EP3 Type R - developed a weird noise - help..

[thenortherner]

Hi,

I've had a low mile EP3 for a month now and there's always been a very slight continuous squeaky sounded under acceleration, which appeared to be coming from the driver footwell.

Yesterday what I assume was the same fault developed into something else. The noise sounded like mini-supercharger! A whining noise, the higher the revs the higher pitched it got. The noise was present in or out of gear.

After an hour the noise disappeared.

I'm due to take the car into the Honda tomorrow for them to look it it. Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks in advance.

(oh, and the noise wasn't the V-tec, yo etc etc)

[RobCrezz]

Sounds like the electric power steering to me. Check it has enough EPS fluid?

[anonymous-user]

My immediate thought was that it could be a belt of some description, but as you say it disappeared after an hour which kind of debunks that one.

[hazzel_frazzel]

might be something as simple as a bad earth on the stereo, can cause alternator whine. If so, the noise won't happen if you have the stereo off

[thenortherner]

Cheers guys.

I'm far from mechanically minded, so how would revving the engine in neutral be sympomatic of power steering fluid? Not that I'm questioning you, I just wondered.

The noise appeared when the radio was off too.

[RobCrezz]

thenortherner said:

Cheers guys.

I'm far from mechanically minded, so how would revving the engine in neutral be sympomatic of power steering fluid? Not that I'm questioning you, I just wondered.

The noise appeared when the radio was off too.

The EPS motor does sound a little bit like a mini supercharger with a kind of whine. I might be wrong that that is the issue.

Does it do it with the clutch in or out also?

[thenortherner]

It does with with the clutch in or out yes. This was definitely not a normal noise or characteristic of the engine's normal sound.

The noise was never there before. It did sound like a belt of some sort. Odd how it just disappeared.

[thenortherner]

Come to think of it, it was making a louder than usual noise when turning it on full luck. Will ask them to look at this tomorrow.

[RobCrezz]

thenortherner said:

Come to think of it, it was making a louder than usual noise when turning it on full luck. Will ask them to look at this tomorrow.

check the EPS fluid.

[Animal]

I had a similar-sounding problem with mine, which turned out to be a rattly heat shield.

[thenortherner]

Animal said:

I had a similar-sounding problem with mine, which turned out to be a rattly heat shield.

Mine has that too. A metalic sounding rattle.

[thenortherner]

RobCrezz said:

thenortherner said:

Come to think of it, it was making a louder than usual noise when turning it on full luck. Will ask them to look at this tomorrow.

check the EPS fluid.

Will do. Cheers.

[insideline]

Can echo the heatshield comment, I had a 2.2 Diesel Civic a couple of years ago that had a similar whine/occasional rattle from behind the centre console area. Honda dealer quickly diagnosed the heatshield for the exhaust(s) which runs up behind the dash and then down the centre of the car before splitting to the two back boxes.

Apparently a common fault (not sure if this applies to petrol derivatives as well) with diesel civics.

HTH

Edit for getting EP3 and new shape Civic mixed up. Still might be heatshield related tho' sorry for confusion.

Edited by insideline on Tuesday 5th October 11:43

[oOTomOo]

Could be a slipping aux belt...

[TJW]

Mine had the rattley heat shield, just remove it! only 3 bolts.

I have a squeak from my footwell, however, i found it's the accelerator linkage/cable squeaking and i just need to re-grease it.

[thenortherner]

Just had a look at the manual, nowhere does it point out where the fking fluid is, so I can't check.

Definitely a job for Honda.

[RobCrezz]

thenortherner said:

Just had a look at the manual, nowhere does it point out where the fking fluid is, so I can't check.

Definitely a job for Honda.

Oh right, I have never actually checked. On my old MR2 with EPS it just had little bottle.

[thenortherner]

Well Honda tell me there's nothing wrong with the EPS, cos 'the light would come on the dash if there was innit', said the guy on the desk.

I eventually spoke to the technician that looked over the car and couldn't find fault. He said he'd checked all the belts, pulleys and bearings, and there wasn't a problem. Which is a relief I suppose, but I'd still love to know what the hell it was.

Seemed a nice enough and genuine bloke and said he there's no point in replacing things that aren't wrong only for the issue to reoccur. Quite refreshing to hear some honesty from a main dealer - Bristol Honda at Cribbs in this case. Wasn't charged for the 40 minutes labour either.

[750turbo]

thenortherner said:

Well Honda tell me there's nothing wrong with the EPS, cos 'the light would come on the dash if there was innit', said the guy on the desk.

I eventually spoke to the technician that looked over the car and couldn't find fault. He said he'd checked all the belts, pulleys and bearings, and there wasn't a problem. Which is a relief I suppose, but I'd still love to know what the hell it was.

Seemed a nice enough and genuine bloke and said he there's no point in replacing things that aren't wrong only for the issue to reoccur. Quite refreshing to hear some honesty from a main dealer - Bristol Honda at Cribbs in this case. Wasn't charged for the 40 minutes labour either.

This place is your friend

http://civictype-r.co.uk/forum/

[thinfourth2]

Hamster stuck under the accelerator

Unlikely but it fits the symptoms perfectly