QuestionHi ... I have a 91 Accord Ex with 207,000kms on it that I recently purchased and I am now having a couple problems.
A while ago I noticed that the steering wheel would wobble a bit at highway speeds and on acceleration in town. I had the car checked and was told that I have a worn upper ball joint on the front passenger side. (If i grab the top of the tire and push/pull I get a tiny bit of play). I was told that it wasn't dangerous and haven't replaced it for lack of dollars.
The other day on the highway, I noticed that the wobble is more apparent when i've just let the gas off or am just putting it on (kind of in between - not under heavy power, but not coasting).
Recently when I was in a parking lot, I put the car in reverse and turned a couple of tight circles each way and noticed a rhythmic sort of low 'clunk.clunk.clunk' (not too loud but noticeable to the careful ear). I did the same tight circles both ways forwards and got the same noise. I now hear the same noise when i'm backing out of my driveway and when i'm first accelerating forward (the sound stops after a short while).
I've been given a variety of different reasons from different mechanics of different skill levels for the highway wobble ... not consistent enough to have it worked on ... (worn upper ball joint, worn rack) but am now concerned that the problem may be in the tranny.
The T-fluid is up and works well through all of its gears. The only things that stand out about the tranny are a kind of noisy transition from D to R and when I put the tranny in 2nd at a stop, it starts from 2nd gear and does not use 1st. I'm not sure if that's normal or not ...
Also, my fuel guage usually only shows about 3/4 thank when the tank is actually full, I get some top end noise when driving in town if the car hasn't been warmed up, and the car is sometimes a bit hard starting when warm.
Any help you have concerning these problems would be appreciated. This site (and your advice) is a great resource.
sorry for the long detail section here ...
AnswerWell your problem is very minor, give your car a birthday, take it in for a wheel allignment, replace both top end ball joints and the little knocking sound you can hear thats your CV's clicking due to a worn CV boot or mostly from hard acceleration around corners, and the bang or crunch you hear from D to R is normal all honda accords of that year or older do this due to the reverse solenoid in the tranny is too small to handle the belt change, nothing to worry about, there is nothing wrong with the steering rack either.
Hope ive been of some help
Cheers RUSTY
