Ive seen this on someones car once. put it up on jacks and ran it. sounded like the trans axle was making the noise . dont know if she ever got it fixed or how long it lasted. possibly why putting it in neutral didn't stop the noise. also I've rebuilt the 4 speed which is just like the 5 speeds with one less clutch pack and there are no chains in this tranny.
on the up dated trannys there is a oil feed that is installed eliminating the fill access hole. this sends oil to second gear. they also where replacing tcu's saying they where too aggressive.

 

Thanks for the replies. I took it into the transmission shop this morning, the second one I called, they knew off the top of their head honda trannys dont have chains in them.

We drove he heard noise, then brought it back to the shop and put it on the lift to replicate. I was standing by this time, noise was gone or at least faint enough we couldnt hear it.

To make a long story short, he said it sounded like nothing he has heard before, but was leaning towards wheel bearing since noise stopped when he lifted car. He confirmed it didnt sound like a typical wheel bearing failure but thought that was my best place to start before tearing into the tranny chasing a noise.

Tonight I am going to drain and refill ATF to look for any metal on the plug. If everything looks normal I am going to replace my front wheel bearings, they should be done anyways since they have 185k miles on them.

I will post my findings.

 

I've had a couple wheel bearings that DON'T follow the conventional pattern of changing when you steer, and they sounded wierd anyway. I'm just saying that wheelbearings CAN make any number of different kinds of sounds.

 

I agree, starting with the wheel bearings. I did change the tranny fluid last night, magnetic plug and fluid looked fine. All the dealer had was the new ATF (DW-1), hopefully that stuff is good. Rediculous price at $12/quart.

 

Ouch, that is high. I've seen Honda Z1 and DW1 at carquest for ~7.79 at qt.

 

Thanks for the tip poorman, you know where all the deals are.

 

Okay, so I pulled the knuckle last night, because the noise is getting louder. Was going to try and replace bearing but the kit I bought from Harbor Freight which claims you can change the bearing without removing the knuckle didnt seem to work. I would have read the instructions but there were none. I couldnt get the hub out without a press so I gave up and put it back together. Any tricks? But the hub/bearing rotated smoothly and seemed fine to me.

Well while driving in to work this morning the noise was gone, at least for the first 5 miles or so. Then started back, but I drove crazy to try and diagnose further. I noticed when taking a hard right turn the noise will usually stop. This is hard to do as the noise doesnt start up until traveling above 35 mph. But I swear the noise stops when traveling over 65 mph in a straight line. I have read bearings will tend to make noise above a certain speed, but it seemed fine when I had the knuckle out last night. Any thoughts?

I was thinking maybe an issue with the inner carrier bearing? Can these be changed by just pulling axle? Transmission guy who looked at it said he has never seen the carrier bearing fail without damage to the inner boot. He also stated they were the cone type. Is this true, I dont have a good picture or procedure to replace one.

 

After replacing axle and wheel bearing I was about to give up. Took it to Sams to balance and rotate tires, that is all it was. A balance weight must have been loose or something? Funny and embarassing but glad sound is gone. Tricked two dealerships a transmission mechanic and during the whole ordeal found the new mechanic I will be using from now on.

One more question though. The last mechanic had it in the air and brought me out to listen while he scoped some parts of the car. First right knuckle then left. Honestly I couldnt hear much of a difference but then he put on transaxle assembly. Loud as all get out. Also the differential was struggling to keep equal power to both tires. When the mechanic was driving left front was moving about 60 mph, right front about 30 mph. Is this a problem? Or can this be expected when car is lifted and no load on wheels?

 

BTW, anyone who uses another bearing other than the OEM NSK is crazy. The mechanic who pressed in my new bearing also tore the old one apart and washed it for me. Bearing is perfect, not a single impefection with 185k miles. Crazy, mechanic just said that is honda technology for ya.

 

That's pretty normal when both wheels are off the ground. With an open differential, it really only takes a TINY amount of brake drag on one wheel to make that happen.