'05 Honda Accord -- Knocking under hood, Cold Start -- HELP!!
 

Okay guys, I'm new at this, so please bear with me.

'05 Honda Accord EX-L 4cyl -- 67K miles


Here's the thing: At the beginning of the year, I hit the curb with my Front Right tire. I got my wheels aligned. 7 months later, I noticed that the front right tire started having 1-sided wear towards the outer edge of the wheel.

So I bought 4 new Falken tires at America's Tires, and got the alignment done at Midas because I got a "deal" for $50. BUT, the dumb nut-heads at the Midas shop aligned my car to Honda Civic alignment specs, instead of Honda Accord. Geez, how does one manage to screw up a Computerized Wheel Alignment?? Imagine letting them complete a major repair.

So, I went back to Midas the next morning to have them re-align it to Honda Accord alignment specs. They still couldn't get it straight, as they set the specs to a DX model, and I have an EX (DX specs varies a little). Anyway, the manager told me to go back to America's Tires and have them re-balance the tires because I was experiencing wheel vibration after the first (wrong) alignment. So, I got the tires re-balanced (2 tires were out of balance).

On a flat road, the car drives fairly straight. BUT, when making a left turn, it slightly tugs to the right.

The morning after the first (wrong) alignment, when I started up my car, I noticed that on a cold start, if I don't wait for my car to heat up, and I shift gear into drive or reverse, I hear a loud knocking sound on the right side under the hood (sitting inside the car), and at the same time, the steering wheel vibrates loudly like crazy. Once the car heats up after driving for awhile, the sound + steering wheel vibration goes away.

HOWEVER, after finally getting the car aligned to Accord specs., this steering wheel vibration + knocking sound DIDN'T go away. Even in the coldest temps., this has NEVER happened before.

I'm trying to rule out a few things to gauge the cost of repair for this problem would be. Could it be....??

1. Piston Slap
2. Bad Ball Joints or Bushings
3. Bad Tie Rod
4. Bent Suspension Arm from hitting the curb (Would the suspension arm cause a sound like that on a cold start gear shift?)
5. Broken Engine Mount on that side of engine
6. The fact that the stupid techs. at Midas wrongly aligned my car to Civic specs. and then to Accord specs.


Any info/comments/feedback would be greatly greatly appreciated...

I'll try to post a video on YouTube and link it here later..

Re: '05 Honda Accord -- Knocking under hood, Cold Start -- HELP!!
 

When my left upper ball joint was bad it gave me a pulling / floating feeling through corners, so i would double check those, but it wouldn't cause any knocking sounds unless its really really loose.