There is a very slight whirring sound from the engine at idle and in neutral, it's an automatic. It disappears when I put it in gear. I'm taking it on a 4 hour drive next week and I want to make sure it's ok. Maybe it's just normal engine noise. Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

Parts diagram..red line shows bearing and idler

Bearing cavity, side cover

Bearing drops out, (the new one is pressed in tight in the new cover). Also bearing shows"chatter" marks.

Old side cover... one oil feed tube is transfer over; this one is included.

Closer shot
I just had my transmission side cover with the idler gear bearing replaced to fix this described symptom. Its important to rule out all other causes to make this repair effective. I used a stethoscope to pinpoint the noise. You can purchase one at an auto parts store or amazon, if you don't have one, its a great tool.
The noise I had, would start after the engine started and would sort of fade out in gear, and be less loud hot. It was a whirring chunka chunka noise, sort of like a loud 2 speed old school power glide transmission. To diagnose this, I idled the car on a lift and used the stethoscope to home in on the source, checking all obvious engine noise sources first. Holding the stethoscope on the side cover in the area of idle gear bearing, I could hear the sound clearly.
In the cover, there is a large "needle" bearing that supports the idler gear (see the pics).
To do this repair you need to lower the transmission side cover below the frame rail and access it through the left wheel well. Because this was done on a hoist, the cradle was lowered with the whole drivetrain, just low enough to pull the side cover off with the long oil feed tube intact.
the whole repair was done in about 4 hours.
I also changed the trans oil 3 times and I'll do it again, but change the inline filter and add an aux cooler to bring the trans temp down.

 

Thanks for the info. I might take the car to a transmission specialist and maybe they can pinpoint it. If it is the bearing, is it reasonably easy to change? I don't have a hoist so would car ramps do?

 

Its a big job . You can do it in the driveway with floor jacks and stands. When the cover comes off, a few parts come loose so you need to be careful not to loose anything. Its just over 4 hours of work on a hoist.

 

thanks again. If I put the car up on ramps do I need to remove the engine mounts to lower the engine for transmission access?

 

Davey7847, that is some great work you've done with the info and pictures. But what year(s) CRV is this for? 2002+ with a K series and automatic?

Steve Clifford, you in for some work man. Good luck!

 

I just sold my trusty 93 accord. I had it 6 years without much trouble. Now I've got a 2005 crv which I've had 3 weeks and it seems I may have transmission problems. It looks like the bottom suspension needs to be removed to access the transmission side cover. Is this correct? Does the new side cover have the idle bearing already pressed in or is it separate?

 

The repair I did was on a 2006 5-speed automatic. The 2005 and 2006 both use 5-speed automatic. 2002 to 2004 used 4-speed automatic and the repair is identical. The difference is the part obviously will be a different part number but physically will be very very similar. Both 4 and 5 speeds use the same configuration with an idler gear. I post a link here(below) to a YouTube video of where I found this repair and it answers a lot of the other questions about the engine mounts Etc. My mechanic just lowered the whole cradle to access the side of the transmission. It was easier because they had the equipment. However you can get away with just loosening all the bolts on the right hand side removing the ones from the left hand side, disconnecting the lh ball joint, to swing the suspension away for easier access. The video description and comments gives more details on how he did his repair on the driveway on. It's very advisable if you have one of these units in you're going to be attempting repairs on it to go online on eBay and Order a manual for your model. I just ordered one it was about 50 bucks on a CD. Without a shop manual you are swimming in the dark.

 

yes, as in the picture of the part I posted , its all together... bearing and cover

 

ok thanks. As mentioned the whirring noise is only very slight. Would the car be safe to drive for some time before it becomes essential to fix it? Also are there any videos (I couldn't find any) specifically on how to lower the transmission to allow access.

 

it's difficult to say if it'll cause more damage if you keep driving it, not really knowing what your particular issue is. If it's the same bearing it should be okay for a little while. These Transmissions are pretty durable. As far as a video on how to lower it I'm not sure where you find one however.I can give you the basic steps. Put your car up on jack stands (raise the front end). Drain the transmission ( 3 liters will come out) Have your floor jack ready to hold up engine and the transmission close to the transmission end. Once the Jack is in place disconnect the left side or driver side transmission mount from the body-remove the airbox assembly to do this. Be careful taking the airbox off the car because the top cover has a hose that goes to the valve cover as a breather for the crankcase ventilation system. A lot of times these hoses are stuck on there really really good and when you try to take them off you'll break the plastic fitting off of the air box cover. Sometimes it's better to remove the hose from the valve cover still attached to the air box cover . Loosen the bolts on the passenger side as much as you can but they can remain in, and then remove the bolts on the driver side. Having done all this you should be able to lower the whole engine transmission within the Cradle enough to access the side cover. That YouTube video I posted earlier has a little bit more of information but the poster is very good at getting back to you if you have any questions he might be another source for you to get more details because he did it in the driveway.

 

All RD series crv Automatics ( 4 or 5 speed) in 2002 to 2006 ( north america 2.4 L K) ... I would suspect all other markets are the same transmission for RD series Automatics

 

Here Is an update on the whirring noise in these Honda Transmissions. It is not an unknown problem and it is caused by The Idler gears Causing me Outer bearing to come loose in a cover . The bearing in the cover supports one end of the gears and then there's a bearing in the case that supports the other side of the gears .The problem is that if you let it go long enough the idler gears/ bearing that are in the case will start to exhibit the same problem and become sloppy in the case. The only way to repair the problem after that is to have the bearings shimmed in the case or replaced the case with one that doesn't have wear. I still see in the video below there is a company in California that can shim all the bearings' bore holes after resizing all the them, so that they're tight in place.