It finally was warm enough here for me to want to get under the car to confirm the location of the whirring noise.

I followed the recommendations of other posts.
- Block the front wheels front and back
- Put the rear axil up on jack stands high enough to easily crawl under the car
- Hand twist and push on U-Joints: no play

*******
DANGER
*******
-- If you do not do this on semi level ground you hopefully have more experience at securing the car
-- Release parking brake and put manual transmission in neutral
*******
DANGER
*******
- Start car and put in first gear. Rear wheels and drive shaft will of course turn.
- With a short piece of garden hose I am able to lay in one spot and listen with one end while placing the other at each U-Joint and the Center Bearings
-- 1st gear: no noise
-- 2nd gear: slight hiss at Center Bearings
-- 3rd gear: light whirring noise at Center Bearings that sounds like the noise I hear when driving
- turn off car

- Locate bearing seal - rear access is best. I found the Center Bearing Carrier (rubber cushion) is starting to deteriorate along the bottom edge exposing the bearing seal.
- Delicately insert 2" grease needle from rear side of bearing through edge of bearings seal. I confirmed the point was in the bearings by moving the drive shaft a small fraction showing the needle base to move in the opposite direction of the turn.
- Grease with "GC" grease. Remove needle, turn drive shaft 1/4 turn and grease again ... I kept turning and greasing until the grease gun was pushing out grease from the outside fittings and I could see some darker (my GC is red) grease pushing back out of the bearing seal. I took the extra grease squeezing out of the fittings and around the bearings and smeared it thickly over the area I placed the needle.

- Test drive: 55 degree temperature. No whirring noise a start or all the way up to and down from 45+ mph.

Hopefully the added grease will buy me time until there is all around better weather and I can get a Center Bearing kit.

Also see post "opinions on replacing universal joints at same time as center drive shaft bearings"

1988 244 DL; B230F; LH-2.2; Manual 5-speed
--
1988 244 DL; B230F; LH-2.2; Manual 5-speed

If it sounds like it is coming from the body inside of the car, i.e. the passenger side statement! I thought of your front wheel bearings. Jack up the front wheels and check for play and spin for some noise.

They will do more of a low rumbling or roaring sound where the center bearing support bearing is a high pitch whine to a high pitch squeal.
Usually the center support will sound like it comes from everywhere inside the car. With those windows down and the bridge thing it should have rang outside or bounced into the car.

The center support sound can come and go as to whether the balls may roll fine and then slide around due to a flat spot on one or so of them. Low on or dried out grease or a speck of dirt starts it and helps determine what "lubricated for life" means!

If you can get some thin spray oil past the rear seal you might "temporarily" get it to go away as this will mix with that old grease.
It is best to replace the bearing. Cost is about twenty or so bucks.

Do not forget about it. If it locks up the drive shaft will rip up that rubber support. If that goes the shaft will then whip the ground and the car to the loudest continuous knocking you could ever hear from a car! Just as bad as a broken universal joint or worse!

Phil

Mine sounded more like cross between a dog whistle and alternator interference on the radio. In fact the latter is what I thought it was until I realized it appeared and disappeared at about 45 mph regardless of what gear I was in.

Mine was perm cured by using a needle adapter on a grease gun to force some grease in the bearing past the seal.