Hydraulic Cooling Fan Pump Noise

[Ocala-LSguy]

2000 LS, 3.9 V8. Has anyone had any experiece with a faint "humming pump" kind of noise coming from the front-right of their LS? This happens around 40-50 mph. Quits as soon as mph drop below 35 (so I can't pop the hood & listen for it when stopped).
Could it be the hydraulic cooling fan pump? Any ideas?

 

[Ocala-LSguy]

Wheel bearing failure

Well as it turned out the noise I was hearing was not the hydraulic cooling fan but instead was the front right wheel bearing starting to go bad. It really was a strange noise though - I've had wheel bearings fail on other vehicles that didn't sound like this. Must have just started to fail.
Took the LS to Lincoln dealer (reluctantly) & told them I had an intermittent humming noise in the front right... So they call me while the car is in the shop, and tell me that the noise I was hearing was actually the rear hub bearings - two techs took it for a ride. So they replaced both rear hub bearings.
That didn't fix the noise & they told me the front right wheel bearing was bad. Yes I told them that they should have been looking there in the first flipping place! They agreed... offered to give a 20% discount on labor, so I had all the wheel bearings replaced & the "discount" was taken off of the labor bill. Still ended up costing me $850. Ouch, should have done it myself - but just didn't realize it was a wheel bearing. I've replaced these several times on other vehicles... Live & learn.

 

[tireman]

You're so right!

Yes, I agree $850 is steep! Wheel bearings are an easy repair, just time consuming. The dealers are hurting for projects to keep their people employed right now, so they are fixing everything they find. DIY unless you have to use a dealer.

 

[kleetus]

Wow... that's brutal... Not to add insult to injury, but I changed out one set of bearings on this in about 15 minutes... 12 bolts, and one electrical connector. Not to brutal didn't even need a slide hammer at 125k miles. Bearing I think was about 85-90 bucks if I remember right...

But definitely, if you can fix it yourself, do... there's no reason to empty your wallet unless you can't do it or don't have the time.