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Rattle / whirring noise under acceleration

Mastodon2

Mastodon2

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93
Hey guys,

I've got a 2005 EP3 Civic Type R. A few times in the past few weeks it has made a bit of a whirring, mild scraping noise under wider throttle openings in second in third gear (typically between 3000-3500 that goes away once the engine is starting to get into the power band). Once the engine is up to temperature is seems to go away. It sounded to me like a noisy clutch bearing. Today, I drove for about 20 minutes until the engine was heated through properly, parked up for about 10 minutes, started up and drove off, after about 5 minutes giving it wide open throttle in third gear once I was sure the engine was up to temp properly again. The performance was the same as usual with the car pulling very hard as normal, but now the noise has turned into a loud, low pitched whirring that does not disappear through the rev range like it used to.

Now I can hear it constantly when the car is moving, it gets quieter when the car is coasting in gear it its almost inaudible but still there. It's noisy and annoying on hard acceleration now. The only modification the car has is an unsilenced B pipe, no superchargers, remaps or anything like that. I've only had the car a few months, but other than some slightly squeaky brakes and suspension, it's been spot on, and it's an absolute joy to drive.

I'd imagine that the gearbox bearings on these cars take a battering with a life of 8000rpm upshifts, so perhaps it's a clutch release bearing on the way out? Hoping to the gods of motoring that it's only the clutch release bearing and not mainshaft bearing or something :(



Dave
 
If it's the release bearing the noise will go away if you depress the clutch.
 
I will definitely be giving that a go tomorrow morning then. I'm about to move house and the last thing I need is a massive clutch / gearbox repair bill!
 
Don't forget to check the ivtec cover & heat shields. They are usual suspects for causing noises.
 
Mickey C said:
http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/s...attling-noise-at-3-4k-Drive-shaft-heat-shield
Click to expand...

Now that looks like something that might be worth looking into! I had a bit of an episode at a petrol station earlier when I was filling up, saw some fresh oil on the concrete in a couple of spots up to my car, started freaking out thinking the car was leaking oil which could be disasterous. I then drove home and parked up, left the car running on the spot for a few minutes than reversed to inspect the space I'd been occupying for oil spots, thankfully there were none!

I remember hearing something about Honda reliability, hope this car is not about to bankrupt me! I remember hearing about "German / VAG reliability" before I bought a Leon Cupra R, and that turned into something of a nightmare too. :(
 
EP3's are not without their problems, but on the whole very reliable.
 
I have driven the car a bit more today, taking it very easy, driving quickly as per usual but being as delicate with the throttle inputs and gear changes as possible. The noise only seems to manifest when the car is accelerating in gear, with the throttle pressed open. If the car is coasting in in gear or slowing under engine braking, the noise stops immediately. Does this shed any light on which bearing might be fooked?

At 70mph in 6th gear, there is also a distant rattly noise, which is potentially the heatshield. I will be whipping that off and having a look at the cam cover and intake manifold for rattles as soon as I get some time off work.

Spoke to a mate who is an ex-mechanic tonight, she reckoned that changing a clutch release or mainshaft bearing is a big job and it will probably work out cheaper in the long run just to get a whole new clutch kit done instead - which I presume has a new clutch plate and bearings?

What a royal pain in the arse. Just saw a mate for the first time in months who has been off work after a nasty motorbike accident, I really wanted to tell him how great the car is but all I can think about is the potential timebomb under the bonnet that I simply cannot afford to fix right now. This really has come at the worst time, on the eve of buying a bloody house!
 
It's still fairly distant, it's not taking over the whole cabin, but I can hear it under the induction and engine note.

The driveshaft heatshield is coming off today or tomorrow, when I can get my hands on a jack. Fingers crossed that will sort it, but I'm assuming the worst. :mad:
 
With the lack of sound deadening & lightness of these cars you get a lot more mechanical noises, some people are more sensitive to the noises than others. I would say just enjoy the car and only worry if the noise gets louder. My brother in law is a noise freak and every time I've driven the cars there was nothing wrong.
 
Try the heatshield first, before i took mine off i took mine back the dealers saying it was the clutch so i had it checked and it was fine it was the heatshield giving me all the symptons
 
I am a car hypochondriac, as soon as I hear a rattle or bump I brace for the worst! ;)

Going round to my dad's today to use his jack hopefully, so I will get a decent bit of empty road on the way home from work tonight to test the car out fully, sans heatshield.

Thanks for all the help so far, you guys are ace!
 
Ok, didn't manage to get the heatshield off today, but I think I have ruled that out to a degree. At speeds above about 25mph in 3rd gear, the whirring noise, as I could best describe it, sounds a bit like oil squirting under pressure. I thought this the other day so I looked for oil spots on my drive, there were none, and no oil I could see that had been sprayed around the engine bay. I decided to stretch the cars legs a bit, gently of course - not wishing to make anything worse, to find that VTEC cam is not engaging, there is no additional surge above 5800rpm, which is exactly the same as how it felt when I found out the VTEC doesn't engage when the petrol light is on either.

I believe I read somewhere the VTEC system is activated by oil pressure, which may have something to do with the noise. I'm googling the problem now, the two things I'm seeing popping up are "Check your oil level" - I did and it didn't look low, but it's coming up to service time and the car is a 90,000 miler so it might be burning a bit of oil now. The oil light on the dash is working (illuminates when turning the ignition) but is not displaying while the motor is running. The check engine light has not illuminated either.

The other thing I'm seeing suggested is a potentially faulty VTEC solenoid. Are there any home checks I can do to test this? Has anyone else experienced or read about anything like this?

I'm crossing my fingers that while painful, this might work out cheaper than a new clutch - and might also be covered under the warranty from the (non-Honda, independant) dealer I bought it from.
 
Did you try to engage vtec with a wide open throttle (foot to floor)? I ask for two reasons...

Vtec engages depending on engine load... It's a range not a specific rpm. If you edge up to it, it engages later. Perhaps 6200 or 6500.

Secondly, without much engine load you don't 'feel' the engagement kick (yo) as much.
Finally I hope there are no br tags in this, if there is then its tapatalk
 
Had the oil changed this morning, still making that awful noise. When the car was up on the lift I had a look under it, there is no heatshield on the drive hsaft, it's already gone. I took it out for a spin after the oil change, and the VTEC seems to be there but its very weak and seems to engage a few hundred RPM late. I went back to the garage to enquire about what to do next, one of the mechanics there also owned a Civic Type R and offered to sit in while I drove him about to demonstrate what was happening with the car.

Slightly flat feeling acceleration, a very weak VTEC and a that funny noise - he quickly suggested a blowing exhaust, and with a bit of head out of the the window action, said it was at the front end and sounded like a blowing manifold. Up on the ramp again, he quickly spotted the problem, one of the bolts that holds the downpipe onto the cat has rusted and sheared off, and the cat has dropped away slightly making a slight gap which is where the blowing is apparently coming from. This is causing the car to lose power and thats where the whistling is coming from. It's not like any blowing I've ever heard - normally in my experience, a car with a blow sounds like a tractor, but this is more like a subtle pulsing glug noise, hence me thinking it was oil related.

So, I'm now left with a bit of a conundrum, as this problem is not covered by my warranty. The Type R owning mechanic has agreed to try drilling the sheared bolt out, jigging the cat back into place and threading a new bolt in next weekend as an off the books job, though there is no guarantee it will work and could make the car blow even worse. If it doesn't fix it, I will have to drive the car with a knackered exhaust for a little while then either get a new manifold from Honda, or spend a little bit more on a better aftermarket item. Anyone know how much Honda charge for a new exhaust manifold and downpipe, I assume the downpipe is part of the manifold? In the event of it not fixing it, does anyone reckon an exhaust specialist could weld over the gap as a short term fix and then I could replace the parts in the new year?

I was planning on getting a Blitz Nur Spec catback system next year, so if the new bolt fixes it or at least patches it up I will get a new manifold and a high flow sports cat too, might as well replace the lot if I've been forced into it!
 
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