Wheezing/whirring sound on '97 Jxi
 

Hi all-
My '97 Sebring Jxi conv. has been making a sort of wheezing/whirring sound that I can really only hear on the highway, since it's only heard above 35 mph and the shoulders of highways/freeways seem to create an echo effect that makes the noise distinctive enough to hear. The wheezing/whirring sound seems to increase in pitch the faster the car travels. But once the car goes below 35 mph, the sound abruptly goes away.

Has anyone here experienced this?

The car has about 123,500 miles on it, has had consistent scheduled maintenance over the years, and nothing major was revealed during the last oil change about 1 month ago. Until recently it had been making a growling sound when turning to the right, but topping off the power steering fluid seemed to have fixed that problem.

One major thing is that the car was towed about 800 miles on an auto hitch attached to a U-Haul, when I moved from Chicago to NYC a few months ago. During that trip the car's front wheels were raised and mounted to the hitch, with the back wheels on the road. The car was properly attached to the hitch and the move went very well, but I'm wondering if the act of having the back wheels spin for 800 miles while the car was not in gear and being towed may have something to do with the sound I'm hearing. The sound started shortly after my move.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who can offer any insights.

Could be a wheel bearing. Very doubtful that the towing had anything to do with it. It's a front wheel drive car, and the back wheels just go along for the ride under normal circumstances, so that' not the cause of the problem. Fourteen years and 123,000 miles has a lot more to do with the problem than any thing else.
See if you can isolate the problem to one side or another by driving with the windows open and listening as you pass an obstacle that can return the echo. Then, with the help of a friend, try to determine whether it's a front or rear wheel. If you can localize the noise, it will help your mechanic determine the cause.
There's not much chance of getting a proper diagnosis over the internet.