 8 brake pad clips, both rotors, both CV shafts, all four CV boots, and the backs of both wheels...couldn't find any sign of anything rubbing against anything else.

I was going to check the trans fluid level but the fill plug is rounded and the last fill was 2 quarts of syncromesh through the VSS hole. When I pulled the driver cv shaft about 1/2-3/4 quart came out so it was full. This has to be a bearing issue.