My 94 Accord w/ 165k miles makes a noise when slowing down while in gear. It is the original clutch and manual tranny. Clutch seems good, its definitely old but doesn't seem to slip that I can notice, every gear shifts fine, its a bit hard going into first but not to bad, and everything feels pretty good except for the noise.

If the car is in gear, and the buzzing starts, I can pop it into neutral and it stops right away. i also think it stops when I push in the clutch. So, it just happens when coasting to the stop and the gearing is slowing the car, and it usually doesnt last too long.

It happens in gears 2-4 at about 2000 to 1700 rpms when slowing down. It may also happen in 5th, but I havent been in a position where I could try.

if I'm accelerating or its in neutral, theres no noise, but if im slowing down while in gear i get the vibrating/buzzing metallic noise from 2000 to 1700 rpms. It also seems to happen if the transmission is in neutral and i push in the clutch in those rpm's. It's kinda hard to be sure about that though.

any ideas?

 

how does the clutch feel when you put it in? is it fairly loose? buddy of mine had a noise like your and it's cause his clutch was going out...bad spring or something, I think, but it was real loose

 

The clutch feel spretty good. It doesn't really feel loose. It engages pretty quickly when I press it in but other than being old it seems alright.

I suppose it wouldnt be too bad if it was a clutch problem, its probably getting towards the end of its life at 162k. I'd much rather that then transmission.

 

It's RPM sensitive

Check the heat shields (BOTH TOP AND BOTTOM) on the catalytic converter. The welds break and they vibrate at the wierdest times.
My '97 would do it only during decelleration at 1800 rpm; and it was embarrassingly loud too.
I took care of the problem by linking several Stainless hose clamps (spiral (worm) type) together and clamped the shields to the converter body.

P

 

Dude! Thanks so much for the tip. Jacked it up today, propped the pedal so it was around 2000 rpm and making the noise, crawled under, and it was the heat shields around the cat. Simple fix, so relieved.

 

Glad I could help.
Sometimes it's the stupidest things that go wrong.
It took me two road tests and an hour with a rubber mallet to find this for a customer.
I knew what to look for when my SE started .....

P

 

Interesting... my first Accord did at at 1200 rpm (very loud) and my current Accord does it at 1800 (not so loud). I'll have to check on the heat shields!