rustywave

i just noticed for the first time this morning that there is a "thumping" sound coming from (i think) the rear. i drove into work with the top up today; first time in a long while.

it kinda sounds like the mud flap or something similar repetitively hitting against a tire. pretty sure it's not that. you can definitely hear it when slowing down, the sound cycle slows down as the car slows down. when accelerating it just sounded like something was off, like there was an extra sound coming from the already loud engine. thought it might've been the soft top rattling or a "belt-sounding" problem, but you can hear it with the top down (although it's very faint). i'm probably gonna take it in tomorrow.

passenger thought it might be the bearings? any other possible causes?

arush19

Make sure your lugnuts are on tight. Mine were loose from the dealer and caused a cycling clicking sound.

rustywave

i just had my co-worker drive it around a little bit during lunch. he said he thought it might be the CV joint or something? possibly caused by a wheel out of alignment, bad bushing, or bad bearing? he also said that when the clutch is pushed in the rear gets a little wiggly until the gear is engaged again. i only noticed that a little bit though. i'll try tightening the lugnuts after work; hopefully that'll do it.

JN2KS2K

I have the exact same sound and problem. I am going to take it to get an alignment first to see if the thumping is fixed.

Keep us posted with what you find out. Thanks.

rustywave

i just brought it in to the dealer tonight...hopefully i'll know by tomorrow what the problem is. had a co-worker look at it again after work...couldn't find anything wrong until we checked the tire pressure...12(!), 22, 22, and 22 psi. turns out there is a nail in the 12psi one. so we filled them all back up...thought maybe that would fix it, but it didn't. i'll post again tomorrow or something with what honda tells me.

KAY'S

mine did this... then the axles blew out hahaha.... so

rustywave

kay's, what did you do to fix that then?

i just heard from honda, they think it's the rear diff., and they estimated it to be a $4200 job. that's way too much, right? my co-worker still thinks it may be a CV joint or something. ugh.

twohoos

The severely low tire pressure you found might have put some extra strain on the diff, though that shouldn't be enough to kill it. Could be the CV joints (inner or outer).

Shouldn't the car still be under warranty? If it's "just out" by time or mileage, and if you don't have many mods, you should argue for them to cover it as a goodwill repair. They probably don't want to since Honda lists the diff as a $4K part.

rustywave

it's out of warranty, i have 44k miles now. plus i didn't get the car from them (private seller)...so i dunno about that. another co-worker knows a guy who used to be a mechanic at a reputable shop around the area, so i think i'm gonna take it to him if he's got time. i really hope it's not gonna cost me $4k.

by the way, the differential isn't completely dead (if it were, it wouldn't run at all, right?).

KAY'S

its almost always the inner cv joints.... this leads to the shakes