Ok, I have a 90 Accord. Great shape - 250,000 miles. Runs like a dream. 5 speed manual transmission. A friend crashed the front right end but had it rebuilt. It now makes a slight, almost a whumping sound that can only be heard at very very slow speeds - sounds like its from the right front. The mechanic that rebuilt it said its not the tire but the transmission that is going that is making that noise. That doesnt seem to make sense to me. What does a transmission sound like if it is going?
My five-speed made a whirring sound in 5th gear before it let go. A whup-whup-whup sound may be a transmission bearing going bad. With the mileage on this car, anything can go at any time.
But, I’d have a transmission guy look at it before you condemn it.
An idea. It might be a bad wheel bearing. Most of the time bad wheel bearings make a roaring at high speed but a damaged inner race might make a whooping sound that would not be noticable at a higher speed over tire noise. One way to differentiate the sound location is get the car going at the speed (safely) where the sound appears; shift to neutral; let the engine idle; and see what happens to the noise. Transmission bearing noise is going to come and go with the loading of the engine.
Let us know what the outcome of this test is.
Sometimes the mainshaft or countershaft nut will back off and make that noise… easy enough to check with the car in the air on a rack
Check the air pressure in that tire.