We are having a problem with our TL. It has > 135,000 miles on it and is extremely noisy driving down the road. Sounds almost like a propeller driving down the road. I inspected the brakes today and they look fine. I turned the wheels in neutral and everything felt smooth. I've also rotated the tires to see if the sound moved.

I'm told by the dealer that I need to replace my front motor mount. I have already replaced my side motor mount. I'm guessing the rear will need to be replaced.

They also said my crankcase front main seal is leaking oil. Why didn't they replace this when I got my timing belt replaced?

Also, I noticed today a large amount of oil appears to be leaking on a black plastic cover that is towards the driver side of the vehicle.

Finally, the car pulls to the right pretty badly. I've had it aligned, rotated the tires, and checked the tire pressure. I have noticed that a bushing on a bar in the front of the passenger wheel well seems to be improperly installed when compared to the driver side.

Finally, the dealer says I need new rear sway bar bushings. Is this for the rear of the car or the front?

TIA

 

I apparently cant edit my messages. The noise gets louder the faster we go. You can feel the vibration through the steering wheel. Picture of the bushing I was talking about:

 

GRRR!

Still cant find the edit button. Here's the pic

 

I can't see the pic so that makes it hard to tell for sure. But it sounds like a mount or more than one maybe bad. Probably is the rear mount as you said if you changed one of the other mounts and felt no difference. For the leak, it may be p/s fluid. Possible leaking onto the plastic belt guard from what you described. & p/s fluid is a common leak on 3G TL's. If it is actually oil I'd check the oil pan & oil pump for the source of the leak. They are in that general area as well.

 

Does the noise get slightly better or worse when you turn the wheel one direction or the other?

 

Here you go. Stupid skydrive! Apparently I need to go to posting on a forum 101


Yes, the sound seems to get louder when I turn the wheel. It does not go away while braking and it the steering wheel does not shimmy while breaking

Do you seriously think it would be the motor mounts? I'm trying to link the youtube video here:

 

Wheel bearing most likely. Only other thing would be a very worn final drive in the transmission but it would likely get worse under throttle. Wheel bearing noise should change as you slightly turn the steering wheel.

 

The compliance bushing pictured looks super f*cked too.

 

That is your lower control bushing and its torn badly. I could see that making the car pull to one side or the other. As far as rear sway bar bushings, there is and links and the actual bushings that hold the sway bar to the bottom of the car. Both are pretty easy to replace yourself and shouldn't cost more than 1 hr at a shop if you would rather go that direction. I am not sure about the sound but, it sounds to be the most pressing of your issues.

 

if its wheel bearing you'll want to get that done asap. the compliance bushings tearing is pretty common on these cars but yours looks especially bad, check the other side too, its prob just as bad. Swaybar bushings are an easy replacement, end links are pretty easy too.

 

agree - bad wheel bearing. Really bad.

 

The picture of the compliance bushing is so bad, we cannot see the actual bushing at all, you have to take it from higher up where we can actually see the rubber part. however from your pic, the "cover" isnt positioned through the bolt hole, so yes it is installed incorrectly. Besides that, there is no way for us to be telling you the condition of the bushing, you need to give us a better pic.

How did you guys above determine the compliance bushing is bad? it's not visible at all

 

I agree on the bearing being bad which explains why the noise gets louder as you move faster. One additional confirmation is to rev up the motor to 2000 RPM while in neutral to insure noise is not present. It might make sense to change the bearings and half shafts while you're at it.