SOURCE:
Honda Service News November 2003
TITLE:
Humming or Growling? Check the Wheel Bearings
APPLIES TO:
1998-04 Accord, 2001-04 CR-V, 2003 Element, 1999-04 Odyssey
SERVICE TIP:
A bad front wheel bearing(s) can make a humming or growling that's easily mistaken for a noisy bearing or gear in the A/T. Before you order a reman A/T, test-drive the vehicle to make sure the A/T is really the problem.
Listen carefully as you accelerate and decelerate during your test-drive. Shift into neutral. Varying throttle position and shifting into neutral changes the load on the A/T bearings and gears. If the A/T has a bad bearing or gear, the change in load will affect its noise level. If that's what you find, then go ahead and order a reman A/T.
If the noise level isn't affected by changes in throttle position or shifting into neutral, then the culprit could be a bad front wheel bearing(s). Since the wheel bearings aren't mounted on shafts being spread apart by gears, they're not affected by changes in load. Also, since Honda uses angular contact wheel bearings, you won't normally hear a change in noise level when you swerve the vehicle from side to side.
Hook up a STEELMAN® ChassisEAR (T/N JSP SM06600) to the front knuckles, and test-drive the vehicle again. Refer to S/B 00-063, STEELMAN ChassisEAR Diagnostic Tool, for more info.
If you hear humming or growling from one or affected wheel bearing(s), and then test-drive the vehicle to make sure the noise is gone.
If you don't hear any noise from the front wheel bearings, the problem could be from tire noise or vibration. Swap the front wheels and tires with a known-good vehicle. Testdrive the vehicle, and check if the noise or vibration goes away.
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