From dead stop in 1st gear, when I accelerate to take off slowly I hear click, click, click, and its coming from behind the dash/engine bay somewhere? And I also can feel it through the steering wheel! Only hear this in 1st gear when taking off. Possibly the steering rack? I am a Technician at a Honda Dealer currently working on this crazy click, click noise along w/ other Techs trying to figure this out from a '02 Civic SI. This is the second Civic SI year '02-'03 with this problem at my dealership. Only 30,000 miles on both cars.

Does ANYBODY else have this problem with there Civic SI's. I heard there was a updated steering rack? Is this true?

Here are the parts that were replaced trying to figure out this NOISE!
Front motor mount, drivers side upper mount,rear motor mount, both front struts, Front left axle, exhaust manifold donut gasket, tie rod ends, and last the entire steering rack! And still click, click noise!

ANYBODY???????????

 

Does the noise sound like its coming from inside the tranny or is it outside of that?

 

It doesn't sound like its internal tranny noise. Because I can kinda feel the click from the wheel. But we did suggest to try and replace the trans to see if the noise went away but our service manager can't afford another deadend. He is mad enough at all those new parts we installed to not fix it anyway. Are you a Honda Technician? And have you heard this noise before?

 

Is your car lowered ? If so, did you notice this noise start after you lowered it?

 

This is not my car. A customers car. 100% All stock! '02 SI 30,000 miles. Do you own a EP3 SI? If so can you relate to this noise? Thanks

 

idk if that was me replacing parts on that si i would have gone straight for the trans if it only went on in 1st gear. Cuz im sure if the noise would still be there after first if it wasnt the trans does the steering wheel vibrate at all with the click?

 

No steering vibration. Sometimes you can hear it when you let off the gas, when the motor is jerking back and forth. Thats why we did all the motor mounts. But its the loudest at 1st gear taking off. And not taking off fast but slowly. ?????

 

Which dealer do you work at?

 

Boy, I can relate to this thread. I got through school a lot of years ago working as line mechanic in a v-dub store, hence the web name. Learned something new every day, but that never kept me from thinking I knew it all.

A few years ago, I spent many hours hunting for a clicking sound someplace in the dash of my wife's Accord. Slowly, bolt by bolt, I damn near took the entire dash apart, punctuating my efforts with road tests to try to isolate the sound. No luck. Damn frustrating. Finally, with most of the dash apart and in pieces on the floor and the the back seat, I gave up. I put everything back in place and took the car to my selling dealer.

The tech got in the car and listen patiently as I told him about the sound that was driving me nuts. Mostly when I turned left at low speeds. We hadn't cleared the lot before he heard it. Trying not to make me feel like a complete fool, he reached up, opened the sunglasses' holder above the mirror, and pointed to the source of the endless clicking. Two years into our ownership of the car, my wife had decided out-of-the-blue to use the sunglasses' holder, and that was the source of the click -- her sunglasses moving back and forth in the holder. I was <U>positive</U> the sound was in the dash.

Now, for your problem. If it's difficult to diagnose sounds when you hear actually them, it's impossible sitting at a computer screen. That said, it's my guess that the sound may be coming from the one of the universal joints, not the steering mechanism. When the bearings begin to go, it usually begins with a clicking that you hear first and only at low speeds. (As you increase speed, road noise and wind mask the sound, which is why you don't hear the clicking more until it's really bad.) As you described, you often can feel the mechanical binding through the steering wheel. (The fact that the Si has power steering may mask the feel through the wheel, however.) But, I'd start with the u-joints, and ask your shop manager to ride around with you as you turn right to left, left to right, going from full right lock to full left lock and back At 30k miles, it would be early for a u-joint to give up the ghost, but it happens. Good luck.

 

From what I have read it was a problem with the steering rack and/or the tie rod ends and you have replaced both of them. A lot of EP owners are having this problem and no one seems to know the answer. Even after the rack is fixed people still complain of the noise later on. If you find the answer keep us informed, there are plenty of people who would like to know the answer. Good luck!!

 

axles?

 

well,....this topic has been covered billions of times on ephatch.com. its the steering rack. some dealers will fix it under warranty, others wont. here is a link,..have fun reading. and good luck.
http://www.ephatch.com/forum/s...age=2
http://www.ephatch.com/forum/s...pp=15
be sure to read the 30+ pages to get all the info...not just the link above.
let us know what comes about and tell me how the heck i can get mine fixed! my honda dealer blamed it on my lowering,...come to find out they never looked at it,...they just assumed it was the springs. makes me wanna buy a different brand of car from the crap service i get.

 

i just wanted to add that the tierod issue is due to lowering the vehicle......they are angled and it causes creeking. but its def. the steering rack. i read there was a problem with all 2002-03 steering racks but not recalls.....yet! the 04/05 dont seem to have this problem.

 

Redlight_SI sorry but I'm not putting my place of work on Honda-Tech...for all the Jersey thieves to know! You Feel me? Are you a Tech at Honda in NJ? If you are I'm sure you or the dealer has had this problem before? Any solid results?

For sillyboy, Yes I read the ephatch forums but everyone's just complaining and even ones with a new steering rack! Some say the noise went away after the new rack. But like I said, I installed a new rack on this Civic SI already and the noise is still there.

Lessthndan, NO ONE KNOWS the ANSWER to this creek noise? I guess the only solution is to trade this **** EP3hatch w/electric steering and get the new 2006 Civic SI?