drivetrain?

[e0nz]

You kind folks on fiatspider have always helped me whenever I found issues in my car. Once again I come to seek the wisdom you guys share, lol... I was at my mechanic today and whenever he put gas on the car there was a whiney noise and then the car would go. He put the car on the lift and showed me the problem, it was towards the center of the car, he called it the "drivetrain propeller". I can't find the actual piece or the name of it, can somebody point me in the right direction?

[manoa matt]

The long tube is called the driveshaft, sometimes called a prop-shaft which is short for propeller shaft. The driveshaft is one component in the drivetrain.

The think your mechanic pointed to is likely the driveshaft support bearing. The bearing is secured in a metal and rubber housing called a pillow block. At each end of the driveshaft you will see a universal joint. If the bearing is bad, order the bearing and pillow block, as the bearing is difficult to remove from the pillow block once installed. Consider ordering and installing the universal joints too while the driveshaft is out and apart.

[e0nz]

thank you so much for your helpful and informative post. just to be sure the bearing is a pretty big roundish metal that can be rotated right?

[azruss]

matt,
my thought goes the other direction. I figured he was talking about the guibo. The guibo is a 6 sided rubber donut that is at the front end of the drive shaft (rear of transmission). It is quite common to have cracks and chunks out of this piece. If the guibo is bad, it can eat the carrier bearing and surrounding u-joints that matt is talking about. So when you are under the car, check them both out.

[manoa matt]

Guibo don't make no whiney noise. But good to replace it too "while your at it".

[rlux4]

If you end up taking the drive shaft components apart be sure to mark the two sections so that they go back in in the same orientation that they are in. In other words, mark which end goes forward, this is to maintain the original balance of the units.
Ron