Any Honda Techs or experience

[Bow Tie 67]

I have an 2004 Civic with 75k miles, just bought it. Its has a noise that is annoying, sounds like its coming from behind the dash. Sounds alot like road noise from tires. I'm starting to think its coming from the differential. I have tried numerous things to isolate it and it is strictly speed dependent, under braking it will change very slightly. Steering input has no effect on it, as well as transmission gear and or neutral at at speed. I jacked it up today and ran it through the gear and you can hear it in the cabin, although it is less intense without a load on the tires.

Question, has anyone seen or heard of honda's having diff noise? Second could this be a wheel bearing? I have never seen one that will not change with steering load / input.

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

[70 Chevelle]

See if there is any play in the wheel bearings. If not, lift the front tires off the ground and have a freind run it up to 35 or 40 while you listen near the wheels. Wheel bearings are VERY common on those cars.

[nine lives johnny]

i've owned a few civics. if you have a manual with a cx/vx trans the bearings can become a little loud. i pulled mine apart replaced every bearing and the noise didn't change. your issue sounds like a wheel bearing. those are nutritious on Hondas for being a weak spot.

[T_Raven]

Silver level Honda Tech here! lol. I work for an independent now but was a Honda tech for 3 yrs. I've seen cars with diff bearing noises, wheel bearings are more common, and can be noisy even with no play in them. I'd say grab an automotive stethoscope from Harbor Freight for a few bucks, jack it up and run it in gear until you can hear the noise in the cab. Then use the stethoscope to listen to the knuckles and each side of the transmission where the axles go in. Transmissions can be a little noisy when listening to them with a stethoscope but if there's a bad bearing it should be pretty loud. If a wheel bearing is good there shouldn't be any noise when touching it to the knuckle.

[Bow Tie 67]

Thanks for the info guys. I will use my stethoscope and ck the knuckles / trans. After the 4th day driving it without the radio on, I'm starting to lean toward the Drivers side wheel bearing.

[MonzaRacer]

also dont look past a bad half shaft

[Bow Tie 67]

also dont look past a bad half shaft

That was one of my concerns, but thought it should change with steering input. Unless its an inner half-shaft joint, unlikely I would think.

So I jacked her up again, and had my stethoscope out. I'll tell you the difference from the driver to the passenger side is barely distinguishable. I had to listen more than once to determine the driver side has more noise. At any rate, I will be ordering two front bearings and starting with the driver side first.

[andrewb70]

Too bad I am not around. I would come over and help and bring a big bottle of Jack and Coke. We'd have her done in no time...LOL

Andrew

[RS_Customs]

Not sure how prices are right now or on bearings, but when I did the motor swap on the go-cart (h22 accord) I got a lot of honda parts from http://www.bernardiparts.com saved a lot of money over the dealer and were close to the price of generics from the auto parts store on what I was after.

Robert

[Bow Tie 67]

Too bad I am not around. I would come over and help and bring a big bottle of Jack and Coke. We'd have her done in no time...LOL

Andrew

The bottle or car? ..........



Robert thanks for the link, good prices for sure. I ordered new bearings from Autozone knowing I would get Timken.

[andrewb70]

The bottle or car? ..........



.....

Mmmmmm....good question....

Andrew