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Hello all. I have a 98 accord ex, 4 cylinder, AT, with 165,000 miles. I have the dreaded humming sound coming from the front end while I’m driving. The pitch/sound gets louder as I go faster. I suspected a wheel bearing and used ETCG’s “dont try this at home” method of jacking up each wheel and putting car in drive. I added a safety step by parking my jeep wrangler behind it and attaching my winch cable to the rear of the Honda; didn’t want another entrance to my garage…
Anyway, with the drivers side jacked up, as I accelerate I hear the tell tale humming/groaning sound; However, it doesn’t sound like its coming from the wheel bearing. It sounds more like its coming from the center of the vehicle, like where the inner axle shaft can plugs into the trans.
So, is it possible it IS the wheel bearing and the sound is fooling me?
Or, is there a bearing that the inner part of the axle slides into that could be bad?
Or, maybe the inner CV joint is making the sound?
Maybe trans?
I hate to just throw parts at it without knowing for sure what’s wrong. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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How about the passenger side? If it makes noises on both sides then I MIGHT suspect an issue with the bearings inside the transmission but to be honest that’s not likely, not impossible just not likely. If it’s only on the drivers side then it’s likely that you have a wheel bearing issue.
I also suspect the wheel bearing too. Remember sound travels so it might seem that its coming from the center on the car.
Here is a video Eric made regarding checking for a possible bad wheel bearing –
http://www.youtube.com/user/EricTheCarG … dRpnK5MGQ8
Here is also another video from Eric showing how to replacement –
http://www.youtube.com/user/EricTheCarG … EDrioMDe1k
More than likely a wheel bearing. It’s amazing how sound can resonate through different things. Had a truck with a noise in the 4 wheel drive last week. Could have swore it was coming from the front differential on my roadtest but when I ran it on my hoist it was clearly coming from the transfer case.
Can’t remember if this tip was in Eric’s video or not, but the best way I’ve found for listening for wheel bearings is raising the car off the ground in neutral, rotating the wheel by hand and holding your other hand on the coil spring. You’ll be able to feel the vibration in the coil spring. Works great!
Quoted From Shaun_300:
More than likely a wheel bearing. It’s amazing how sound can resonate through different things. Had a truck with a noise in the 4 wheel drive last week. Could have swore it was coming from the front differential on my roadtest but when I ran it on my hoist it was clearly coming from the transfer case.
Can’t remember if this tip was in Eric’s video or not, but the best way I’ve found for listening for wheel bearings is raising the car off the ground in neutral, rotating the wheel by hand and holding your other hand on the coil spring. You’ll be able to feel the vibration in the coil spring. Works great!
Thanks for the tip Shaun!
Thanks for all the replys and advice! I’ll do some more diagnosing tomorrow and I’ll update my findings…
Update…
I decided to do one more round of diagnosing. I jacked up each front tire separately and ran the car in gear. I confirmed there was no noise from the passenger side and the there was the humming sound when the drivers side was jacked up. It still sounded like the noise was coming from the center of the car. In fact, if I had a farm, I would’ve bet it. I also tried Shaun’s method of feeling the coil spring but I had no luck. So, after pricing things out: $30 for a bearing, $60 for an axle half shaft, and $75 for a shop to look at it; I decided to try the wheel bearing.I used a slide hammer to pull the hub. Of course, the outer race came along with it. Much to my dismay, the outer portion of the wheel bearing was pristine. Well packed in grease, bright chrome bearings, and not a speck of dust. Somewhat (actually very) discouraged I continued to press on with the bearing replacement (pun intended). Without a shop press or ETCG’s special XG45 tool, I managed to use a double stack of BFH’s to pound out the old bearing and a self made hardware shop press consisting of a long 3/4″ bolt and a series of varied diameter washers to press the new bearing in. After an apprehensive reassembly, sure of the fact I’d be taking it back apart again to fix it right, I took it out for a test drive….. Holy $hi+!!! The sweet sound of silence! Problem solved!
Needless to say, I was shocked. When I got home, I pulled the old bearing out of the trash and beat apart the inner race for inspection. Sure enough, there was some definite discoloration. It wasn’t rusted and dry, but all the ball bearings and race had a copper/bronze look to them… I guessing indicative of heat. And, the sound must have been migrating up the axle and resonating on the inner can by the transmission. I’m glad I don’t own a farm cause I’d of lost it.
I guess like the old saying goes: “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck….” (of course this duck was a ventriloquist)Thanks again all!!
Awesome job on the fix and interesting methods! I guess you had a swinging press?! (get it? lol)
Don’t forget to change the traffic light to green so it updates our database C8-)
Thanks for the update, yea it’s surprising at how little damage it takes to make a bearing noisy but I’ve seen it more times than I can count. Don’t forget to turn the traffic light to ‘green’ if you haven’t already and thanks for using the ETCG forum.
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