given the good info I got from my last question I’ll try some more. 98 accord 4 cyl auto, mostly on start up and when coming to a stop at a light it sounds like someone is under the floorpan hitting it with a hammer. maybe 5 or 6 hits. I’ve looked into the exhaust being loose and hitting but it’s tight and has good clearance. could it be a broken motor mount letting the engine rock too much? next, SOMETIMES when the trans shifts down into low gear you get a very noticeable clunk and the car kind of shudders. planning on doing a trans drain and fill today. lastly the instrument cluster is a little strange. tach doesn’t work at all, speedo is fine as is the gas guage but the temp is erratic. when the temp is acting up you can thump it with your finger and it will jump around. thanks
It Could Be A Motor/Transmission Mount As You Suggest.
Open the hood. Have somebody in the car, foot on brake with engine idling, while you observe the engine (from beside the car, not in front of the car). Have them shift into drive and reverse and see how much rocking and rolling the engine does. If it flops like a flounder on the floor, you’ve found it.
Instruments ? Could be a loose connection, bad cluster, etcetera. When a car is 14 or 15 years old it qualifies as a car senior citizen and it’s usual one &^%$ thing after another, just like the human seniors.
CSA
Has anyone checked those outer CV joints?
yeah the boot is torn on the right boot. its on the list
I know once the boot is torn its time to replace. Is there a way to tell how much play is in the joint to see if that is what the clunking is all about. I don’t notice the ticking sound when turning like when a cv joint is going out. It’s my sons car and he is budgeting the bigger repairs.
@keith, Good Point About Checking CV Joints.
I have never had a CV joint fail in any of my Chrysler or GM cars, lots of them, at over 300,000 miles, so I forget all about that possibility. I’ve read on this site that on certain car Makes/Models it’s a fairly common wear item.
CSA
The CV joint in that vintage Honda will go bad about two weeks after the boot tears, at least if it tears during the rainy season. I did an oil change on our Honda (97 Accord) where I checked the boots and they were good. Two weeks later, my wife complained about a knocking sound. I drove it, then ran it up on the ramps and found the boot torn.
Most CV joints make a clicking sound on turns when the boot gets torn and the joint starts to wear out. For some reason the Honda makes a knocking sound and it can be heard on acceleration as well as on turns. BTW, the drivers side went out a week after that. I got brand new Honda OEM axles from a Honda dealer on the internet for almost half price, still cost me about $600 just for the new axles and they did not come with a new inner joint, only the outer joints, but they did come with new inner boots.
If I have to do it again, I will get EMPI axles instead for about a third the price. Avoid bargain priced remans, in fact I would avoid any reman because of my history with them.
This won’t help with the gauge problems.
knocking sound on acceleration = bad inner cv joint
clicking noise making turns = bad outer cv joint
@keith I also believe EMPI makes decent parts.
well I can say one thing…that was some dirty brown trans fluid
Apparently our Honda was not aware of this. It knocked on both turns and acceleration and the inner joints are OK. I did not replace them and it stopped knocking when I replaced the axle with only the outer joints on them. The only other car that i ever heard the outer joint make a knocking sound was the tercel, but that was when the outer joint a newly remaned axle broke completely and the axle started laying a beating on the surrounding parts.