I have a 2007 CR-V which I recently bought. I've replaced all four struts, tensioner, wheel bearings front and rear, all four brake disks and pads; sway bar links, all four tires, tie rods inner and outer, and had the SRS controller reset. After that couple of weeks of Honda Hell I started it for the first time in three weeks. It was making a clicking noise from the right side while idling. I couldn't find the source of the clicking and so I drove it for a couple of blocks. The clicking turned into a howling noise.

Back in the garage I still couldn't find the source of the howling. I jacked the right side up, and pulled the wheel and the flap. I found that if I squirted some PB Blaster directly onto the base of the water pump the howling stopped immediately, but after a couple of minutes, it would start up again. I left the A/C on and the clutch cycled a few times; that made no difference, so I've eliminated the A/C as the noise source. I shut it down and pressure tested the radiator and sure enough, the water pump had a small leak under pressure.

I thought I'd found the problem but after I started it again and the howling came back I found that it would also stop if I sprayed the alternator or the power steering pump with PB Blaster. I'd already replaced the tensioner a couple of weeks ago, so I don't think that's gone bad.

So I ordered a new water pump and pulled the original one today. I could find absolutely nothing wrong with it, there was no drag or play or anything. Same for the alternator and power steering pump. The tensioner that I'd replaced was ok also.

If anyone has any insight into what could be causing the howling I'd really appreciate hearing about it. My plan after spending all day getting the water pump off is to replace it of course; and also the alternator. It is a real bitch working in that area as there is NO ROOM to do anything. I spent two hours just getting the three bolts off of the tensioner. Anyway, if I replaced the alternator the only thing left would be the PS pump which isn't that bad to replace - it's right on top, not too bad (by Honda standards) to replace it.

Thanks in advance if anyone has any suggestions, advice, or comments. I can see that I'm gonna need all the help I can get with this car!

 

Its sorta aggravating when someone opens a thread then never posts the solution. To that end I will post what I found with my CR-V mystery howling.

After replacing the water pump and alternator, I put the belt back on and started the engine. This time there was a loud chirping noise, again no way to locate the source. After a couple of minutes the noise died down and in five minutes it was gone. The next morning I started the car and again, noisy for a few minutes then nothing.

The third morning I found that if I squirted a small shot of WD-40 directly on the power steering pump bearing the noise ended. So I ordered a new power steering pump and installed it. That did the trick: Its still a little noisy when cold but soon goes away.

Final conclusion: I think the water pump was bad. While I was chasing noises I also replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses and thermostat, for no reason other than the car has 170k miles on it and it was probably time. Once the new water pump, hoses, and thermostat were on it pressure tested good, no leaks of any kind, slow or otherwise. I think the alternator was probably ok but the new one is all shiny and nice. I had to pull the cooling fan in front of the alternator to replace it; once that was out it was an easy job. And the power steering pump was definitely marginal; it might have been ok to run with it like that but it would have gone out eventually, probably sooner than later.

I think that replacing the tensioner caused all this. The new tensioner (a Gates one) is probably pushing the belt harder than the old one which may have caused extra strain on the various bearings. In hindsight I should have just replaced the tensioner pulley, not the whole thing. This would have been a LOT easier and saved me a lot of grief.

So the score is: New tires; four new struts; four new hubs and bearings; ball joints; tie rods; sway bar links; four sets of brake pads and rotors; tensioner, water pump, alternator, power steering pump. Windshield (the original was cracked); dash cam; deer alert. Plugs. It totals a couple bucks shy of $3200. And I got a cool tie-rod tool also.

The car runs good, I drove it down to Walmart today. Hopefully (!) it will be relatively maintenance free for a while.