Growling / Whirring noise when in first (downshifting).

[vz-r_dave]

Sounds like a syncro issue, have you had new oil in the box at all? It might be worth a change.

[PaulTypeR]

IL_JDM said:

How do folks,

My Civic EP2 Sport (2005) has recently started to make a growling type noise, when I down-shift into 1st (I do this to take the ridiculous sharp bend to pull into the driveway) so as you can imagine, I'm practically at walking pace.

The noise appears to be coming from the front, so logically I would have said gearbox, problem is though, this noise doesn't persist when accelerating in 1st gear, even if done slowly. The noise only happens if I'm either down-shifting, or if I was to rev at around 4krpm in 1st and then come off the throttle (engine braking).

I noticed last night that my exhaust is sounding a little throaty, it could well have a split in it, but I was wondering if it's at all possible, a lose connection at the manifold (or something similar) could explain all of this?

It'll be going into Honda on Saturday as it's still under warranty, but just looking for a heads up!

Thanks

So you're putting it back into first with the car still moving. Not really recommended. Some gearboxes put up with this abuse more than others, diesels usually, but certainly not honda boxes. I think what you are hearing is a gearwheel cluster accelerating up to speed has you downshift to 1st. If its not crunching (probably is) then it won't be a syncro but you may have a bearing issue if you have been doing this regularly. For the record accelerating in 1st to 4k then coming straight off the throttle ain't gonna do your gearbox any good either, think of the load transfer in that situation.

1st point of call, change the gearbox oil and see what happens put it sounds to me you need to treat your gearbox with a little more care. Hondas are not the strongest gearboxes by any stretch of the imagination.