2002 CRV - humming noise from rear - not diff or tires

[acmillr1]

Hey Everyone,

I have a humming noise coming from the rear (at least that where is sounds like it is coming from ) on my 2002 CR-V. I dont hear anything until I get up to about 40 mph or above. The noise seems to depend only on speed as it is independent of revs or throttle.

The noise has been around for a couple weeks (I dont use my car for commuting so probably ~150 miles in that time) now and I cant seem to get rid of it even though I have gotten new tires and an alignment as well as changed the rear differential fluid. I changed the diff fluid twice to make sure everything got flushed out of there. I also asked the alignment shop to check out the wheel bearings and they said they check out ok.

So I pretty stumped but I not sure if I want to drive it 600+ miles round trip visiting family for thanksgiving.

This is my first post as I have been browsing the forum for a couple weeks and I finally decided to register. I have already gained some valuable insight from the forum and hope that continues in the futur and maybe I can give a little too

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[2RedV's]

Welcome to the forum!

Wheel bearings would have been my first guess. Does the noise fluctuate based upon coasting, braking or accelerating?

[Carbuff2]

Originally Posted by 2RedV's

Welcome to the forum!

Wheel bearings would have been my first guess. Does the noise fluctuate based upon coasting, braking or accelerating?

BUT BUT

The alignment shop said the wheel bearings were OK?

++++++++++++++++++

Actually, wheel bearings can be difficult to diagnose statically. They usually rumble under some kind of load. (acceleration, curves, etc) I have been able to "hear" bad WBs by jacking up the wheel in question and listening to them spin with a mechanics stethiscope (or a paper-towel tube ) . But not always....

+++++++++++++++++

PS another possible noise source are the universal joints in the driveshaft (if the V has RT4WD). Again, hard to tell on a lift...

The driveshaft can be removed and the V driven without it, as a test...

[2RedV's]

That's why I said "would have been my first guess" Could the shop be wrong?

[Carbuff2]

Originally Posted by 2RedV's

That's why I said "would have been my first guess" Could the shop be wrong?

Of course they could be wrong, especially with noises such as this. I wasn't trying to be contrary...

Better, I suppose, to have a shop be wrong, than for them to replace ex$pensive parts on a hunch. That's why I suggested some possibilities with methods to try verify the cause.

+++++++++++++++

My sister owned a Toyota Tercel...the wheel bearings GROWLED for more than a year. (Nobody could figure out where the growl was coming from, though.) Suddenly, the noisy one siezed and she couldn't make the car go forward.

All we did was back the car up, the bearing unlocked, and she drove it to the shop... Weird but true.

[acmillr1]

Thanks for the replies . . .

I am starting to think more and more that is a wheel bearing issue as well. Im pretty sure the noise is coming from the left rear and the noise seems to maybe get a touch louder when I make right turns at speed but I may be imaging that. Im still debating how much to drive it. I hear stories like the one where the bearing growled for a year but then I imagine it siezing at speed on my way to visit family for thanksgiving. But I dont think I will be able to get it into the shop before we are supposed to leave on Tuesday night . . .

[acmillr1]

Well, I ended up taking it to the dealer this morning and they said the rear wheel bearings are both bad. They also quoted me $950 to fix it! And they said the ABS sensors will probably be bad as well and that would add another $350!

I was expected to maybe pay ~$300 per side ($80 part plus 3 hours labor) but 950 total is insane

Anyone else had this experience?

[2RedV's]

Originally Posted by acmillr1

Well, I ended up taking it to the dealer this morning and they said the rear wheel bearings are both bad. They also quoted me $950 to fix it! And they said the ABS sensors will probably be bad as well and that would add another $350!

I was expected to maybe pay ~$300 per side ($80 part plus 3 hours labor) but 950 total is insane

Anyone else had this experience?

Call Honda Corporate and open a case. Mention your loyalty to Honda, how many Hondas you have owned over the years and how disturbed you are by this happening on what you consider to be a very reliable vehicle. Be polite.

[Carbuff2]

Remember I said:

Better, I suppose, to have a shop be wrong, than for them to replace ex$pensive parts on a hunch. That's why I suggested some possibilities with methods to try verify the cause.

Sounds as if the Honda dealer is erring on the side of making you happy.

I would [politely] ask the Honda rep how the dealer diagnosed BOTH bearings as bad...and point out that the indie shop thought they were OK.

I suspect the answer lies between...I think you have ONE bad bearing.

+++++++++

And, FWIW, I had a bad wheel bearing take out an ABS sensor on another brand of car...but I got an ABS code because the "loose" bearing allowed the sensor to hit the exciter ring (the "toothed" thing that triggers the sensor pulses). I would suggest that your sensors are presently OK. And that whoever does the repair exercise caution or be held responsible for errors on their part.

[acmillr1]

Well, the dealer replaced both wheel bearings (they said both were making noise when they put the car on the lift - albeit the left one louder than the right one). The wheel speed sensors made it out ok so they did not need to replace them. So it total $930 - quite a bit but easier to swallow than $1300 if the wheel sensors had been bad.

I thought about just getting the left one replaced but they said the right was was making noise and since they take off the trailing arm they have to realign the car afterwords so in 2 months if they needed to replace the right one then I would have wasted $75 on the alignment.

At least the noise is gone, it concerns me a little bit that both of the rear bearing went bad at the same time, like there was some other factor causing the bearings to go bad. So we will see how this goes . . . .