Honda Car Forum

'98 CRV auto, (AWD version) 46,000 miles (74,000km) Second owner.

When stopping on snow / ice, without causing the ABS to engage, the
rear-right wheel makes a howling-grinding noise that changes pitch with
rotation speed. It's a fairly 'throaty' sound. It only sounds at about
15 mph or slower, __just as you come to a stop___. Due to road noise,
there's no audible noise at speed in forward, but in reverse, 15 mph,
when you let it coast (so the tranny won't howl) you can hear the
grinding noise in the rear right too.

Changing the rear diff fluid didn't help, so the dealer replaced the
whole diff. Noise is still there. Brakes look perfect on boths sides,
with no accumulations of rust or metal filings. Drum surfaces are
un-grooved and shoes have enough meat left on them. All the contact
points have the copper colored anti-sieze spray on them as if they've
never been touched since the factory. (I hear CRVs aren't very hard on
the rear brakes)

My conclusion is the rear right bearing, because it can be heard when
rolling in reverse, but only really howls and grinds when putting higher
(axial?) load on it while stopping. BTW, the stopping noise rarely
happens on dry pavement, only if two or more wheels are on snow (which
appears to be what fooled the dealer into swapping the diff). There's no
signs of rubbing or grinding in the brakes, and when there's something
bent or assembled wrong inside brake drums I'd expect to have a
rub,rub,rub,rub kind of noise.

Has anybody EVER seen a rear bearing on an AWD CRV go bad, and do you
think that's what I've got?

I'm going to get a (non-Honda) shop to inspect and swap the rear drums
to eliminate them as a cause, since the dealer is absolutely convinced
that they're going to tear my brakes apart (at my expen$e) until they
find the problem. They claim it isn't the rear bearing because they
never fail.

ALSO: Both times I went there, the foreman was unreachable / out, so I
had to show the noise to whoever was available to come along for a ride
(mechanics) I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it doesn't seem right
from a procedural perspective.

'Curly'
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Hi.
I do have the exact same problem with our CRV (98) 115000mls. The noise comes from the right rear and - like you wrote - "It only sounds at about 15 mph or slower"...

Did you figure out something yet. I was guessing the bearings too and I don't think its the differental either...

Please let me know...

mr_bean,

The paperwork (and explanation) they gave us was very vague, except to
say they changed the rear diff TWO _more_ times and 'Your problem is fixed'.

I expect I'll have to contact Honda Canada to get the whole story, but I
expect they (finally gave up and) changed the bearing. Do you have snow
where you are? Contact me directly and we'll talk further about your
symptoms.....

'Curly'

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mr_bean wrote:
> Hi.
> I do have the exact same problem with our CRV (98) 115000mls. The noise comes from the right rear and - like you wrote - "It only sounds at about 15 mph or slower"...
>
> Did you figure out something yet. I was guessing the bearings too and I don't think its the differental either...
>
> Please let me know...
>


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