So this is for my mothers 2002 Bonneville She told me the other day that she heard a noise that sound like it was coming from the blower motor fan. She turned the blower off completely and the noise was still there. So its not the fan. It kind of sounds like a baseball card in the spokes of a bike but not as loud. I could not get the car to reproduce the sound by just starting it I had to drive it down the road I did not notice it until about 30mph but once I heard it, I was able to pick it up at anything over 5mph. The sound increases in rhythm and volume with speed. As of now it seam to be coming from the P.*. Front area.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of problem?

On a side note when I first checked the car I noticed her oil pressure gauge was reading 120psi (max pressure) I changed the Oil pressure sending unit above the oil filter and the gauge appears to be reading correctly now. It currently shows about 56psi. I do not think the two problems are related but did not want to leave out any details.

I have two guess on what the problem might be but I'd like to hear others thoughts first. I do not want to guide the answers in the wrong direction.

Thanks for your time!

Spin each cooling fan by hand and listen for anything that might be hitting the blades. Make sure car is off before doing this test.

Ok I did try spinning the cooling fans but no noise. So I took the blow gun from my air compresser and was able to make the same noise but only when the air for being forced on the fan blades. As soon as I took the air off the fans spun quietly, so I do not think that is the problem. But Thank you for the suggestion.

After reading other problems on the forum I see that the wheel bearings have some issues. The PS front wheel does have a little shake to it maybe about a 1/16" to 1/8". Could this be the sound of the Hub & Bearing assembly going bad?

Mike I got a laugh out of your ending statement "Make sure car is off before doing this test." However that is called Natural Selection.

Yep! You should have no play in the wheel assembly when you jack the car up and grab the wheel at the 3 and 9 and the 12 and 6 position and push pull.

Thanks,
I plan On picking up a Hub and bearing assembly tonight. And hopefully getting it installed tonight or tomorrow morning. Will let you know the out come.

Thanks guys!
The car is fixed and this site saved me some trouble shooting time. AGAIN THANK YOU!

By the way to anyone else that might find this and have the same problem To change the hub and bearing assembly you will need a 34mm deep socket and a puller any auto parts store that will lone tools with have them. I used Autozone.everything else is common 3/8 drive sockets.

That'* what all of us are here for...to help each other save time, money and energy. Glad it got fixed.