Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives unknown noise in front end. 2009 yukon xl denali

My wife noticed a new noise a couple weeks ago and I have had two different mechanics drive and listen. Neither can pinpoint it.

It sounds like a medium pitched whirring when I reach 30 mph. It gets slightly louder as speed increases and will almost cease when I take foot off accelerator only to start back when i accelerate or give it gas to maintain speed.

It does not make a difference if I move to neutral while going down the highway and does not change with steering wheel movement. I have had tires rotated and proper PSI verified as it almost sounds like tire noise. Although there is no change in noise when there is a change in road surface.

I really think it is coming from drive train as it is clearly louder with acceleration.

Vehicle has AWD and 139K miles on it. I have searched noise from differential, transfer case and wheel bearings. Because there is no change when I turn wheels I have sort of ruled out wheel bearings. There is no clicking or anything other than the constant whirring.

both mechanics have said not to worry until it gets worse or changes sound but with Christmas travel coming up I want it to be fixed.

Thanks for help/suggestions.

Curious? Did it start after you rotated the Tires? Could be the difference between the tread wear pattern on the front and the rear before they were rotated.

Does it sound mechanical? driveline maybe? Have you checked to make sure the lugnuts didn't loosen up?

These kids they hire now days either torque them way to tight or way to loose. They just can't get the "Feel" for it. They can't get from somewhere to anywhere else without a working GPS either. lol

just had tires rotated this morning. started three weeks ago.

i definitely think its driveline because of the changes with acceleration.

Only way to figure it out is to "drive" it on a rack and have someone listen to the front diff, wheel hubs etc with a stethoscope. You may have to disable traction control to prevent throttle or brake intervention with all 4 wheels in the air.

I would defer to badger's expertise before I venture further.

Sounds like what mine did when the front hubs/bearings were bad, but mine is a 2003 and is regular 4WD.

Block, e-brake, jack up front end, hold tire at 12 and 6 o'clock, and wiggle hard.

Play from 12 to 6 is telltale sign of wheel bearing going/gone bad. At least on my truck.

As the owner of a repair shop as my regular primary gig I completely agree. Or, If you want to get dirty and check it yourself...(not running of course) block the tires on a level spot so it won't roll and throw everything into neutral with the parking brake off and crawl under there and rotate things around to see if you hear a "click" in a CV joint.

You beat me to it Sir. I can't explain how refreshing it is to see the diversity of topics allowed on this forum. It was one of the attractions for me.

Thank you...

thank you all for the help. I am mechanically inept so will have to defer to a pro. Hopefully first thing Monday morning. Wish Badger or Bugout were here in Oklahoma City.

Do you have CV joints?

I don't know if I do or not. I heard some cv joint noise videos on youtube and mine doesn't sound like the clicking I heard on video. Do they also howl like I am hearing?

Could the noise be coming from my exhaust system?

If it's the exhaust you should be able to hear it while parked. Have someone rev it up while you listen underneath.

A bad CV joint will make a clicking or cracking noise under load, usually gets worse when turning. I think you have a wheel hub bearing problem (hopefully) or a differential carrier or pinion bearing going out.

Thanks Badger. I made a video of me driving to try to post on here but I haven"t figured out how to do that. Not sure it would help anyway. I could email it if you want to hear it.

Thanks for all your help

Sent you a pm.

With our milder winters the last few years, we haven't had to replace one in a while.

I offered that suggestion as it seemed we had sort of a grinding sound prior to the turn-clunking.

ironbender, Thanks for your suggestion. Maybe I have CV joint issues coming. I will get it in to a mechanic tomorrow for diagnosis. Thanks again

Sorry i seen it has AWD.

Took it to shop this morning. The guy said it was likely a pinion bearing going out but that it was certainly not bad yet. He said he has customers that drive it for a year longer when its only as bad as mine. I can't do that so we are getting it fixed first available time which is week after Christmas. Estimate was $600 for rear and up to $900 if its front differential. He didn't put it upon rack to determine that this morning.
He also showed me that the motor mount on drivers side was broken so he will take care of that while its apart.

I really appreciate the help on this thread. I am not mechanical at all so advice and suggestions help me feel like I am not being taken advantage of.

If I can ever help any of you out, please let me know.

Merry Christmas!!!

Just wanted to share that a bad motor mount can sometime make some strange noises that happen to sound just like other mechanical issues. Especially during acceleration only. It could actually be just the mount as the problem. Do you have enough time to just change only the mount first and see if the issue goes away?

Jezz, I hate that this question always needs to be present in the back of folks minds. But there is good reason because there are a lot of shops out there taking advantage of folks and it really does injure the whole industry for the ones who are indeed trying to be honest. Wish I was closer, I am one of the few honest ones left. I guess they just do not realize how much more "Word of mouth" business and return business they truly would get if they were honest.

That sounds like what mine was doing right before the front end grenaded!

I had GM service my front end and chance the lube. The put the wrong lube in it and it was a mess of metal. Thank Christ I saved the paperwork because they tried to blame me for it.

Mine was a 2004 Tahoe, so it may be quite different.