First, it's not the suspension as far as can be determined (anything that looked remotely suspect has been replaced). Just wanted to get that out of the way. Car is a 2000 Accord EX, four door, four cyl. engine, automatic transmission with a bit over 70,000 miles. When I hit a sharp bump (like a 1"+ depression at a manhole) I hear this really annoying/scary "clunk". (The exact sounds vary, but clunk pretty much describes them all.) Two mechanics have independently traced it back to the driver-side drive shaft where it enters the transmission. (The last guy put the car on the rack with me in it, then tapped and pulled things until I heard the noise, so we're pretty darn sure.) The drive shaft can actually be wiggled quite a bit. (There is some minor play on the right, but it feels normal and tight, whereas the left side shaft moves a LOT. Don't know if full range of noise it can make comes from the transmission or from the shaft slapping the bottom of the car.) Took a while to find since, while driving, the sound is apparently transmitted to the left wheel and suspension where I thought the noise was originally (you can often feel it through the floor). On really good bumps, the sound seems to spread across most of the front of the car (makes sense, the shaft runs from the left to the transmission on the right). Honda says wait for it to break and they'll fix it under warranty (otherwise I have pay for them to tear down the tranny and have a look - then they might pay for it). Opinion is that a break would just leave me coasting, but since I'm planning a long trip this winter, the idea of "coasting" at midnight in 20-below weather doesn't appeal. No one's offered an opinion on how long it might last, either. Anyone had a similar problem? william_ivey -at- bmc -dot- com
