Groaning During Low Speed Turns

[Fire_Brand]

Thanks in advance for checking out my question! This community has been awesome in helping me out and tolerating my lack of knowledge.

The problem I am having is a groaning noise during low speed turns such as driving around a parking lot. It sounds like a boat docked against a rubber bumper or carpet bumper when it rubs up and down (maybe a bad example but this is the closest comparison I could think of). The noise is a slow, low "weeeeeoowwww..." noise. At first I thought my tires might be contacting something when I'm turned sharply but I had the car up on a jack two days ago and when I turned the front wheels by hand I could replicate the noise and feel some resistance to turning the wheel, or at least more than usual for a car in neutral. To clarify, one wheel was on the ground, the other in the air.

The first thought that came to me is that this is the differential and this just might be normal for a limited slip diff, but I've been searching this on google and around here and have found a number of possibilities, a few of which worry me. First it seems like this is in fact not normal for a differential and might be an early sign that it is failing. Another source suggested (for a different car) that the transmission fluid may just be dirty and need to be changed and this would correct the issue. Some places suggested the brakes may be contacting during turns but I really doubt this considering the pitch and timbre of the noise. I'm not trying to lead anyone to an answer here I just thought I'd share the research I have done in case it helps.

 

[hornsfan10609]

Is the noise from the power steering pump? Could be a failing wheel bearing, CV joint, or the tire rubbing when the suspension is loaded.

 

[Fire_Brand]

Is the noise from the power steering pump? Could be a failing wheel bearing, CV joint, or the tire rubbing when the suspension is loaded.

I thought it was the pump at first but it is unrelated to actually steering since I can create the noise just by hand turning one font wheel while keeping the other stationary. This seems to suggest to me it is almost certainly transmission related but what it might be I have no idea. This would also rule out suspension or tire rubbing as well.

 

[hornsfan10609]

Well if you can hear it coming from inside the trans then yes it could be a the LSD failing or something else broken inside the trans. Usually they don't make noise for long, they just break.

 

[Fire_Brand]

Well, brought the car in to the shop for my 100K maintenance and this particular problem turned out to be a bad CV-joint! I'm not sure if anyone else will experience this but in case you do that turned out to be the culprit.