kb58

On my H22-powered mid-engine Mini, I recently noticed a noise, when the engine is neither accelerating nor decelerating the car. I hear something "rattling." If I give it just a tiny bit more gas, or a bit less, it goes away. I found that the left in-board CV housing can be rocked slightly on the end of the intermediate shaft. What's with that? Is this a big deal, or do all H22s have a slight play in this part.

I don't know how long it has been this way, since operating the engine in that narrow mid-region isn't done often.

mgags7

The bearing on the intermediate shaft could be bad....

It is completely normal though to have slight lateral play in any cv joint....that is just how they're designed....I'll check my intermediate shaft next time I'm down there....

kb58

What I mean is, if I grab the in-board end of of the CV, the part that plugs onto the intermediate shaft, I can rock it back and forth slightly. The motion I'm trying to describe is, say I'm laying under the car, looking up at the CV. I hold on to it and try to rotate it CW and CCW as I'm viewing it. It wobbles a bit, and I'm wondering how much I should be able to rock it back and forth. How much is too much?

mgags7

So it moves laterally or axially?

117

The driveshaft on my track car does that, and the track car that I'm doing an engine build for does it too. I don't know how to describe what is okay and what is probably too much, but I can wiggle it fairly easily by hand.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kb58 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What I mean is, if I grab the in-board end of of the CV, the part that plugs onto the intermediate shaft, I can rock it back and forth slightly. The motion I'm trying to describe is, say I'm laying under the car, looking up at the CV. I hold on to it and try to rotate it CW and CCW as I'm viewing it. It wobbles a bit, and I'm wondering how much I should be able to rock it back and forth. How much is too much?</TD></TR></TABLE>

kb58

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bb4ever &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So it moves laterally or axially?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Axially, not much. Laterally, I can rock it.

mgags7

I forget now, is there a circlip on the end of the shaft in there?

kb58

Yes. It's not like it can be pulled off, but almost like the female CV housing is a little large. I can rock it up and down, or front to back. I'm guessing I can move the front edge of the CV boot a total of maybe 1/8".

Oh, and the intermediate shaft bearing is okay.

117

Are you using stock Prelude driveshafts? I'd almost recommend trying some different driveshafts. Mine do exactly what you're describing, but no weird noises. We've had extrememly good luck with the driveshafts from Autozone, and Honda now carries Prelude remans.

kb58

But it's the CV housing itself, not the driveshaft portion. To answer your question, the axles are custom length - much shorter. Replacing the axles themselves wouldn't get rid of the loose CV housing, but I know where you're going with this.

117

Yes, I'm referring to the actual female portion of the CV driveshaft when I say it "wobbles." It's not tight on the intermediate shaft. The only thing that holds the driveshaft onto the intermediate shaft is the c-clip, it certainly isn't friction because the fit between the driveshaft and the intermediate shaft is slightly loose.

kb58

Well that's good... in a way. I'm going to have to poke around back there and make sure it'll be okay at Laguna Seca. Having a half-shaft do something dire coming down the corkscrew would suck.

l2yanE

can they be pressed apart and a new bearing installed? i noticed the large circlip- anyone?

shutta

weird, I was just under my car a minute ago (hands still dirty) and was checking mine and it seems like I am experiencing the same thing you are. I odn't think it's that big of a deal, but next time i see one off of the car i'm going to check it out. mine makes some weird noises sometimes also

glad to see that mini isn't just sitting there looking good!

kb58

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by l2yanE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">can they be pressed apart and a new bearing installed? i noticed the large circlip- anyone?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Can what be pressed apart, the upright and wheel bearings? Yes they can. I made my own uprights (don't ask) and used new bearings.

kb58

I should add that I was assuming the loose CV housing is causing the noise. If you guys are finding your CV housing is loose, but with no noise, that means I have something else going on

mgags7

One thing to ponder: Our differential bearings aren't cartridge type, they're thrust bearings, so with no load on them, they can jiggle around a little and potentially make some noise....

I can't really tell if thats goin on bc my final drive makes its own noise already....

117

The differential bearings should NEVER "jiggle around a bit." That's why there is a set amount of preload on the bearings during assembly. If your diff bearings are making noise, I'd certainly pull the tranny and replace them. Make sure the preload is set to spec when reassembling.

mgags7

Well yeah, on a fresh rebuild the bearings should have zero play. On an older trans there could be a bit of unwanted clearance.

My apologies for passing that up in my original post.

117

I've never pulled apart an H22 trans that had play in the diff bearings. I'm getting ready to take apart a trans that's seen quite a few thousand track miles and one USDM trans from a junkyard. I'll measure the preload on each after I get the counter and main shafts out. I'll be VERY surprised if there's no preload at all.