noises from the rear driver side?

[bimdub]

So I have been hearing noise over the last few days..... a light clicking noise on acceleration and decceleration, very similar to the clicking from a bad CV axle in a front wheel drive car......

I took the Car in today and both me and the technician could not fine anything loose...or otherwise unusual....

of course I still suspect the outer joint on the axle....but how can you "test" these?

anyhow we both did notice that the inner joints are "loose" in the differential.....not leaking any fluid out of the seals but the inner most part of the axle can be move "wiggled" quite a bit, I wonder if this is normal? as did he....I have never been under any other S2000 so I cannot tell myself.....

anyhow? anyone wanna place bets on my noise?

[joe_s2k]

Have you checked the wheel bearing? I've gone through 3 or 4 now. It will start out making a small noise, but it will become louder as time goes by.

[repiv]

First, eliminate things like rocks or nail or screw in the tread of the tire. Also eliminate any wheel weights that may not be sticking fully to the rim.
Is this ticking associated with vibration, especially upon moderate to hard acceleration? If so, then it's more likely CV joint. It's hard to test these things while on the car. You may try to compare the amount of free play in all directions of one CV with the corresponding opposite CV. Chances of both being bad would be quite remote. Grab the 2 halves of each joint and rotate in opposite directions. Move them forwards and backwards, up and down, in and out. Compare with the other side. Is one vastly different from the other?
A ticking during both accel and decel could also be a damage rear diff. Jack up one side, leave in gear, ebrake off, and rotate by hand. Do you feel or hear anything?
Wheel bearings can also tick but the usually hum, then whine, then roar as they wear out.

[bimdub]

No rocks or other tire thing....
I can create the same "click" by placing the car in gear and with both the parking brake and the brake held very firmly, reving to about 1500-2000 and slowly "taking up the drive" letting the cluthc out to load everything....in both forward and reverse gears, the sound is very much on the driver side not anywhere near the diff. no vibration at all....

I have a theory of a way for me to test the outer joint?
remove large band on outer joint, and pack more C/V grease in there and then re-band the boot on.....and test to see if noise is "reduced"


First, eliminate things like rocks or nail or screw in the tread of the tire. Also eliminate any wheel weights that may not be sticking fully to the rim.
Is this ticking associated with vibration, especially upon moderate to hard acceleration? If so, then it's more likely CV joint. It's hard to test these things while on the car. You may try to compare the amount of free play in all directions of one CV with the corresponding opposite CV. Chances of both being bad would be quite remote. Grab the 2 halves of each joint and rotate in opposite directions. Move them forwards and backwards, up and down, in and out. Compare with the other side. Is one vastly different from the other?
A ticking during both accel and decel could also be a damage rear diff. Jack up one side, leave in gear, ebrake off, and rotate by hand. Do you feel or hear anything?
Wheel bearings can also tick but the usually hum, then whine, then roar as they wear out.

[Dr. Jimbo]

My S does something like that on the passenger side. The sound that mine makes sounds like a ping-pong ball being bounced off of a table once. And it only happens once per changing of the torque on the drive line (not repeatedly like a wheel bearing) i.e. going forward after reversing and vice versa. Does that sound like yours? Someone told me to grease and retorque the axle nut. Haven't done that yet.

[repiv]

No rocks or other tire thing....
I can create the same "click" by placing the car in gear and with both the parking brake and the brake held very firmly, reving to about 1500-2000 and slowly "taking up the drive" letting the cluthc out to load everything....in both forward and reverse gears, the sound is very much on the driver side not anywhere near the diff. no vibration at all....

I have a theory of a way for me to test the outer joint?
remove large band on outer joint, and pack more C/V grease in there and then re-band the boot on.....and test to see if noise is "reduced"

Please clarify......... Are you talking about one single click or a series of continuous clicks that change with wheel speed? You should try to jack up one side rear and rotate by hand and see if you hear or feel anything similar to this click.

[repiv]

My S does something like that on the passenger side. The sound that mine makes sounds like a ping-pong ball being bounced off of a table once. And it only happens once per changing of the torque on the drive line (not repeatedly like a wheel bearing) i.e. going forward after reversing and vice versa. Does that sound like yours? Someone told me to grease and retorque the axle nut. Haven't done that yet.

I believe yours is the typical hub axle nut thing. Support some of the weight of the car on a jack but leave tires firmly on ground, leave in gear, ebrake firmly applied. Remove center cap of rim, unstake the nut, remove nut and washer (keep track of order and orientation of washer), clean the area a bit with a rag, grease lightly the axle threads and the faces of the washer, put washer back on and nut back on. Re-torque to the increase spec of 221. Re-stake nut rim.
You'll need a 36mm socket.

[bimdub]

My S does something like that on the passenger side. The sound that mine makes sounds like a ping-pong ball being bounced off of a table once. And it only happens once per changing of the torque on the drive line (not repeatedly like a wheel bearing) i.e. going forward after reversing and vice versa. Does that sound like yours? Someone told me to grease and retorque the axle nut. Haven't done that yet.

exactly.....

Please clarify......... Are you talking about one single click or a series of continuous clicks that change with wheel speed? You should try to jack up one side rear and rotate by hand and see if you hear or feel anything similar to this click.

just one sinlgle click, nothing more we jacked up the rear and could not replicate the sound.

I believe yours is the typical hub axle nut thing. Support some of the weight of the car on a jack but leave tires firmly on ground, leave in gear, ebrake firmly applied. Remove center cap of rim, unstake the nut, remove nut and washer (keep track of order and orientation of washer), clean the area a bit with a rag, grease lightly the axle threads and the faces of the washer, put washer back on and nut back on. Re-torque to the increase spec of 221. Re-stake nut rim.
You'll need a 36mm socket.

I'll try this, if so I report how it went.....and let the Dealer know as well.

[repiv]

just one sinlgle click, nothing more we jacked up the rear and could not replicate the sound.



I'll try this, if so I report how it went.....and let the Dealer know as well.

You can't replicate this with the car jacked up. This click is the sound of the wheel bearing shifting inside the hub. It will only make this click when the drive wheels are under load. The original spec on the nut of 181 lb/ft has been found to be inadequate and thus, was raised to 221. This holds the bearing in the hub assembly more firmly and in most cases, will resolve the problem. However, in some cases, if the hub nuts have been left for too long, the bearing movement will damage the hub to the extent that increasing the torque on the nut will not be a permanent solution and the click will return.

If it is the rear hub nut issue, your dealer will know all about it. They have a TSB on file about this.

[bimdub]

so is there a TSB number I can give them, cause I probably have ten years on either of the Honda guys in the shop here, and I doubt they had ever seen under an S until I took mine in....

[repiv]

Give this a try:

Service Bulletin 011201 Sequence Number: 627 Clicking Rear replaced Hub Nuts

[Dr. Jimbo]

Thanks Viper, I'll give that a try this weekend (if I'm not in the twisties).

[Dr. Jimbo]

So far, so good. No more "pop". I took off the nut but didn't find a washer (unless it was rusted on to the hub). Lubed it up and cranked it on with a cheater bar (my torque wrench only goes to 150). The nut went about 1/8 turn more than where it was. I'll take it down to a shop & get it properly torqued next week.
Thanks for the help.
Jim

[repiv]

So far, so good. No more "pop". I took off the nut but didn't find a washer (unless it was rusted on to the hub). Lubed it up and cranked it on with a cheater bar (my torque wrench only goes to 150). The nut went about 1/8 turn more than where it was. I'll take it down to a shop & get it properly torqued next week.
Thanks for the help.
Jim

1/8 turn sounds about right. Maybe I was dreaming about the washer.

[poolshark743]

I am off to buy new hub nuts from Honda but I am curious as to what you mean when you said unstake and restake the nut? I am sure I will understand when it is described to me. Thanks. Also how do you remove the centercaps without removing the wheel? I cant seem to get them off without somehow damaging them.

[repiv]

I am off to buy new hub nuts from Honda but I am curious as to what you mean when you said unstake and restake the nut? I am sure I will understand when it is described to me. Thanks. Also how do you remove the centercaps without removing the wheel? I cant seem to get them off without somehow damaging them.

Once you see the nut, you'll know what I'm talking about with regard to the "staked nut". The nut has a rim on top. The axle shaft end protrudes through the enter of the nut. On that center shaft, there is an indented groove. The rim at that spot is pounded into that groove to form an "anchor" so the nut will not unscrew. It's like a locking device. You must unpound the rim at that point so the nut can be removed. When done, you pound the rim (in a new location now) back into that groove.
The centercaps are tricky to take off with the wheels on the car but can be done. You need something point but not so sharp as to gouge the cap. You slip it into the edge of the cap as best you can and work it out little by little till you can get more of the pointy thing (like a small bladed screwdriver) into it. Then you can pull the cap off. You have to work all the way around the cap to pry it away from the center of the rim.

PS. You don't really need new hub nuts. The old ones can be re-used. Just clean everything (threads, etc.) and apply grease.

[desmo4]

Once the axle nuts are tight, jack up one rear wheel, put the car in gear and leave the hand brake off. Gently rotate the raised wheel back and forth and look for play. In my case the play see was the LSD was gone. Once the LSD was replaced, to my delight, the propeller shaft and the half shaft had to be replaced as well as the play in their CV joint became more apparent.

Jonathan

[poolshark743]

Problem fixed. I torqued them down to 150 and drove very carefully down the street to a shop that let me use their torque wrench. It only went in 5 increments so I torqued it to 225lbs. No click, no annoying sound. Very happy, yes I am!!!!:rockon: