Hi,

I've had my S2k for about three years now. Around 1 month after of ownership i noticed a strange sound when i would move the car forward when in gear. It was a small noise lasting around half a second and only happened when pulling away from a standing start. The car drove fine so i ignored it.
Anyway fast forward 2 and a half years or so and the sound is more prevalent, and occurs in forward and reverse, and in every fwd gear.

So here are my findings and experience so far:
The car has to be in gear with drive engaged.
The noise occurs when pulling away from a standing start in either fwd or reverse
The noise occurs when changing gear and releasing the clutch in any gear i.e. could be driving at any speed, depress the clutch pedal, change gear, release the clutch to engage drive again (at this point the noise happens).
It also happens when not changing gear but with drive still engaged e.g. driving along, press the accelerator, and as more power is loaded to the rear wheels the noise happens again.
If you are coasting with no drive engaged, the noise never occurs.

So to me this is something to do with the drive train (if thats the right terminology). Its like the drive shaft or linkage from the engine to the rear wheels is loose or something? I'm worried something is going to go bang soon as its getting worse. The car drives fine though!

I have made a recording and uploaded to youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycbJ...ature=youtu.be

Any ideas? any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

 

The problem is rear wheel bearings, at this point you'll have to replace them along with the hubs, and make sure you tighten the axle nuts to 180ft-lbs + 60 degrees. You could just tighten the axle nuts and you can make the noise go away for a little while but it will come back with a vengeance.

The OEM bearings are nothing special and can be found for half the price of the Honda one, this is the part number 44300-S84-A02, search for it online. I think through Honda it's $70 USD, whereas you can literally find them online for half the price with free shipping.

As for the hubs themselves it's a little tricky. The OEM ones are cast iron, the after market replacement parts out there are made of steel, aside from the material differences they tend to be hit or miss. I have Dorman hubs on my car and I don't baby it, so far so good, OEM hubs are almost 3x the price of Dorman hubs. As with most things with this car it just has to be installed properly, it's tricky because the knuckle is odd shaped so it's hard to get it perfectly level when you try to press the bearings in. Make sure you press the bearing into the knuckle using only the outer race. Also make sure you support bearing inner race when you press the hub into the bearing.

 

Thanks for the advice Slowcrash. I thought as i couldn't hear the noise when coasting, the bearings would be fine. Didn't realise! Thanks again, and for your recommendations on parts, i shall look into it

 

This is what my hubs and bearings looked like right before I changed them(the were making the same noise you have). I tightened the axle nuts to 180 ft lbs + 60 degrees and it made the noise go away, but it was only a temporary solution, the noise came back with a vengeance, and this was the result.