Hello all:

A person on another forum suggested I post my problem in this forum. The title is a bit cryptic, but I wanted to cram as much basic info in it to give potential readers an idea of what my problem is. So here goes;

I have a 99 Accord EX V6 Auto with ~97k miles. It recently started making what is best described as a loud clicking/clacking sound that seems to come from the front driver's side when I shift from Park to Reverse. What irks me about the sound is I also sometimes hear it when I accelerate from a stop or after I let off the gas once I reach my cruising speed. For example, I accelerate up to 40mph and let off the gas. Once I completely let off the gas I sometimes hear the clicking sound. Another example, I am at a stop light and when I start to accelerate I hear the clicking sound. The sound is only intermittent, has not gotten louder, and it doesn't seem that it is happening more frequently (ie, it still only happens intermittently).

I took it in to the local Honda dealership and I get the feeling the mechanics don't have a clue what the sound is. The first time they claimed they couldn't hear the sound. The second time I was able to reproduce it for the guy and the note I got back was the sound was caused by "common brake pad shift." At first I thought they were full of it, but then I noticed that if I park on an incline and park without using the ebrake (I always use it to prevent the car from rocking forward before it finally stops) I hear the same clicking sound from the same area. That made me pause a bit and wonder if the mechanic wasn't totally full of it, but I am hoping somebody on here has an idea.

I'm worried this is the beginning of my transmission starting to die on me. I am aware that Honda had issues with auto trannies for Accords around the year mine was made. I checked to see if it was covered by the class action settlement that extended the tranny warranty but the site claimed it wasn't (after I entered my vin). I also mentioned the possibility of a bad tranny to the dealership and they seemed to get very defensive and adamently told me they know of this issue and that the techs are trained to know what to look for.

For the record, I follow the schedules maintenance for this car and make sure I take it in when specified.

Thoughts? Suggestions on how to get the dealership to take a more detailed look? Sympathy for a potentially bad transmission?


Thanks for reading.

edit: I made sure to do a search before posting. I didn't find anything that covered my problem in the current or archived forum posts, but of course that isn't a guarantee that there isn't something there.


Modified by enojado at 10:58 AM 5/14/2008