2009 5AT w/165,000 miles has low pitched noise similar to a wheel bearing. Can't isolate from the driver's seat which side it comes from. Sort of a low roaring noise can be heard from 10 mph until wind noise drowns it out. Sort of similar to a worn set of disk brake pads making scraping noises on a rotor, it's speed sensitive. Turns to left and right make no difference in sound. CV joints look good externally and make no clicking or knocking at full lock turns. Brakes inspected - all good there - and it doesn't pull to the side under braking while braking hard or just barely applying tiny of amount of brake makes no difference in the sound. No play in the front wheels checked at 12 & 6 and 3 & 9. I lifted the car and secured the car on jackstands and ran it in gear while listening with a mechanic's stethoscope. The wheel bearings heard through the knuckles both sides make no sound or vibration whatsoever but there is a rhythmic ticking noise coming from the half shaft bearing on the right side of the transmission.

Any thoughts on that half shaft bearing noise? The bearing is available.

 

Have your checked the rear wleel bearings? In a small car it's easy to confuse noises coming from the wheels. Best of luck. Clay

 

Thanks, yes I did when the car was lifted on four jackstands. Rears are quite and smooth. Since I posted the thread I lifted only one side at a time and let it idle in Drive. The left front is the noise maker, right side is quiet. No doubt at all, the noise is the same I hear when driving slow. Still, no play whatsoever in the left wheel. It’s going to a trusted Honda mom & pop shop next week.

 

Wheel bearings can fail without developing play. I know it's strange, I didn't hear about it til recent, working on a ford. On its forum there was a whole slew of people claiming as much and I'm gearing up to do all 4 on said ford in the next day or two. Going with Timken for replacement. If it's good enough for Nasa...
But in my case, it's a trademark howl, but ticking? I'm curious to hear your mech's findings. Keep us posted!!

 

It was the left wheel bearing after all. After replacement it's all quiet again.

 

Glad to hear it!
I think its important to remember what a thing is and how it works when doing a diag. Wheel bearings are to my knowledge just ball bearings. A common failure, the growling and play we're accustomed to, caused by wear from normal use. They're rolling in their race, dispersing lubricant, and must get some contact with the metal race and each other as they go. The gap they're in grows.

A ticking with no play in the bearing makes me think their lubricant dried and/or found a way out of the race. So they weren't floating in it as they rolled, and maybe some of the balls have no grease between them and clicked when they touched each other as the assembly rotated. Maybe some of the balls wore down and some didn't, creating the illusion of having no free-play in the assembly. In the case of the ford I mentioned, I suspect the failure is the lubricant used.

So much to say that a lack of tell-tale symptoms doesn't guarantee lack of a fault.

​​​​​​​Thanks for following up!

 

Thanks for this post. We had a minivan with quick failing bearings and it was always infuriating to diagnose.