not really, not your year. but it can happen. i've seen it on 7th gens.

the best way to confirm it's the wheel bearing would be to use a mechanics stethoscope to listen to the areaof the knuckle where the bearing is with the car jacked up with the front wheels spinning about 45mph. listen for the loud harsh grinding sound and compare it to the other side. both front may be bad or just one.


the play(1/32") in the axle you mentioned..what is that? how did you check that and what exactly are you talking about? was the axle nut ever removed?

 

Thanks. I will check that tomorrow.

No the axle nut has never been removed. The only work done on the front end of the car has been brakes.

As for the "play" If I pull/push on the axle, into the transmission and then back into the hub, it moves approx 1/32". The shaft moves into the transmission when I push it and into the hub when I pull it. I mounted a dial indiactor on the shaft to check the amount of travel.
I hope that makes sense..

 

If brake pads were recently changed, it might bew possible that the brake pads are slightly engaged with the rotor.

If you take the car on a back road with very little traffic, get you speed to 45 mph and let it coast to a stop in neutral without touching the brakes. If you touch the rotor and it is hot, then the caliper could be sticking. Its kind of a stretch, but it is a pretty simple test to try.

 

To those of you that sugessted wheel bearings, I am sad to say, GOOD CALL.[sm=hail.gif] I can't say I am real happy you were right but at least I know what work needs to be done.
The noise has gotten worse and now when Iturn the car to the rightthe noise gets louder. Which if I am correct would mean the left front wheel bearing is bad.

I have researched changing the bearings and every post I can find says that once the hub is removed it must be taken to a shop to have the old races taken out and the new ones put in. Is this really necessary? Is it something I can do myself? If not how difficult is it to find a shop that is willing to just replace the races?

I am finding it a little troublesome that with only 80,000 miles wheel bearings have gone bad. I know I asked this earlier but is this a problem with the Accords? This car needs to run at least 300,000 (5-6 years) and am wondeing if this is going to be a common
occurrence.
Thanks for the help
Mark

 

I'm not sure how hard or possible it will be to knock the bearings out on your hubs. What you describe as having done previously sounds like tapping out the races on taper roller bearings? This is easy with that type of bearing, but may not be on your hubs with large ball bearings (depends on how tight the interference fit is and how good your access for applying the drift). I suggest that you give it a go, but be careful and don't use any excessive force and don't allow the bearing to become 'cocked' as it comes out or new one goes in. If it won't come out without resort to brute force I'dtake it to a shop with a press and get them to do it, shouldn't cost too much...?

The biggest issue might be putting the new bearing in. If you can't tap it in with the drift contacting the outer race, then you might have to tap the inner race, and this could well damage the inner surfaces of the two races and the surfaces of the *****. Safer to press it in in this case, but really in any case it's safer to press it. If you attempt to tap the new race into position, you need to be gentle and very careful to keep the bearing as straight as possible as it goes into the bearing recess.

Tap it in in tiny increments with taps alternately side to side, or on the 'high' side if the bearing starts to go in at an angle. If it gets jammed tap it back out and start again, or if it gets really jammed get a shop to take it out and press it back in, don't be tempted to 'persuade' it with a bigger hammer!

On the other hand, if the bearing goes in very easily, then you might need to use an adhesive such a 'Loctite Bearing Mount'.

 

you will never remove the bearing like that on your accord, it needs to be pressed out. every bearing i do on newer accords takes about 2000-3000 psi to break it loose. and i seat it with no more than 3000 psi.

to save money remove the entire knuckle from the car. take this assembly to a shop and ask them to replace the wheel bearing. this has to be done unless you have access to a press. the hub is pressed out of the bearing, then the bearing pressed out of the knuckle. then the old bearing race is cut off from the hub(carefully) and shocked off. then you just clean corrosion and reinstall(with a press) the new bearing into the knuckle, then properly press the old hub into the bearing.

--be sure to buy2x 2.0mm cotter pin(upper control arm ball joint and tie rod ball joint) and 3.0mm cotter pin(lower ball joint) and axle nut.
--torque the axle nut to 134lb ft of torque and no more(otherwise you will add extra preload to the bearing and cause premature failure.
--torque the upper ball joint to 29lb ft and then tighten it enough to insert the cotter pin, do the same for the lower ball joint(58lb ft).
--torque the tie rod nut to 32lb ft.
--be sure to lubricate the portion of the axle nut that contacts the hub to decrease resistance when torquing the nut - otherwise you may torque it to 134lb ft but in actuality it's more like 110 because of resistance.
--be sure to lubricate the splines of the axle(that side into the hub) with a high temperature grease.



there is a special tool to remove the balljoints from the knucle but i'm a fan of shocking them out.in practice it takes too much time to remove balljoints using the tool, but you should use the tool if your not handy and confident using a hammer. you can and will damage suspension components and studs if you are not careful. you might be able to rent the tool from autozone?

i strike the knuckle with a hammer to shock the balljoint out of it's housing. loosly installing the castle nut while doing this is good to protect the stud. it should take no more than 2 hits to dislodge it if you hit correctly. you need to hit it like your using a sledge hammer(if you know how to use a sledge hammer properly). you don't just let the weight of the hammer do the work, it's a controlled blow....make sense? hopefully. i'll post instructions on removing the knuckle if you want.



as far as the bearing failure - it happens. it sucks, but it does happen. it depends on how the vehicles life has been. if it was ever hit, slid, hard turning, etc, puts a little bit of load on the bearing, and over time it causes play which causes noise.