Humming Sounds
 

Hey - this is non turbo related but I can't figure out what the hell is wrong with this transmission. When accelerating in first gear (and only slow acceleration, like the speeds you take through a drive-thru) a loud humming noise will start up and stop as soon as the brakes are applied or acceleration picks up).
I have isolated it to being the transmission, after checking the brakes for run out, parrellelism, etc - I was also hinted by another Del Sol owner who had a similar problem that his was fixed when he had the transmission rebuilt.
I am hoping I don't need another transmission; does anyone know what speficially could be happening? And why does it stop when the brakes are hit?

Thanks

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I needed to add that even if the car is retured to neutral once this starts it continues, I haven't tested it yet to shifting to another gear. This is also on a 1997 Honda Del Sol S.TEXT

Re:Humming Sounds
 

sounds like a carrier bearing in the trans on the planetary input gearset.Will get worse see if an metal shavings in the oil when you change th diff fluid?

Re:Humming Sounds
 

I had a problem in my prelude 99 after dropping the gears from 3rd to 2nd going 80mph. Anyway after a while my car sounded like a lite hum then metallic rattle. Luckly my car was still under warranty and the dealer found out it was the timming belt tensioner. so check that out before doing anything else.

Re:Humming Sounds
 

80 in 2nd?

Re:Humming Sounds
 

that would be called a "miss-shift" :-*

I knew a guy who did that to a brand new RSX, and blew the motor... and guess what... NOT COVERED UNDER WARR!!! heh

Jeff

Re:Humming Sounds
 

Yeah, I was a real bad miss shift. It scared the ------- ---- out of me. The tach went all the way into the unchartered zone. I'm guessing somewhere around 12,000. after that there was a real bad rattle. This was about a year ago and lucky me I have had no major problems so far (except the tensioner) No bent valves still runs smoothly.

Tommy,

Re:Humming Sounds
 

man that blows, was that an h22?

Re:Humming Sounds
 

hm dont think I did that, I never down shift.
But that is a good suggestion, didn't think of a belt making the noise but it does seem legit. Probably because I dont have P/S or AC I didn't think of belts.

Thanks guys - but I'm going to do what every man can't admit to - Take the car into be fixed (under warranty of course!)

Just hope that they don't ask me for the receipts for oil changes and stuff!

Re:Humming Sounds
 

Yes it is a H22, and I'm talking about the tensioner pulley that puts tension on the timing belt.

Good Luck with it

Re:Humming Sounds
 

You got really lucky Partner.

Re:Humming Sounds
 

My car has the same humming when I accelerate, I was told by a mechanic it it the timing belt tensioner.

Re:Humming Sounds
 

There was metal shavings in the fluid, does the entire differential need to be replaced now?

Re:Humming Sounds
 

nevermind, guess i'll be spending my turbo money on a new tranny!

Re:Humming Sounds
 

Arg I replaced the whole transmission (i mean everything but the shifter) and its still humming!

I'm thinking it is wheel bearings...

Re:Humming Sounds
 

Let me restate and give a better synoposis of whats going on.

Under low acceleration (the kind of driving you do through like mcdonalds drive-thru) the car will start to hum. I assumed it was tranny related to begin with because when I would push in the clutch, it would stop (but I was also pushing in the brake pedal).

I've tested for wheel bearing failure; lifting car up and running the front wheels by hand trying to reproduce the noise and also driving in a parking lot at 5,10,20,and 30 mph while doing hard right and left turning. I can't get it to reproduce that way. However, I did notice when I went to get a big mac, that it started up again and got really really loud, I started trying to turn hard left and right and it wouldn't go away.

Some other possibilities that have entered my mind, is bad tire wear, warped brake rotors, or the wheel bearings?

I am not sure how to check for tire wear, other then to take it into a shop and have them look? But is there anyway I can do it myself? They are Toyo Proxy FZ4s, so if anyone has had a problem like this with Toyos lemme know that too!

So basically we have loud humming under very very slow acceleration, and it goes away when brakes are applied?

More guessing please :)

Re:Humming Sounds
 

Go buy a new set of honda brake pads, then take your rotors to get turned somewhere, (pretty cheap) and retest.

A wheel bearing will change sound when turning the wheel while moving, but shouldnt make a differnce if the brake is applied.

Tire wear? I highly doubt it, but you never know. Throw on another set of tires just to make sure.

Jeff