I have a 1.7 340 & so too has my son (his is a load of welded rust...). Both cars are suffering from the same noise & both have done about 150k. This is a road speed related whirring/whining which peeks in volume around 55-60mph.It comes from the gearbox/driveshaft area.It`s not wheel bearings (my original thought) so could it be cv bearings? If so does anyone know where I can get new ones without asking the government to bale me out? I`ve tracked down some at around £45 each, but for 2 inners & 2 outers that`s £180 per car. Good grief, I should be able to buy a car for that much! Or does anyone have any other ideas?(about the noise, not my dislike of accruing the debt of a small third world country). Thanks

Chaeper to pull a pair of shafts off a breaker I would think.

Yes but they might be on their last legs too:the cheap option is not always the cheap option in the long term.Case in point - I recently bought a front strut (unseen)& by the time I`d cleaned the loose mud/rust off it the cup was almost as rotted as the one it was to replace! Fortunately got a new cup to weld on from Hadrians for£22pair(www.hadriancarpanels.com)Life`s too short to keep doing the same job over & over.

True but there are a few low mileage breakers I've seen over the past year. They are out there