whining/whistling noise

Shackleton

New member
Hi all -

I had my van in the shop last week and now it’s making a new noise. I wonder if you guys might be able to diagnose it.

The noise kicked in after a few hours of highway driving. It generally starts when I pass about 60 mph. Acceleration and deceleration don’t seem to matter, but speed does.

Sometimes it stops on its own, but just for a few seconds. Lightly pressing the brakes stops it for a second if we’re above 60; below that, if we’ve slowed down and it hasn’t stopped on its own, pressing the brakes generally stops it for good until we get faster again. Hitting a bump can stop it, too, but also sometimes starts it... again, depending on how fast we’re going.

It’s a whining or whistling kind of noise, but does sound a little like metal grinding when I stop it by tapping the brakes. When I hit the brakes, the sound jumps up in pitch before it stops. I’m going to try to attach a recording.

Any guesses?

Thanks,
Evan Wilcox
 
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ddunaway

Active member
Mine does this too! It’s getting worse. Curious is there are ideas...
Mercedes mechanic said brakes look fine.
2015 4x4 6cyl
 
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ddunaway

Active member
Can you attach that recording? Curious to hear if it is similar.

Hi all -

I had my van in the shop last week and now it’s making a new noise. I wonder if you guys might be able to diagnose it.

The noise kicked in after a few hours of highway driving. It generally starts when I pass about 60 mph. Acceleration and deceleration don’t seem to matter, but speed does.

Sometimes it stops on its own, but just for a few seconds. Lightly pressing the brakes stops it for a second if we’re above 60; below that, if we’ve slowed down and it hasn’t stopped on its own, pressing the brakes generally stops it for good until we get faster again. Hitting a bump can stop it, too, but also sometimes starts it... again, depending on how fast we’re going.

It’s a whining or whistling kind of noise, but does sound a little like metal grinding when I stop it by tapping the brakes. When I hit the brakes, the sound jumps up in pitch before it stops. I’m going to try to attach a recording.

Any guesses?

Thanks,
Evan Wilcox
 

Rob S

2018 Navion 24G IQ on 2016 Sprinter
From description it is a bit like what mine does. Similar to yours around 80 kmh = 50 mph after driving for a while.

Invariably a light touch on the brake pedal stops it for a while. I had a guy at the brake shop take the wheels off and check the bearings etc, he could not find anything wrong. He thinks it might be light rubbing of the pads on the rotors.
 

Shackleton

New member
Here's the recording. The uptick at the end is me tapping the brakes... then it comes right back as I was over 60 at the time.

That was the other day. Yesterday it was a little less consistent - showed up a few times at lower speeds, didn't always show up over 60.

Anyway, the shop says the caliper was stuck. A different shop had just checked over everything a week ago. It's times like this that I wish I was a mechanic.
 

Attachments

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scifisanta

New member
Has there been any resolution to this issue?

I just purchased a 2007 170 Extended and I'm having a whining sound from the rear similar to this sound. I'm contemplating where it's a dry differential, rear brakes, rear hub/s, or a worn-out U joint in the driveshaft. I'm going to hope under there this weekend and thoroughly look everything over.

This is my first post, but have been thankful for all the information available on this forum and the activity level within.
 

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