Hi.

I have a 2001 accord lx 4 cylinder manual. The other day i hear a crackling sound in the front left as i pulled out of my driveway. It sounded nasty so i carefully reparked and rode my bike that day. After work i tried it again and no sound. It did this once more, while the crackling noise faded away as the car drove and i never hear it again. I jacked the car up and tried the following:

In neutal, spun front right wheel. Wheel freely spun no problem.

Neuteal, spun front left wheel. Wheel does not turn. (I even stuck a screwdriver in the flutes of the brake rotor for leverage to no avail) the wheel actually spun about 1/32 of a turn before abruptly stopping and moving no more.

Turn the car on, put it in gear. Front right turns as expected because of the differential. But even after punchng the throttle, the front left WILL NOT BUDGE. Put it in reverse, punched the throttle and the front left rotated back that 1/32 of a rotation and abruptly stopped while front right turned.

Im seeing that the wheel does not freely move as intended. But is this due to a malfunction or binding in a bad CV joint? Or is it possible this problem is going to cause.me a headache and be in the differential/ transmission?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

-Tim

 

It sounds to me (from a distance over the net) like it's NOT in the brake or CV joints.

If the brake were binding up it would not move back & forth for that 1/32 of a rotation.

Seems like a CV joint wouldn't come to a sudden stop at 1/32 of a turn. In fact, if you put a jack under the balljoint & lift the knuckle (compressing the spring) until the axle is kinda pretty straight, then the axle joints don't need to flex hardly at all.

I guess one way to absolutely know, is remove the axle nut & disconnect the axle from the hub. Then see whether the hub spins properly. At that point, you can also check the CV joints for how nicely they flex.