Hello all.

My first post here, and the first Honda I've ever owned. Bought it two days ago, a 1994 Honda Accord EX (automatic).

I've noticed over the past two days some strange noises/behaviors here...

- A sort of howl/whistle/shimmying plastic sound coming from the front driver's side wheel area. Sounds like it's happening in time with the turning of the wheel, but I'm not sure. Only audible at speeds less than 25 mph or so, but then it's always audible.

- Vibration/shuddering occasionally at idle or low speeds. Goes away if I put the car into Neutral or Park. Not terrible, but feels kind of like my old Saab 5spd did when I was in too high a gear. This gets markedly worse every now and then when I turn at low speeds.


Any help on these would be greatly appreciated!

--SK

 

Welcome to HT

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94AccordOwner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">- A sort of howl/whistle/shimmying plastic sound coming from the front driver's side wheel area. Sounds like it's happening in time with the turning of the wheel, but I'm not sure. Only audible at speeds less than 25 mph or so, but then it's always audible.
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Start by checking to make sure your fender liner isn't coming in contact with your tire

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94AccordOwner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

- Vibration/shuddering occasionally at idle or low speeds. Goes away if I put the car into Neutral or Park. Not terrible, but feels kind of like my old Saab 5spd did when I was in too high a gear. This gets markedly worse every now and then when I turn at low speeds.
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Start with the basic tune up parts cap rotor spark plugs and wires, if that doesn't work may try cleaning your egr ports.

 

check to see if that low ratteling occurs at roughly 1600-2100 rpms

 

Thanks for the replies.

I was wrong about the howl/whistle/mystery noise, it's not going in time with the wheel. Today it made the same noise a couple of times with the car at a stop. I did check the tire's clearance before that, and it's got plenty.

I don't have access to tools today (tomorrow I will), but the wires look good and everything you mentioned appears very clean. The previous owner does have receipts for dealer-tuneups, so hopefully they're all okay. I'll check more thoroughly tomorrow though.

Finally, the rattling hasn't occured outside of that range - but it hasn't occured continuously from 1600 through 2100 rpms either.


One thing I found in the receipts was a radiator replacement about 3500 miles/1.5 months ago. It mentions an estimate to replace A/C line, and a recommendation to replace the "suction and discharge lines off of evaporator." I'm not sure what these mean, but could they be a possible issue?

Thanks for the help.

--SK

 

Problems with EGR ports don't seem to always happen, sometimes it seems to randomly happen. Check the EGR valve while you are at it. Generally it will happen in the 1600 - 2100RPM range. May as well give it a try cleaning them is not too terribly difficult. I'd say most 5th gen Accords are due for this about now anyway unless they either had it already done or were hardly ever driven. Can't hurt to try it.

Only thing that might make me think otherwise is you mentioning it doing it during idle, which generally it does not. But then in the last post you mentioned that is the only time it happens.

As for the noise during turning, by some chance check your power steering fluid levels, and possibly your power steering pump. Can't say for sure though as its hard to know what you mean by describing a sound over the net without maybe a soundclip or hearing it in person myself.

 

Regarding that inconsistency, I'm not sure if it's the same issue in both cases. I have noticed that when the noise starts at idle, my tach dips down a bit (normally at 750 or so, it dips down to 500-600). As for turning, I think it may just be a coincidence (I'm usually at 1600rpm by the time I'm turning out of my apartment's parking lot, which is where I notice it most).

Thanks, and I'll see about giving those EGR ports a check.

--SK