I recently purchased a 92 Accord LX, 5spd. 230k miles
When I turn at low speeds, when accelerating, I hear a knocking/clunking sound coming from the driver's side. It's worse when turning right.

I thought "hey, it must be the CV joints are bad. Time to put in new axles." However I took a look at the boots on it, and they are in quite good shape - no cracking at all. What gives? Can these fail prematurely without boot problems?

I bought reman axles from O'Reilly's and I will try to put them in soon.

1. When I pull the axle out of the tranny should there be fluid leaking out or not? The Haynes manual says to refill with 5w-30 engine oil. I bought 3 quarts.

2. Since the boots look almost new, is there anything else to check that might be the problem? The ball joints have no play in them.

Thanks
Marshall

 

Are you sure about putting engine oil in the auto tranny, I dont think so, I would not expect more than a half a qt of ATF to come out, so have your drip pan dwon there just in case, sometimes none will but that may be a sign of low fluid, check it properly when its time. Are you the original owner, the good looking beet can be a sign of it having been replaced before, after the damage was already started but not making noise yet by a previous owner. There should be a tutorial in one of the topics at the top of the post listings there somewhere.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Duane_in_Japan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you sure about putting engine oil in the auto tranny, I dont think so,</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marshallh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I recently purchased a 92 Accord LX, 5spd. 230k miles
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5 Speed = Manual....

Clicking or clunking? Clunking, i would suspect the suspension area, not the drive area.

 

Appreciate the responses, it's more of a clunking noise. It seems to vary depending on the outside temperature. Yesterday morning it was about 60 and no clunking, yet today driving to work it was 80 and the clunking was in full force. (Only while turning)

Another question - brakes squeaking while braking to a stop. I have about a centimeter of pad left on both sides, and my rotors are very smooth... ?

 

Wow thats weird. Ummm just to save some money, spray some silicone spray on the suspension parts. (bushings, rubber parts, joints) See if that helps eliminate the problem. It sounds like the cold is helping a part get stuck together, so no clunking. Then when it gets hot, it melts and clunking begins. Also tighten up the bolts in the suspension area...

For the brakes, I think it's time to replace the rotors. Smooth surface. Just like putting a finger on a mirror surface, squeeking. Most likely, it wasn't even replaced by the original owners. It might be a pain in the butt to replace. Especially if you have rust. Use the 97 Accord brake tutorial in the Accord FAQ as a guide.

 

If what The-Kid said does not work, try checking the baring's in your car. ( just as another option, because what he suggested could very likely be it..)

Mine was doing the same thing when ever I would turn the wheel, and whether or not I was going fast, or slow.

 

Thanks for the replies. I thought it might be possible someone just put new boots on the joints after the damage was already done. Wouldn't be practical for them though.


Anyway I got the wheel off and I am now stopped at prying the driver's side inner joint off the intermediate shaft. Any tips? It's being a pain.


96blackaccordv6: did you end up replacing your bearings to get rid of the noise? If so, which ones?

Thanks

 

I'm stuck for now. Even with my dad and I prying with crowbars on each side of the axle/intermediate shaft bearing, it is going nowhere.

Is there anything I can spray in there (say wd-40) that will make a difference?

 

you need a left axle....do not waste your time with anything else. ..
someone replaced the cv boot once upon a time,, but sometimes the noise in the axle does not happen till after a while, maybe whomever replaced the cv boot did not properly clean and repacked the joint with grease....
...Also if you raise the car on the side when replacing the axle, instead of the frt you might not even lose any oil.

 

My 96 accord ex 2.2L vtec does the same thing and the honda dealership said it was my cv joints?? I had been thinking it was the axles as well, anyone know how much new axles for the front would cost?
Thanks,

 

If you're talking about pulling off the half shaft (cv-axel) I use a big flat head screw driver. Get under there so you can see exactly where the joint is( with the car properly supported of course) because you should see the joint with the oil seal on the tranny side. Gently put the screw driver in between there and pry. They come straight out and there is no such thing as prying both sides. If you stick the screwdriver/prybar in between two pieces of metal then you're off a little. Look at the transaxle casting and there should be some rubber right where it ends and there you go.

 

Well, we succeeded - being unable to get the inner joint out of the halfshaft, we just pulled the whole thing, bearing and all, out of the tranny. No oil came out, possibly because the front end was tilted so high?

That inner joint was on there good - we ended up taking a sledgehammer and hammering in two crowbars on each side. Then it just popped off. Putting the new axle and getting everything back together only took about 10 minutes then, hehe.

The clunking noise is gone, but I'm going to replace the other axle since I bought it as well.

Guess you learn that when the manual doesn't work, you gotta figure out your own way to do things

Thanks everyone. Never fear, I will come back with more questions.

 

Yep I was actually just going to post, I have a clunking noise from my driver's side and it's the cv joint toasted.

Glad to hear you got it all taken care of.