Hey guys I'm in need of serious help with my '01. I'm having an issue with my driveline; excessive play/slack and a what sounds like a grinding noise mixed with a subtle whine from the output shaft area of the transmission. The slack/play/grinding noise is heard in transition between when the driveline is under load and without load. You can also notice it when I'm on/off the throttle, its very jerky.

I've read several posts that leads me to believe that the bearings in the output shaft are failing causing excessive play between the two gears associated with the output shaft. Now the reason i'm asking for help is i'm stationed in Germany right now and had to take it to a local Honda dealership and I don't think they see these cars very often. They stated that my axles are bad. The reason I question this is I don't feel any vibration while accelerating, he did. He also mentioned that they have more than 1mm of play in them. I wasn't sure if he meant rotational play or in/out play. Can bad axles cause bad driveline play and a noise in the transmission? I may be new to troubleshooting driveline issues but it doesn't seem like the axles could do this but could be wrong lol.

Soooo my gut is telling me its the output shaft but wanted to get your opinion on the matter since you guys are the experts

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

2001 141,000 miles
Lowered 1.5"
Hasport diff mounts
New factory motor/transmission mounts
Replaced factory used 60k mile prop shaft

 

Anyone?

 

Driveline noise during acceleration and deceleration is usually the diff in my experience. Have you checked the fluids?

 

Thanks for the reply. That was the first thing I had changed, both the tranny and diff have been changed with Honda fluid and didn't see any matal. And that's the thing, it's not during acceleration/deceleration. The noise is when you're not quite on the throttle and not completely off of it if that makes sense. However I have started noticing a vibration while decelerating at higher speeds.

Last time I was under the car, I could rotate the prop shaft maybe 1/2" before the wheels would start to spin but couldn't tell if the play was in the transmission or diff.

 

That's diff play. May need to be reshimmed

 

also you mentioned honda fluids. you most likely have the wrong fluid in the diff, drain it and use what ever other 75-xxx brand you would like to use.