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Humming or Growling?
Check the Wheel Bearings
A bad front wheel bearing(s) in a ’01-03 3.2CL or 99-03 3 2TL can make a humming or growling that’s easily mistaken for a noisy bearing or gear in the A/T. Before you go and order a reman A/T, test-drive the vehicle to make sure the A/T is really the problem.
Listen carefully as you speed up and slow down during your test-drive. Shift into Neutral. Varying the throttle position and shifting into Neutral changes the load on the A/T bearings and gears. If the A/T has a bad bearing or gear, the change in load affects its noise level. If that’s what you find, then go ahead and order a reman A/T.
If the noise level isn’t affected by changes in throttle position or by shifting into Neutral, then the culprit could be a bad front wheel bearing(s). Since the wheel bearings aren’t mounted on shafts that are being spread apart by gears, they’re not affected by changes in load. Also, since Acura uses angular contact wheel bearings, there normally isn’t a change in noise level when you swerve the vehicle from side to side.
Hook up a STEELMAN(R) ChassisEAR(TM) (T/N JSPSM06600) to the front knuckles, and test-drive the vehicle again. Refer to S/B 00-024, STEELMAN ChassisEAR Diagnostic Tool for more info.
^ If you hear humming or growling from one or both of the front wheel bearings, replace the affected wheel bearing(s), and then test-drive the vehicle to make sure the noise is gone.
^ If you don’t hear any noise from the front wheel bearings, the problem could be from tire noise or vibration. Swap the front wheels and tires with a known-good vehicle. Test drive the vehicle, and check if the noise or vibration goes away.
STEELMAN(R) and ChassisEAR(TM) are registered trademarks of J.S. Products, Inc.