Trouble diagnosing random whirring noises

[wowitswrong]

Hi, new civic owner here.

My first Honda and my first Civic (I was a Toyota guy til I drove the 10th gen civic haha).

I have an issue though; I’m getting this weird whirring/whining noise from the drivers footwell. Loud enough that even my rear passengers can hear it.

I’ve been to two Honda dealers in my area three separate times and they gave me some BS about my tires.
Went to a continental tire shop who told me that there’s nothing wrong with my tires.

So now I’m certain it’s a mechanical problem, but I have know clue what it could be. Transmission? CV axle? CV joint? Torque Converter?

I already had my tires rotated and balanced. The tires were also inspected for any abnormal wear, but couldn’t find any.

the noise gets faster and louder the faster I accelerate and the noise also happens in reverse (but not as often)

I also called Honda customer service but they still haven’t gotten back to me lol.

2021 civic hatch Sport Touring with around 11k miles.

love the car, just don’t love the fact that I can’t diagnose it as it’s my first Honda and my first CVT.

attached is a vid of the sound

Thanks! Any help is much appreciated!

 

[calonzo]

Certainly sounds like tires. Maybe you can rotate the front tires to the back and see if the sound is lessened.

 

[wowitswrong]

Certainly sounds like tires. Maybe you can rotate the front tires to the back and see if the sound is lessened.

Thanks for the response! I probably should’ve mentioned that actually rotated and balanced the tires a couple days before I took that video. Still makes the noise no matter what I do lol. Took it to an independent third party tire shop and they told me that the tires were a-ok. Even one of the Honda dealers said my tires were good.

 

[calonzo]

Thanks for the response! I probably should’ve mentioned that actually rotated and balanced the tires a couple days before I took that video. Still makes the noise no matter what I do lol. Took it to an independent third party tire shop and they told me that the tires were a-ok. Even one of the Honda dealers said my tires were good.

Sorry, you did actually say that.

My next guess would be wheel bearings. Not sure how you would diagnose them though, unless they got much worse.

 

[tacthecat]

How long have you had the car, all 11k miles or just recent?
Has noise always been present since you've owned the car?
Are tires new/or all the same?
Based on the amount of shake in the video, unless you have very unsteady hands, there's a likelyhood of severe suspension damage (wreck?) or a bent wheel.

 

[wowitswrong]

How long have you had the car, all 11k miles or just recent?
Has noise always been present since you've owned the car?
Are tires new/or all the same?
Based on the amount of shake in the video, unless you have very unsteady hands, there's a likelyhood of severe suspension damage (wreck?) or a bent wheel.

Drove the car off the lot with only 4 miles on the clock! I’d say it’s been a few hundred miles since the car started making the noise. No front end damage nor accidents to report haha. I did get rear ended earlier in January but it was only some deep scratching that was taken care of by the insurance. As for my hands, they’re pretty steady (at least I’d like to think they are haha) But the car doesn’t shake at all actually, I was just over extending my limbs to get to the sound lol. I don’t really push my car to its limits neither. The tires are the ones that came with the car when I bought it.

thanks for the response!

 

[gtman]

Just a thought. Since you only have 11,000 miles and warranty why not try another dealer? It certainly doesn't sound normal. Unfortunately, I'm not good enough to diagnose it from a 30 second Youtube vid.

 

[wowitswrong]

Just a thought. Since you only have 11,000 miles and warranty why not try another dealer? It certainly doesn't sound normal. Unfortunately, I'm not good enough to diagnose it from a 30 second Youtube vid.

Thanks for the response! I actually went to two different Honda dealers and even called Honda NA. When I get the chance, I’ll go to another Honda dealer to see if they could diagnose/replicate but the dealers that I’ve been to have given me the short end of the stick. Other info that may help: CV boots are intact with no signs of premature wear or damage, already got the tired balanced and rotated with two inspections for wear (they said the tires were good), seems like the noise is coming from behind the drivers footwell and is very noticeable at around idle-3,000rpm then it blends in with other noises (road noise etc). I wanna say it’s coming from the trans-cv area on the drivers side. I wish I could stick a stethoscope in there lol.

 

[tacthecat]

Drove the car off the lot with only 4 miles... it’s been a few hundred miles since the car started making the noise. ...I did get rear ended earlier in January but it was only some deep scratching that was taken care of by the insurance. As for my hands, they’re pretty steady ... the car doesn’t shake at all actually, ... tires are the ones that came with the car when I bought it...

Did you have alignment checked after the accident? How much damage ($)?
Does anyone else drive the vehicle?
If those check out okay then get dealer involved again.
Unusual but it could be a wheel bearing, and might be from accident!

 

[wowitswrong]

So update:

took it to the dealer for diagnosis and

drumroll please….:

it’s the transmission! A failed transmission at a little over 11,000 miles.

I cannot believe it took two separate dealers and four dealer visits for literally 6 months out of the entire year I’ve owned the car to actually get somewhere.

I love the car, don’t get me wrong. But between the back and forth with the dealership and American Honda having too much faith in that “there’s nothing wrong,” I just don’t have that much faith in the car anymore.

the car just rolled 11,000 miles and it’s only a year old, to have transmission issues so early on is not a good sign.

Will I keep the car? Only time can tell. With todays car market, stock for cars is hard to come by.

And honestly? The way I was treated by the service advisors was really crappy. They kept on making me believe that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the car, when in actuality, the entire transmission was failing. (That’s not Honda’s fault, though.) I had to

what sucks is that, even if you take good care of your car, you’re still not guaranteed that nothing will go wrong.

Cheers to hopefully nothing else going wrong haha.

 

[calonzo]

So update:

took it to the dealer for diagnosis and

drumroll please….:

it’s the transmission! A failed transmission at a little over 11,000 miles.

I cannot believe it took two separate dealers and four dealer visits for literally 6 months out of the entire year I’ve owned the car to actually get somewhere.

That's good news. Sorry it took so long. How did they finally make the diagnosis?

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