I have a 1997 Accord Special Edition (basically LX) 100K Miles. I rear ended another car, not too major, his bumper was pushed in bad, but my car sustained no visible damage. There was some of his paint on the screws to my license plate. I hit him square from directly behind.

It has been a week or so and my car is driving normally, but I notice some noise when I am driving at low speeds with the windows open. It seems to happen when I let go of the gas pedal. It sounds like clicking or a fan making some noise. When I let go of the gas, it starts fast, then slows down and stops, imagine a fan that makes a clicking noise, how it would sound as it comes to a stop. The sound doesn't seem to repeat again when I accelerate, but it does it again when I let off the gas.

Looking under the hood while it is running I haven't been able to see or hear anything odd even revving the engine.

Any ideas?

 

Clicking during coasting/turning is usually attributed to the CV axles wearing.
If you drive in reverse and coast does the noise stay the same or go away?
Find an empty clear parking lot, reverse up to speed and put the car into Neutral and coast. Spur gear is a bit loud and can make listening to the sound difficult. But be careful it is very easy to go from N to D4.

You can also try jacking one side of the car up, place it in drive accelerate and let off the throttle to see if the noise emits from the left or right side of the car. Don't allow the speedometer to read greater than 30MPH. Since one wheel is on the ground stopped the moving wheel will be doing double what the speedometer indicates.

 

Mad, that is a good suggestion because I noticed my left CV boot broken about a month or so ago. I just didn't think it was that because the noise started after the jolt of the accident, and sounds like it's coming from the engine. Also the noise that starts fast when I release the gas, slows and stops in less than 5 seconds. I'm still going the same speed. Then I press the gas and go for a little bit, and when I let go, same thing happens.

I haven't tried in reverse, yet. I will try tonight. And I'm an amateur, I never even thought of being able to jack one side of the car up and being able to accelerate.

Regardless, I will have to fix my left axle soon. The passenger side was replaced last year but never know what was jarred loose in the accident.

 

Ok, thanks to the advice above, I was able to verify that the clicking is coming from the passenger side radiator fan (larger one). It is coming from the center of the fan (motor?), not the blades hitting anything.

I'll have to keep an eye out for any leaks, haven't seen any yet. Hopefully there is no other damage and I can just fix/replace that fan possibly?

I'm a little embarrassed, but earlier I didn't think this was coming from the fan because I thought I was able to hear it running. Good thing I could see and hear it up close.

*edit*
Seems I could just replace the motor. The fan appears ok. If that's easily done, I probably will.

 

Although I agree in not replacing the whole assembly, when it comes to price, it is often cheaper/faster to purchase a fan assembly rather than just replacing the motor.

Go to ROCKAUTO.com and look at pricing.

 

Don't forget to call the local autoparts store. They usually have comparable prices to rockauto, and you can have it right now.

 

Thanks for the link, some good prices there. Although I picked it up at my local store this time.