Schmitey

Got a 96 Accord EX w/5spd. Recently replaced the camshaft seal that was leaking (lost the key for the cam sprocket...doh!) and shook down the front end. Everything seemed tight (shook top/bottom and left to right). Right after that I put on 250 miles. Coming back on the highway I started hearing/feeling a vibration.

The sound has quickly gotten noticeably worse. At first it only made the noise when i turned the wheel right 10 degrees or more from straight while moving. The more aggressive the turn and at higher speed it made more noise (says wheel bearing to me). Now however, it makes the sound even when going straight. There is a popping sound/vibration that I can feel in the wheel as I transition from accelerating to decelerating or vice versa. When coasting (its a manual) it sounds like a machine gun but the sound goes away the instant I slightly step on the brake and will resume when I let up. It goes away if I get back on the gas. Suspension seems responsive and normal and the engine runs great.

My hearing is horrible and I've never troubleshot this before. I have knowledgeable people suggesting an axle and others saying wheel bearing. So what do you all think? Thanks in advance!

Also, in searching around the general consensus seems to be to have a machine shop press out/in the bearings...otherwise you stand a good chance of damaging the new bearing. You all agree? I'm VERY strapped for cash (credit card owns me) but would prefer to do it right rather than buy another bearing a few months later!

Schmitey

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djkurious

I posted a thread at superhonda about this same issue. Check it out and listen to the noise and see if it's the same noise. All the same symptons you are having are happening to me.

http://www.superhonda.com/foru...37179/

emasterp

i'm having the same problem with my 94 accord. Friend of mine is telling me to check my cv halfshafts. He even said that they weren't hard to change either, but i haven't changed mine yet due to lack of knowledge about cv's. Also u should fix asap, i'm hoping i get to mine this weekend. GL

djkurious

Does it happen to sound like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7SSrYP3F6E

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZI9aNBuj0

The_Caged_Bird

I'm almost 100% positive that it's the Constant Velocity (CV) joint in the half-shaft.

The reason you hear it while turning is because it's under more stress, and the outer race is being "pushed" by the ball bearings. The more stress that is put on it, the more it will click, thus the reason why you are hearing it under acceleration. You are hearing it under deceleration because the manual transmission is allowing "engine braking" thusly putting stress on the CV joint the other way.

A simple half-shaft replacement will fix the problem.

I may be new to Hondas, but I definitely ain't new to cars.

vigorhy

My car (accord 2001) has a similar problem. I could not find CV joint for the rear wheel, not boot either. Someone said it may be the wheel bearing, but I replaced it without any improvement.

How much will it be cost for replacing it?

Thank you very much! waiting for your kind help.

kyalstyle

a 2001 accord? probably because there is no CV joint for the rear wheels. typo? i could be wrong. perhaps you meant the front half shafts. regardless, CV joints are all the same, and chances are if you are hearing popping or vibration, changing the boot will not help your situation. the joint is already f*'d. the only way replacing a boot will help your situation, is if you find a rip and are losing grease, and you replace it right away before too much is lost, and before too much dirt gets in to munch away your joints.

also, changing ONLY the CV joint is sort of impractical, it would be much easier to swap out the entire half shaft. when it comes to axles, you have several debatable options. cheapest and most cost effective, if you're handy, is to get the Autozone special deluxe super duper axles... they run about $150 for both or maybe less, with lifetime warranty. they are extremely unreliable, and you may win the lottery and get a good set that dont vibrate, or you could get some that are worse than the ones you have now. however, you can return these as many times as you want for different ones. so as long as you dont mind swapping axles every few months, thats the cheapest route. you can go with any number of cheaper axles that are labeled as "NEW" or remanufactured... but there is no garuntee about quality, and chances are they will ultimately fall into the same category as said autozone specials. theres no comparable replacement to your OEM axles. those have lasted for as long as the car has been alive from the factory, and no matter where you get any aftermarket ones, none of them last that long.

SECOND option, get a new set of OEM axles from a honda dealership... however you will have to sell your car in order to afford them. but they will last forever, at least as long as your originals, they are genuine honda quality and designed to exacting specs for your car, therefore very tight tolerances and less wear and tear on parts. i think list price for most sets of honda axles, at least civics and accords, is around $800 or so for both. you can look here at http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com for genuine honda parts, that are discounted somewhat. still expensive, expect to pay about $500 for both of them, but cheaper than walking into a local dealer, even with shipping. good way to go if you want to stay the course on genuine honda parts. there are a few other websites like that one too, that are authentic honda dealers with discounted prices. also, they have every single part for your car if you need it, every single grommet, hose, tube, metal piece, clip, wire, or button you could possibly need, and lots of diagrams showing the list of parts.

THIRD option for your axles, is some driveshop or a custom axle place, that can make axles to close to OEM specs as possible, at least much closer than cheapy remanufactured autozone shafts. some place like http://www.raxles.com. i have not bought any axles from them yet, but i have read many reviews... most people seem to think they are worth it, and while more expensive than cheap-o's, they're not the $500 or $800 tag from the dealer. i think depending on your model, they will average around $300 for a set.

ultimately it comes down to your opinion on what is important... doing it right and spending the money on quality? spend $500 for new Honda axles. you wont have to replace them for another 10 years, providing your motor doesnt have like 275 hp or anything. if you're f*ing broke and just need a quick fix, and you know how to use a wrench, spend $150 on autozone. they suck, and you'll be pissed at the employees who try to argue with you and hassle you on returning yours, which will become a ritual, but as long as you keep your receipt all they can do is eat your ******* and give you new ones, for as long as you live. and then of course, if you're somewhere in between, but still want some quality axles that you wont have to touch for a while, try someplace like raxles, or start searching for driveshops or axle manufacturers online or locally. in the end, it seriously does come down to you get what you pay for. everyone says it, but you dont realize it until you go through a jazillion cheap parts before you realize you have to just bend over and take the OEM price in the rear to get the job done right.

emasterp

so i changed my cv's and they still made the noise, so i checked the wheel bearings and problem was solved. So i figured since i had everything apart change out lower and upper ball joints as well. then got the car aligned after all the work was done. (Make sure to get the alignment). so if i were to say it's probably ur w.b. i'd change those first.
the cheap ones r about $40 and cv shafts range from 80 to 100. gl with ur venture.

vigorhy

Thank you very much for infomation. I have fixed the noise problem last weekend. The noise is not from rear wheel but the front. I was told in a garage that the front rotor need to be replaced because of rust build-up. I spent a whole day to open up the front brakes and check rust as he told me, but there was just a little which is normal for a 7 yrs car. Finally, I found that the noise was from the splash guard at the back of rotor. The guard was bent a little bit and there was no enough space from rotor, and then rotor scratch it when turning. So, I just bent the guard away from rotor a little, and then the noise was gooooone.

A problem is that one the bolt holding the caliper to the bracket was broken and a half of it was stuck in the bracket. So I have to order a new caliper with bracket, because bracket is not sold seperately.

My opinion is that firstly have someone in garage to check where the problem is from, look at it by yourself, take your car back to check it out, and then replace whatever the problematic part.

kyalstyle

thats awesome. glad it was such a minor issue, you're lucky.