Symptoms (during yesterday's drive):

- Under harder acceleration, there is a low tone rumbling/roaring. Best I can describe it, is like some swapped my muffler with a fart can. The harder the acceleration, the more noticeable the sound, or rather, the more deafening when at high speed AND very hard acceleration (like merging on a highway). The lighter the acceleration, the less noticeable. Sounds normal at cruise and out of gear revving.

- at very, VERY low acceleration (especially in reverse), the can be a little jerky when letting the clutch pedal out. At my more normal/faster acceleration, it's less noticeable, if at all.

- When initially slow in reverse, there's a very obvious, don't know what to call it, but it's like the automatic transmissions when they shift into reverse... *thunk*

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Before I continue, I want to mention that two days ago, it was borderline raining and snowing. And with the way I start from stop, I was constantly spinning my wheels on the wet ground. At one point (I don't know what got over me), I spun them them really HARD, even after it started doing the "wheel hop," until the whole car was bashing itself really violently before letting off.

Then on the day I noticed it, I don't recall it STARTING the day that way, until after I ran into/over some debris that had fallen off a few vehicles ahead of me. They looked like... salt chunks. But I was thinking they were chunks of packed in snow (thinking they came from somewhere it had snowed heavily). With that in mind, I had even thought... what if, whatever it was, was hard enough to create a hole somewhere in my exhaust...?

Now, the first issue reminds me of my Mirage, where I burnt a hole in the flex piping of the exhaust. It got loud as fuck.

I acknowledge that the sound COULD be a change in the intake (based on audio from various folks that have changed their airbox to something else). But I figured that the intake is less likely to get knocked loose as I also figure that if it flexed and moved out, the general mounting of it, would cause it to flex and just move back into place. Unless, of course, something BROKE.

If the noise were the only symptom, I'd wonder if I had knocked something loose in that incident the previous day. Say the exhaust header or some other connection down the exhaust pipe.

But with the 2nd and 3rd symptoms, I wonder if my clutch is going. How can you tell if is clutch is about ready to go? I mean, it doesn't seem like it's slipping though. If anything, it feels more like its catching early. Though, I suppose that could be slipping with a different clutch engagement reference timing, since I don't time exactly when the clutch engages normally.

Could all three symptoms be caused by say, a transmission issue? I mean, I do grind my gears on occasion (averaging maybe once/twice a month), but it's always been very short, momentary grinds, releasing it the moment it happens. No one else drives, so no chance of some one doing long, extended grinds.

Could a transmission issue cause that roaring noise?

Could, or if it does, what kind of issues would such "violent wheel hopping" cause to the transmission to begin with?

Now, lately, I've been thinking, with all these wheel spacer posts... that my Enkei wheel with its +43 offset has the similar effect of +53 with a 10mm spacer. Could I be having some trouble with wheel bearings?

On top of that was when I had a flat, I ran one stock wheel&tire in the rear... then on top of THAT, I had the new tires install on the wheels at a mechanic relatives and in-laws (well, my sister's in-laws) go to. And it feels like the wheels aren't as well balanced (as say, from TireRack). I mean, there's no violent shaking at high speed... it's just at lower (local) speeds, it just doesn't feel right.

So many damn things going on at the same time.

 

my first guess would be a CV joint. How many miles? could be time for a pair of aftermarket half axles.

 

I've got a bit over 54k miles and I'm "lowered" on Swift Springs. I'd like to think that the Swifts don't lower me enough to cause real issues... but then again, who knows.

 

Did you try revving the car in neutral to see if noise increases while the car is standing still to eliminate the exhaust system?

 

54K is way low for CV joint failure; normal life is about 150K. But they might've been damaged spinning the wheels and then maybe hitting dry pavement.

I've had a couple go out and clunking, rumbling, and what felt like transmission slippage (these were in autos) describes how it felt.

 

Aside from the noise, under normal driving habits ("zoom zoom") the car feels normal. Once I start moving, its pretty snappy when I hit the gas.

Yes I did. Though, not being an "expert" mechanic, I couldn't assume the exhaust wasn't an issue.

 

Have you changed the trans oil yet? It should not be a problem but it was cold yesterday. I would take it out today and see if the problem is still there. Maybe tape it and post the noise.

 

Nope, I haven't changed the trans fluid yet. I ordered a service manual on the 19th, and it seems like it might have been delivered to where I work. Hopefully, it would help with anything I can to do myself.

The funny thing is... stuff like this tends to happen alot to me... a sort of "justification" for my actions, but after the fact. When I only -wanted- to upgrade the HU in the Pathfinder, the stock radio fritzed out... meaning I now had a REAL reason to get a new HU. When I wanted to buy the Fit, the Pathfinder started giving me trouble (I was borrowing the PF from my sister). When I ordered car seat covers for the Fit in case of a spill... my soda spilled. TWO of the four flat tires occurred right when I wanted to get new tires, the other two happened soon after getting them (so I don't know what's happening there). So, now that I ordered the service manual... all kinds of shit is happening.

I'll see what I can do about recording the sound.

 

All my cars always make noise when the temp drops and we had all that rain too so I am sure that is part of it. I think it could be engine related to the cold too, the ecu has not had a chance to change. That is why I am thinking if you go out today since its around 32 the problem should go away and then you know it weather change related. Your first description sounds like knock retard.

 

I think last year, it did exactly what you said. So, initially, I thought it was doing the same thing now... but the roaring was a bit louder than I remember. And man ol' man, on the way home, it was quite deafening. My mom was like: why so noisy!?

edit:
Knock retard? Hum... I've been having bad feelings about the Shell gas stations around here... especially the one I went to the night before. I think I'm gonna go back to BP (too bad the one around the corner is out for reconstruction).

shit, I'd be happy as fuck if that were the case... go back to BP and most of it goes away... ?!?

 

What I learned about Honda Ecu management is the knock counts reset every time you turn off the engine but the fuel trims take time and since we had all that rain under low barometric pressures which leans the fuel trims and then it dropped 40 degrees so it added 10 percent to the lean trims but has not had time readjust the fuel trims for the cold and there was also more knock due to the lean conditions.

You also could have ice on the suspension parts but that should be thawed out by now.

 

I am not happy with the fuel quality around here either.

 

I was looking at the trims on UG... and it was showing 10.16 for long term, which is pretty close to what I normally get, not that I was considering it being a possibility (since I hadn't a clue).

as for ice on the suspension... I guess, but I was doing deliveries all evening. I can't be sure, but wouldn't it have thawed out sometime in the middle of that? Especially, since there was a good stretch of time where I didn't even shut off the engine and was practically driving non-stop.

whelp, we'll see soon enough. I'm about ready to head out (hopefully my stuff got delivered).

 

So I drove to work... it still roared loud as hell with hard acceleration on the highway.

I guess the next thing, before going to a mechanic, is to drive and used up all the gasoline in this tank and get some fresh gas from a different station and see if I get lucky. Not sure what to do otherwise. Even if I took a look at the CV joint, I'm not sure its something I can tackle (especially with the cold season).

 

Just did a delivery... in the process, I noticed that if I did even a light clutch dump, I get "clunking" which is leading me to think Steve got it it, the CV joint. Maybe I got a leak in the boot or something, I never really inspected it. Going to see if I can get some one I know to check it out soon.

 

My fuel trims in my new Honda is the same. I dont like them that high but on my last tank the fuel trim are around 3/5 so its leaning out. My timing is 0 at idle but I am seeing it move positive but then back to 0 so its trying to move. Positive numbers mean its adding fuel. My old car ran negative fuel trims which means it was pulling fuel out from the factory tuning.

It seems the 2012 Civic has the same ecu as you GE8 guys.

Here is some info of the future engine. http://ethanolrfa.3cdn.net/58755de02..._ffm6vj93b.pdf

Here is a good thread from Hondata that explains how Honda knock control works. How does knock control work? - S2KI Honda S2000 Forums

 

It could be since you change the suspension but you said the exhaust was louder which the CV joints is in the front. Could be a motor mount too.

 

I bet you any amount of money what you describe as wheel slipping is actually just the clutch when you first start the car on a rainy or cold morning. Mine does this weird, hop like sensation that kind of feels like I've not given it enough gas and it wants to die. I give it about 3-500 more RPM and be careful with the clutch for the first few shifts and it'll warm up enough I don't get that sensation after a mile or so.

 

At first I was thinking the same thing, since when it's cold, it chatters for a few minutes when engaging the clutch under light driving then starts to grip. The higher speed chatter under engagement doesn't really fit the description of a clutch slipping, but I think it's a possibility based on how the car behaves when it's cold, which has been reported by others. Does it seem like the rpms are gaining a bit more than acceleration normally indicates? Did you drop the axle when installing the swifts? Just curious, since that seems to happen a lot, and could have contributed to the problem.

 

My fit made noise in the front right side and the dealer could not find the problem. I thought it was because I was breaking and the wheel locked up causing the clutch to chatter but only did it around corners and breaking usually in winter.