Transmission bearing failure at 57,000 miles. Car no longer under warranty!

[Michael90]

2017 Honda Civic owner - Just a devastating situation I wanted to air out and get some advice on. Started hearing a humming/"woo woo woo" type noise coming from the back wheel areas of my vehicle recently. The noise drives me crazy especially on newer flatter roads above 50 mph. It is more prominent when I am coasting without the acceleration noise. $750 later at Mavis and I got two new rear tires (they were worn) and new brake pads and rotars which were also needed, hoping that was going to take care of the issue (the tires really) as that's what Mavis said was likely the cause. There was actually pretty significant unevenness in one of the tires.

Back on the parkway and the sound was still there. Finally, and reluctantly bc I dislike going there for other reasons, I brought it to Honda where it was diagnosed with a bad "carrier bearing" inside the transmission and that was the sound I was hearing. They apparently checked it with a sethascope and the whole nine. According to them this part of the tranny cannot be replaced and I would need a whole new transmission. WTF!?!? The warranty on the car is 5 years/60,000 and because my delivery date was November 2017 the car is not covered. Is this a nightmare or is this a nightmare? Me and the service advisor are now in talks with Honda corportate where according to the advisor, they will try and "Give me some assistance". I asked him what does that mean and didn't get much of an answer. For the record, he told me in a stonefaced look that a new tranny would be $5,000. I held in my laughter, took my keys and left. He informed me that the car was still "Ok to drive".

So, few questions...

1- How on earth does a transmission fail at 57,000?

2- What am I going to possibly do here when Honda comes back and won't cover this?

3-Does anyone know if this is 100% true where a carrier bearing simply can't be replaced without replacing the entire transmission?

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[Sadé Smoove]

Can you share audio of what it sounds like? I think I may have a similar sound but coming from my front wheels for sure and it only started happening after a minor accident. Only did front bumper damage but i did need a wheel alignment immediately after... I've gotten new rims tires and changed the transmission fluid since then but the noise is still there. Oddly enough, my whole front suspension seems to be falling apart as it's beginning to now Squeak and creek, especially in the cold weather.... Could it be my aftermarket sway bar /end links?

 

[Ronny2019]

2017 Honda Civic owner - Just a devastating situation I wanted to air out and get some advice on. Started hearing a humming/"woo woo woo" type noise coming from the back wheel areas of my vehicle recently. The noise drives me crazy especially on newer flatter roads above 50 mph. It is more prominent when I am coasting without the acceleration noise. $750 later at Mavis and I got two new rear tires (they were worn) and new brake pads and rotars which were also needed, hoping that was going to take care of the issue (the tires really) as that's what Mavis said was likely the cause. There was actually pretty significant unevenness in one of the tires.

Back on the parkway and the sound was still there. Finally, and reluctantly bc I dislike going there for other reasons, I brought it to Honda where it was diagnosed with a bad transmission bearing and that was the sound I was hearing. They apparently checked it with a sethascope and the whole nine. According to them this area or part of the tranny cannot be replaced and I would need a whole new transmission. WTF!?!? The warranty on the car is 5 years/60,000 and because my delivery date was November 2017 the car is not covered. Is this a nightmare or is this a nightmare? Me and the service advisor are now in talks with Honda corportate where according to the advisor, they will try and "Give me some assistance". I asked him what does that mean and didn't get much of an answer. For the record, he told me in a stonefaced look that a new tranny would be $5,000. I held in my laughter, took my keys and left. He informed me that the car was still "Ok to drive".

So, few questions...

1- How on earth does a transmission fail at 57,000?

2- What am I going to possibly do here when Honda comes back and won't cover this?

Sorry i dont have good news but look at it this way it is just a noise right now. I would drive it but try to trade it in at a diffrent dealer. I hope they will help you fix it good luck

 

[DRUSA]

Do you feel this noise in the steering wheel or in the seat while you are driving? Steering wheel means it's coming from the front, seat means it's coming from the rear of the car.

Usually, a "wub wub wub" noise that gets faster as you go faster is a tire with flat spots (due to wheel alignment being off and causing irregular wear on tires) or typically a bad wheel bearing. A bad wheel bearing and flat spotted tires sound VERY similar.

The carrier bearing is inside the transmission, the differential in the transmission has two of them. This is a very rare failure for me if this was diagnosed properly. Has the car been leaking a light brown fluid? You can continue to drive on this if it is a carrier bearing, the car will just make that noise forever until the transmission is replaced.

1- How on earth does a transmission fail at 57,000?
Answer: Usually lack of maintenance. Sometimes things just break. No car brand is immune from this, they all have issues. Let me know when you find a brand that doesn't have mechanics.

2- What am I going to possibly do here when Honda comes back and won't cover this?
Answer: If they shoot you down, inquire about "goodwill warranty" or a "split warranty". Sometimes Honda will work a deal with you even if you are out of warranty. They may cover a percentage of the total repair, or pay for the parts and you pay the labor etc. It varies for each situation, but it is always worth asking about.

3-Does anyone know if this is 100% true where a carrier bearing simply can't be replaced without replacing the entire transmission?
Answer: It CAN be done, but not without completely removing the transmission and disassembling it. Honda does all automatic transmission rebuilds in-house, Honda techs do not rebuild automatic transmissions. This is mostly a quality control thing, it can be done, but you'll spend more money in labor and that's IF you can find someone willing to do it. Cheaper to find a used transmission in good shape instead.

 

[rtypefk8]

Do you feel this noise in the steering wheel or in the seat while you are driving? Steering wheel means it's coming from the front, seat means it's coming from the rear of the car.

Usually, a "wub wub wub" noise that gets faster as you go faster is a tire with flat spots (due to wheel alignment being off and causing irregular wear on tires) or typically a bad wheel bearing. A bad wheel bearing and flat spotted tires sound VERY similar.

The carrier bearing is inside the transmission, the differential in the transmission has two of them. This is a very rare failure for me if this was diagnosed properly. Has the car been leaking a light brown fluid? You can continue to drive on this if it is a carrier bearing, the car will just make that noise forever until the transmission is replaced.

1- How on earth does a transmission fail at 57,000?
Answer: Usually lack of maintenance. Sometimes things just break. No car brand is immune from this, they all have issues. Let me know when you find a brand that doesn't have mechanics.

2- What am I going to possibly do here when Honda comes back and won't cover this?
Answer: If they shoot you down, inquire about "goodwill warranty" or a "split warranty". Sometimes Honda will work a deal with you even if you are out of warranty. They may cover a percentage of the total repair, or pay for the parts and you pay the labor etc. It varies for each situation, but it is always worth asking about.

3-Does anyone know if this is 100% true where a carrier bearing simply can't be replaced without replacing the entire transmission?
Answer: It CAN be done, but not without completely removing the transmission and disassembling it. Honda does all automatic transmission rebuilds in-house, Honda techs do not rebuild automatic transmissions. This is mostly a quality control thing, it can be done, but you'll spend more money in labor and that's IF you can find someone willing to do it. Cheaper to find a used transmission in good shape instead.

I wonder if this happens to more people as the years go up in date

 

[Michael90]

Do you feel this noise in the steering wheel or in the seat while you are driving? Steering wheel means it's coming from the front, seat means it's coming from the rear of the car.

Usually, a "wub wub wub" noise that gets faster as you go faster is a tire with flat spots (due to wheel alignment being off and causing irregular wear on tires) or typically a bad wheel bearing. A bad wheel bearing and flat spotted tires sound VERY similar.

The carrier bearing is inside the transmission, the differential in the transmission has two of them. This is a very rare failure for me if this was diagnosed properly. Has the car been leaking a light brown fluid? You can continue to drive on this if it is a carrier bearing, the car will just make that noise forever until the transmission is replaced.

The noise is coming from under the car but seemed to be stronger towards the back wheels. That's all I can say. I want to trust that Honda diagnosed the problem correctly, but even I'll admit I could have sworn it was a bad wheel bearing (had a bad one of those years ago on the same car beleive it or not). I mean who really knows anymore. Can we really trust any mechanics? At Honda they're a bunch of guys in the back unseen and we just take their word for it. If another mechanic found it to be something different then Honda would just say it was a difficult problem to diagnose and it was an honest mistake. Though I don't think anyone would be drastic enough to replace an entire transmission if they weren't 1000% certain.

 

[Pekingduck]

Is your car lowered? I had the same problem but knew it was my wheel bearing. Still kinda expensive.

 

[latole]

" According to them this part of the tranny cannot be replaced and I would need a whole new transmission. "

Today in many professions, there are less and less people who know how to repair, they only know how to replace parts.
We have to admit that some repairs are impossible or would cost more time.

And I'm pretty sure that it's more lucrative for the dealer to replace everything than to repair if it was possible.

 

[TriangleHeat]

If you're sure the sound is coming from the rear, it has nothing to do with the transmission, there are no drive line components back there, it's a FWD car so only wheel bearings at the rear. In fact what you describe sounds more like a wheel bearing than anything, wheel bearing failures are more common than carrier bearing failures are. I also wonder how they even used a stethoscope to prove it, one carrier bearing is deep in the transmission (hence why they want to replace the entire unit), there's nowhere to place the probe on the outside of the transmission that guarantees you can isolate noise from it, not with all the other stuff inside it moving and meshing. That's almost like saying you can isolate the sound of a single valve from outside a running engine using your ears only. Mechanic's stethoscopes work when you can place the probe right next to a component to isolate the noise to that component: like near a wheel bearing, on the bolt for a pulley, etc. The other one people call the carrier bearing is the "axle shaft bearing" that one isn't even in the transmission, it's outside on the half shaft on a bracket and can be replaced without the transmission.

If you have a jack you can jack each of the rear corners up one by one, you don't need jack stands since you're not going under the car, also make sure the parking brake is off when you do this, otherwise the wheel won't spin. Do it on level ground, spin the wheel and feel for play too, but just be warned that these methods of diagnosis aren't always foolproof. Sometimes the brake caliper (for disc brakes) will hold the rotor (and the wheel hub) enough to prevent play from being felt unless the play was excessive, the noise may also not occur unless the wheel is spun sufficiently fast enough and the load from the weight of the wheel may also prevent it. I just replaced a set of wheel bearings on another car two weeks ago, zero play, zero noise when wheel was spun on car but when I removed the bearing and spun it by itself the noise was ridiculous and replacing it did fix the noise.

I think you'll have more luck hearing for noise when spinning the wheel by hand on your car, because there's nothing on the rear but wheel bearings so you should be able to get the wheels spinning fast enough to reach the sound if there is any. The other test you can do is drive it around, then use a infrared thermometer to look for a heat difference on either side, lay down behind your car and point the infrared thermometer right at the back of the knuckle closest to the hub. If one corner is significantly hotter than the other it indicates something wearing excessively. The wheel bearings I did recently, the rotor on the corner that had the bad wheel bearing was much hotter than the other corner after a short drive. If you do car work yourself and it is the rear wheel bearings, the rears are much easier to replace than the fronts, they're bolted-on hub assemblies, the fronts are pressed in to the knuckle and require you to have a bearing press tool.

 

[latole]

TriangleHeat,
If what you say is true, the dealer's mechanic is an incompetent or a thief.

However, the impression of where the noise comes from while driving can be misleading.

I remember once when a noise came from the dash while I was driving.
It was obvious, easy to hear.
I searched for days until I moved something that was in my trunk and the noise immediately disappeared.
I couldn't believe my ears.

 

[DadBodMod17]

In my experience Bad a wheel bearing will make more noise with added lateral force. For example if you are coasting down a hill with a sweeping left hand curve? Right wheel bearing may get louder. Sweeping right = more pressure on the left (outside) tires. Could be worth a listen, and i say downhill so you can pop the car into neutral and quietly coast.

 

[Ronny2019]

2017 Honda Civic owner - Just a devastating situation I wanted to air out and get some advice on. Started hearing a humming/"woo woo woo" type noise coming from the back wheel areas of my vehicle recently. The noise drives me crazy especially on newer flatter roads above 50 mph. It is more prominent when I am coasting without the acceleration noise. $750 later at Mavis and I got two new rear tires (they were worn) and new brake pads and rotars which were also needed, hoping that was going to take care of the issue (the tires really) as that's what Mavis said was likely the cause. There was actually pretty significant unevenness in one of the tires.

Back on the parkway and the sound was still there. Finally, and reluctantly bc I dislike going there for other reasons, I brought it to Honda where it was diagnosed with a bad "carrier bearing" inside the transmission and that was the sound I was hearing. They apparently checked it with a sethascope and the whole nine. According to them this part of the tranny cannot be replaced and I would need a whole new transmission. WTF!?!? The warranty on the car is 5 years/60,000 and because my delivery date was November 2017 the car is not covered. Is this a nightmare or is this a nightmare? Me and the service advisor are now in talks with Honda corportate where according to the advisor, they will try and "Give me some assistance". I asked him what does that mean and didn't get much of an answer. For the record, he told me in a stonefaced look that a new tranny would be $5,000. I held in my laughter, took my keys and left. He informed me that the car was still "Ok to drive".

So, few questions...

1- How on earth does a transmission fail at 57,000?

2- What am I going to possibly do here when Honda comes back and won't cover this?

3-Does anyone know if this is 100% true where a carrier bearing simply can't be replaced without replacing the entire transmission?

wow that is crazy i hope they help you out. I had bought a 2009 si sedan new with 9 miles on it and the car started making that same noise so they changed a few things in the tranny but after picking up my car it was still there long story short car was in and out of there for 3 months until they replaced the whole trans. It was the same issue granted my car was covered because it was new it took them many tries to fix it without swapping trans with a new one but couldnt not saying they cant fix yours but damm good luck

 

[wattage]

Bring it to a good transmission shop and see what they say

 

[Ronny2019]

" According to them this part of the tranny cannot be replaced and I would need a whole new transmission. "

Today in many professions, there are less and less people who know how to repair, they only know how to replace parts.
We have to admit that some repairs are impossible or would cost more time.

And I'm pretty sure that it's more lucrative for the dealer to replace everything than to repair if it was possible.

yea but if it was still under warranty they would just replace the part and not the whole trans. There is someone on here who built their own transmision i bet they would know. I forget who it is thou

 

[latole]

Bring it to a good transmission shop and see what they say

You are right !

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