Yeah, another front end noise
 

Hi, I just joined the forum hoping to get some advice regarding my wife's 2004 Accord, 4 cylinder DX, 80k miles. I searched the forum and found a lot of questions about front end sounds in Accords, but none resembled exactly what we are experiencing. Over the last couple years I've noticed a pulsating "vrum, vrum, vrum" sound coming from the front of her Accord. I never drive it that often, and my wife has just assumed it's normal so never thought much about it. The sound occurs only when accelerating with some pressure on the gas pedal. The frequency of the the pulse varies with speed. The sound ceases when pressure on the gas pedal is stopped and acceleration ends. There is no sound when cruising down the road at constant speed. Over the last couple years, I've taken the car in to our local Honda dealer for scheduled maintenance and they have never mentioned the sound. Last week I took the car to the dealer for its 80k maintenance and just casually asked if they had any idea what the sound might be. They said they'd check it out. At the end of the work they reported that their mechanic took it for a drive and concluded that the transmission is going bad. They could fix it for $3400 with Honda paying for 1/2 of it. I'm a little dubious because, if that is the case, the transmission has been failing over the last couple years, and I question how such a snap evaluation could be made by a simple drive around the block. I guess my basic question is, what other things could cause such an acceleration-dependent running noise in the front end? I am thinking about taking the car to an independent transmission shop for a second opinion. Thanks for any advise/opinion any of you might be able to provide.