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Strange sound effects

Andyjdmteg

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Accord Type S
I took my car out for a pointless drive tonight (honeymoon period) and it's now begun to produce a strange whining noise.
Thought at first it was the gearbox then realised that if I dipped the clutch there was no change.
From stationary to low speed it dulls down to a grumble which got me thinking of wheel bearings. But unlike other bearing noises I've heard the noise becomes quite high pitched the faster your moving.
I should add that although the tyres are newish they are proper ditch finders, but I doubt any tyre can sound that loud or high pitched. The car was also found to have a sticking handbrake cable at the time of purchase which was remedied by a local mechanic it also looks like he's copper greased the pads?
So I guess that could mean drive shafts are shot?
The tone in sound stays constant with speed and isn't affected by revs .
 
Just thought if add

Having a coffee and cigarette in my garden this morning and could hear a motorbike in the distance, that high pitched howl or drone.

That's what this sounds like !
 
Is your car an Auto or manual
 
worn rear wheel bearings sound like that, the type of tyre affects the sound that emanates from the bearings
 
Did it start all of a sudden? Could it be something like a stone or similar stuck between the disk and the back plate? Just a thought!
 
Hi
It's a manual box
I thought bearings aswell but in the past ive only experienced that rumble or low frequency noise normally ***ociated with shot bearings not a high pitched noise like this.
It's not a stone caught in the brakes noise either I had a gravel drive at the last house so am VERY familiar with that !
Guess the only way to find out is to jack her up and give the rear wheels a wobble and spin.
I've already got new tyres on the agenda because frankly I don't trust budgets at all anyway.
Is it likely that both bearings have gone or is it usually just the one? Also the car isn't shaking or wobbling it feels fairly planted considering the tyres
 
Is there a chance that maybe the tyres are mis shaped ? Speaking to a friend who claims to have had something similar with budget tyres. Swapped them out and the noise disappeared
 
I had a massive whining noise and thought it was bearings. Sounded just like bearing. Upgraded my wheels and my noise was gone. So do check tyres before doing anything
 
Andyjdmteg said:
Hi
It's a manual box
I thought bearings aswell but in the past ive only experienced that rumble or low frequency noise normally ***ociated with shot bearings not a high pitched noise like this.
It's not a stone caught in the brakes noise either I had a gravel drive at the last house so am VERY familiar with that !
Guess the only way to find out is to jack her up and give the rear wheels a wobble and spin.
I've already got new tyres on the agenda because frankly I don't trust budgets at all anyway.
Is it likely that both bearings have gone or is it usually just the one? Also the car isn't shaking or wobbling it feels fairly planted considering the tyres
The rear bearings can go for a very long time like this before they fail an MOT. If you jack the car up and rotate the wheel, the wheel is not loose, just a barely audible clicking noise when you rotate the wheel. With the weight of the car and cheap tyres, you get a high-pitched whine, which gets lower in frequency as the months/years go by (and the clicking gets louder with the car jacked up). If you change the tyres and the sound goes, in my experience the sound will eventually come back again. But it takes a very long time like this before an MOT fail.

It can be both bearings, usually one side worse than the other. You can also tell which side is worse by going round a 50 mph bend. A bend to the left shifts weight to the right, if sound reduces then it's rear left. On a bend to the right, if the sound reduces then it's rear right. Also, sound gets louder with weight in the back.

Is your car saloon or estate btw ?
Bearings are different, saloon bearings do not fit estate and vice versa.
 
Fingers crossed for the tyres!
It's a saloon 2.4 Type s, as soon as I get an opportunity I'll jack the car up and give The wheels a spin.
Anyone had rear bearings replaced ? Just curious how much it cost, I'm toying with the idea of tackling it myself but it's been a very long time since I undertook a job like that on a car. Last one I did (with ***istance) was a hi lux pickup that I rebuilt years ago.
Also is this a weak point on the accord ? the cars only on 67k

Thanks for all your replies
 
saloon bearings are cheap to buy and easy to do
estate bearings are OEM only AFAIK, and not as easy to do

yes it is fairly common place, IMO not many people know that the rear bearings on their car are wearing out LOL .....because a change to better tyres usually gets rid of noise
as i say, it takes a very long time for the bearings to reach MOT fail, the only way the bearings can fail the MOT is when the bearing feels loose, the clicking sound is not a fail, and as it's difficult for the tester to hear it won't end up as an advisory

edit: some ebay listings (so you can see what they look like) ....saloon ones just bolt on.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291200789187
$_57.JPG


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351225396599
$_57.JPG


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190908664904
$T2eC16R,!)YFIccvWYqwBS,OgJGV-Q~~60_57.JPG


and I've seen them cheaper

and the listing usually say saloon AND tourer ....definitely NOT tourer, never seen actual tourer bearings on ebay
 
Freddo you are an absolute legend
So the saloon units are bolt on ey no need for bearing release tools etc? If that's the case as soon as I isolate the dodgy one(s) I'll get them swapped out
Still havn't had time to check yet I'm working funny hours this week.
I'm getting e tyres out to change all four corners to pilot sport 3's aswell. Had these on a few cars now and really rate them
I have to hand it to the accord though it still feels sharp even with poor quality tyres, gotta love that independent rear setup.

Thanks again freddo appreciate the time you've taken with the pics/links etc .
 
if the sound goes with the Michelin's then don't waste time or money on swapping the bearings, but let us know either way.

I think that this bearing issue might be more of an issue on the tourer, but having said that, there are loads of sellers on ebay selling the saloon bearings ...which I also think are identical to Hyundai or similar
 
Will do freddo
Hopefully should have new rubber on before the week is out. If nothing else at least i know there on there from a safety point of view even if the noise continues.
i want to get the car just right before I start to slowly mod it. The cogs are turning
 
Thought I'd take a look through the classifieds before buying tyres and found these....with Michelin pilot sport 3's approx 6mm on them for.....150 quid ! That's four Pentas and decent tyres for just over the cost of one tyre. Alloys are in fairly good nick too. Rest ***ured I have given myself a pat on the back.
Just got to fit them now and see if my horrible noise quietens down.

 
New wheels are on and guess what, the noise is still there !!!!
Couldn't hear any clicking or feel any noticeable play in the wheels. Had a look at the bushes etc which looked ok to my untrained eyes.
The car does drive a lot better with the michelin rubber on which I suppose is to be expected. Interestingly, I have played around with different speeds to see how the noise is affected. Under hard acceleration revving all the way to the redline, there is a "chatter" sound almost like a quiet version of the old blitz dump valve I had on my dc2. The noise sounds like it's coming from the passenger side footwell? I'm now praying it's not driveshaft related !
 
you could also try on a motorway or dual carriageway in very light traffic at 80 mph (on the speedo, which is usually about 75 mph true speed), then go into neutral and coast down to 50 mph.

also listen if there is any difference when coasting round long bends at 50 mph on B-roads
 
I've tried various bends at 50 after your previous recommendation freddo but honestly can't really here any difference. Dipping the clutch at higher speeds, the noise is still there it changes in volume/pitch with the speed of the vehicle and is loudest between 20 - 30mph and 60 -70. Above 80 the frequency in sound changes and the noise is all but gone, also at 40 - 45ish.
I can't believe I didn't see any bearing play the noise is soooooo bearing-ey, maybe I need to enlist some more experienced hands/eyes
 
Sorry I've just re read that post freddo,
Do you mean actually dropping into neutral and Coast down or will dipping the clutch suffice?
That's all I've done so far I havnt actually moved the gearstick to neutral
 
It shouldn't make any difference whether you've dipped the clutch or gone into neutral, if you're not used to coasting in neutral then don't try it ....IIRC coasting up to traffic lights in neutral was ok on the driving test when I did my test, and coasting was encouraged generally as a way of getting better mpg in the days of carburettors, so I used to coast a lot in days gone by.

The way you describe it in #16 it doesn't sound like rear bearings, but the way you describe it in #18 it does LOL

There is no play at all in these bearings when they make the noise, the clicking is extremely quiet (like spinning the rear wheel on a push-bike that has a not-very-old hub)

edit: driveshaft problem causes vibration under acceleration, but none when coasting
 
We need more info to narrow it doesn to a area, eg drivetrain, engine etc

Does it do it on idle?

Through all gears?

Engine Hot or cold?

Ac On/Off

Does the noise change when driving on different road surfaces? (I think you rules tyres out already)

It could be gearbox, aux belt or one of the components, PS/AC pump etc.
 
I've got a mechanic friend who's going to have a look on Saturday afternoon but failing that I think it may be a visit to Honda and some scary numbers printed on paper, although I don't completely trust them having worked there myself and saw how the "technicians" behaved with people's cars...

Just wished I lived closer to TDI or vtec direct
 
Salim said:
We need more info to narrow it doesn to a area, eg drivetrain, engine etc

Does it do it on idle?

Through all gears?

Engine Hot or cold?

Ac On/Off

Does the noise change when driving on different road surfaces? (I think you rules tyres out already)

It could be gearbox, aux belt or one of the components, PS/AC pump etc.
if the sound definitely changes with speed when coasting, then it's nothing to do with engine or drivetrain

I've had exactly this problem in my car for the last 4 (or 5) years, got the new bearings ages ago (from HH), but with it being the Tourer bearings, I've not got round to doing it. The sound gets worse as the months/years go by, starts off high pitched and over time the pitch gets lower and lower, and louder too. Also much louder with weight in the back.

Pitch and loudness of the sound also varies with tyre type (worse with cheap tyres), not really as much with road surface. The clicking when the car is jacked up also gets more audible as time passes. Each time I take the car for MOT I mention it to the chap that I know when he's doing the MOT on my car, and he says that the clicking is more audible each year, but as it's not loose it's not a failure. RHS is worse than LHS, can also tell the difference according to bend in the road.

As I keep saying, you have to coast the car ad listen to the change in sound pitch as the car slows down. Also try it with extra weight in the back. Also listen very carefully, right up close to the wheel hub, no background noise, with the wheel spinning (off the ground obviously).

With the high number of sellers selling these bearings on ebay, there must be a demand, which means that it is a problem more common than on TA.

edit: if you listen to the background sound in my video here, you can hear a kind of "creaking". That is the microphone picking up the sound, but because the microphone has gain-control and limited band-width, the whine is dropping in and out of the sound-track so that it sounds like a creaking/rattling noise (I'm driving, my son is filming) ...and that was 4 years ago, it is much much louder and lower in pitch now

https://youtu.be/7wDrwnatl5o
 
I'll start by saying freddo your one of the most helpful people I never met!
From what I can hear in the vid it does sound similar. I might see if I can post up a video of my own with an hd mic I've got lying around.
I would say that my noise is that low from 0 - 20 then rapidly changes in pitch. It's like driving along with a sports bike next to the car hanging on in a low gear getting ready to overtake me.
I'm taking it to my friends private garage on Saturday for an investigation on the ramp. It's nice and quiet there so hopefully we can get to the bottom of this before I start throwing money around at the stealers.
 
^ that does sound similar, but there is another possibility that has dawned on me.

If you work backwards from the front wheels into the engine, you get front-wheel-bearing, CV joint, drive-shaft inner-joint, differential, gearing, clutch, flywheel, crankshaft and pistons, pulley and aux belt etc.

By dipping the clutch and coasting, you'e only eliminating up to and including the clutch.

If you try repeatedly coasting over the same speed range, but using different gears with clutch dipped, and then in neutral, you're eliminating the gears and clutch (if the sound variation is not affected). I've never heard of front-wheel-bearings or CV joint or drive-shaft inner-joint whining like that (though it could be possible), but the differential can whine like that.

So try repeatedly coasting over the same speed range, but using different gears with clutch dipped, and then in neutral, to make sure that the sound can only be the rear-bearings .... or the differential (which is the other possibility that has dawned on me.
 
Aah ok I missed the post where the OP says he's tried coasting.

when I changed out the rear hub ***embly in my car there was no play, but it was loud but not like the op describes.

I seen a good technique is to hold onto the shock spring and spin the wheel in the air any play or wear will be felt in your hand holding the spring.
 
That's good info guys unfortunately my mechanic is awol after a works do last night lol
I will wait till the a1 quietens down later and take it out and try some more coasting, praying all the while that it's not the differential.
If it is im guessing a new gearbox will be required? If so the cars going to be off the road for quite some time.
 
Right I've been out and about for a run down the motorway. I've tried coasting the car at varying speeds/gears in and out of neutral with absolutely no change in sound. I am absolutely certain it has to be a bearing now.
Interestingly I've discovered that the noise disappears for a split second going over speed bumps (the small straddle at 25-30 kind) and I'm convinced it's the rear of the car.
Mechanic ***ures me tomorrow he will not be hanging and will be available to give it a once over.
 
Finally I have my confirmation. N/s rear bearing needs replacing. Part is on order and should be fitted by Monday evening. All other components checked out fine with zero play. As an added bonus it looks like someone has fitted some stiffer Eurathane bushes up front.
Hooray !

Thanks again to all your replies and ***istance with this.

Also did engine oil/filter, gearbox oil and brake fluid today so all in all a very productive Sunday.
Now I can get back to window shopping my mods. Any idea what's happened to the VTEC direct website?
 
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