Oh that... it's just my transmission destroying itself

December 13, 2006 12:23 AM

My '98 Honda Accord is intermittently making a rather loud clicking noise when I shift it in to reverse. Help me diagnose the problem.

I have a 1998 Honda Accord EX V-6 (~135K Miles). Sometimes when I shift the car into reverse, it makes a very loud noise (as in so loud, that passengers will sometimes gasp slightly). I've taken it into my mechanic, but since the noise is intermittent, I can't reproduce it for him. Does anyone have an idea what this could be or how I could be of assistance to my mechanic in diagnosing or reproducing it?

About the noise:
It sounds kind of like a *CRACK* or a very pronounced click. It only happens when shifting into reverse.

posted by !Jim to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

If it sounds like it's coming from under the hood you might have a loose engine mount. If this is the case, your engine will shift as the transmission engages, causing the noise.
posted by lekvar at 12:34 AM on December 13, 2006

Automatic or Manual?
posted by jourman2 at 7:31 AM on December 13, 2006

If it's a very loud Crack! it's either the parking pin getting stuck sometimes (do you use the e-brake when you park?) or it's actually your transmission eating itself.

Is it when you shift from park to reverse or drive to reverse?

Any idea on whether or not it happens more often when cold or warm?
posted by SpecialK at 8:39 AM on December 13, 2006

The clicking noise sounds a lot like a transmission problem to me, most likely a problem with the reverse gear if you don't hear it when shifting to other gears. It could get worse too as the bum reverse gear could start to damage other parts of your transmission. If you can afford to get it fixed/looked at it I'd suggest doing so right away. Without the money then my smartass remark* is to avoid reverse like the plague until you can get it fixed.


*Like the doctor in this situation: "It hurts when I do this" Doc: "Then don't do that".
posted by Numenorian at 8:43 AM on December 13, 2006

Maybe the same thing and maybe not, but back in the day, my '84 Accord had a reverse-cracking problem. It was nasty. And it was hard to get all the way into reverse. There was definitely mechanical resistance.

A trick I learned from somebody was anytime I wanted to shift into reverse, to shift into 1st first then shift into reverse. I don't know what it did, maybe aligned something in the transmission, but it worked. If yours is a stick shift, give it a try. It just became habit for me after a while for the rest of the time I owned the car. Never had to fix anything related to it.
posted by kookoobirdz at 9:58 AM on December 13, 2006

I always forget to add that this is an automatic transmission, sorry about that.

specialk
I'm actually not sure if it happens when shifting from drive to reverse, since I don't do that very often. I don't think the temperature affects it, it seems to be entirely at random. As far as the parking pin thing, I do use the e-brake when I park.

Lekvar :
I have wondered about this, because I had to have new engine mounts put in a few months ago.
posted by !Jim at 10:46 AM on December 13, 2006

Problems with the automatic transmissions in early '98 Accord V-6's are not uncommon, and in general this problem affected quite a few 1998-2002 Honda's with the V6 /Automatic transmission -- this could possibly be your problem... you are not alone:

"Automatic transmission: On V6 models, transmissions may fail due to lack of thread-locking compound on nut for low clutch. Honda/Acura has extended warranty on affected vehicles to 7 years or 100,000 miles. (1999-2002)"

The Official NHTSA Bulletin on the one "official" recall of your vehicle -- I think your problem is maybe related to this, but not exactly sure.

Consumer Affairs -- Honda Transmission

Car Complaints: 1998 Honda Accord Transmission

I'm sorry to be the bearer of possibly bad news, but I wish you the best.
posted by wonderwisdom at 10:56 AM on December 13, 2006

I don't know if it is relavent to the V-6 version, but that same range of Accord years is involved in a class-action suit against Honda, I just got a little legal note in the mail about my 4-cyl model. I recall it being related to the 1st and 3rd gears, not reverse and the conclusion of the settlement ended up with a small increase in the warranty period for class members who do not opt out.
posted by Skorgu at 11:40 AM on December 13, 2006

Is it when you shift from park to reverse or drive to reverse?

Just to be pedantic, I have never seen a transmission where you can shift from drive to reverse - you go through neutral first.

I mention this because you might want to see if you are more or less able to reproduce this noise by moving quickly from drive to reverse or by stopping and counting one or two beats in neutral (perhaps even lifting your foot off the brake and replacing it, if it's safe to do so) before continuing on into reverse.
posted by phearlez at 3:35 PM on December 13, 2006

As a followup, my transmission failed about 5 months ago, and had to be rebuilt.
posted by !Jim at 3:23 PM on October 20, 2007