I recently purchased a 1991 Accord to be my daily driver. The car has 268K miles on it and is in very good condition inside and out. I only paid $750 for the car and I bought it from a friend (original owner) who has all of the service records on the car since it was new. My problem is that I hear a clunking noise when I am accelerating or just cruising. When I let off of the accelerator the noise goes away. I also noticed that at highway speeds on long right hand curves the noise becomes a clanking sound from the left front. The timing belt, clutch and CV axles were replaced at 220K miles. The brakes are good and the tie-rod ends and sway bar attach points feel good. I jacked up both front wheels and checked the wheel bearings and felt no play and heard no noise. I don't feel the noise in the wheel unless I am at highway speed and turning right. I am asking for help because I don't want to throw a ton of parts at a car I only paid $750 for. If I do the parts shotgun method, I soon will have more money in parts than I paid for the entire car. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

 

does the noise get more frequent with increased speed? To me it sounds like an axle.

 

The noise does get more frequent with speed. I forgot to put that in my original post. Also, while inspecting my drivetrain parts, I noticed that I have about .5 inch of axial play on the CV axle. I am not an expert on Honda's so I am not sure if the play is excessive or not?

Thanks for the help,
Matt

 

You can move the axle in & out of the wheel hub by a half-inch? That's excessive.

The inboard joint is able to slide, to allow the suspension & steering to operate. But the axle is not supposed to move that much in & out of the wheel hub.

- Axle nut tightened properly? Is the axle moving in & out of the CV joint? Or is the entire CV joint moving in & out from the hub?
- Wrong axle?

 

the axle only moves in and out on the transmission side of the axle. I think I am going to go ahead and purchase two new axles and see what the results are.

 

No wait...

The inboard end is supposed to telescope. What's allowing the motion at the outboard end? That's where you have to look.

The "inner driver" is the part that snaps into the transmission. Lets say you snap that into place, and the knuckle is not installed. The outboard end of the axle is free to flop around. The inboard joint can telescope a good 1/2 inch, which extends & compresses the inboard rubber boot. In fact, if you pull hard enough, you can tear the boot & pull it completely out. Got it so far?

Once the outboard axle stub is fastened into the wheel hub, and the knuckle is attached to the ball-joints; now the suspension itself holds onto the outboard joint. Are you saying it moves in & out even when the knuckle & all the balljoints are installed?