MikeC

My car makes a strange, low pitched guttural type of groan when taking off from a stop. It only happens when I just start to move from a stop in 1st gear. The noise is only present when the clutch nears complete engagement (pedal is about 1-2" from the top of it's travel).

It never does it when the car is cold, only after highway driving (60+ mph) for 10+ minutes.

I have yet to pinpoint exactly where the noise is coming from, but its definitely from either the driveshaft or rear diff/axle assembly.

Any have/had/or know what causes this? I appreciate any insight you may have.

Mike

BTW, I have an '03 with 3k miles and I changed to LE 607 about 200 miles ago. The noise started before the fluid was changed and has slowly progressed seemingly unaffected byt he new fluid.

Mossad

I have the same thing happening to my car. Someone posted an image from some Honda service bulletin that stated the following:

On 00-02 S2000s, if your customer complains of hearing a single pop or creak from the rear of the vehicle when changing direction from forward to backward and vice versa, the problem may be axle (driveshaft) movement in the rear hub. To eliminate the noise, replace the spindle nut on the affected axle. Apply grease to the surface of the spindle nut where it contacts the hub. Torque the new nut to 298lb-ft and stake (sp) the nut.

Hope that helps. I have yet to take my car in to get this fixed.

xviper

The OEM torque is 181. The TSB torque for this is 220.

Mossad

You are correct. It's 298N m, which is 220-ft/lbs.

xviper

Hehe, a slip of the "units".
298 lb-ft would almost grind your rear wheel bearings to dust.