CR-V rear wheel/axle noise?

Happy 4th everyone.

I'm in the market for a used CR-V. To date, I've test-driven two, both
5 speed manual transmission. One was a 2000, the other a 2001.

The first, the 2000, that I drove made a loud whirring/humming sound
when the steering was maxed out in a 360 degree turn, in both
directions. My mechanic was wary of the sound and told me he thought
it might be suspension or axle related. The seller scoffed and told me
it was "rear brake noise".

The second one I drove, the 2001 also made the same sound when the
steering was maxed out. The seller had no explanation this time--only
that "maybe it was the tires."

I'm wondering now, since this has happened twice, if this is a
characteristic of the CR-V's, or if somehow, I've driven two cars that
have the same issues which otherwise were in mint condition?

Any thoughts? Thanks for your responses.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

Melinda,

You didn't mention the mileage of either CRV, but if they were over
30,000 miles, it's probably just the rear differential fluid needs
changing. Honda knows about this, but it's not in the owner's manual.
One litre of fresh Dual Pump Fluid makes the noise go away. You probably
noticed it's worse on left turns than rights, right?

The noise occurs without even touching the brakes.

The noise may seem to come from the front because the chatter that's
generated will travel thru the whole drive train. . . see hondasuv.com
articles for more info.

'Curly'

 

Does your mechanic know, or have any experience with, Hondas? There's the
dual pump fluid, to do with the AWD engagement, already mentioned by Curly.

The other thing I'm wary of is what having the steering "maxed out" means.
I dunno about other makes of vehicle but Honda has a mechanism which
resists forcing and holding the steering on full lock... there's an
increased resistance just before the end of the travel of the steering
rack, because it's better not to go there... overstresses the system. If
you insist and force past that resistance and hold there, the PS pump could
get noisy.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Melinda

Last year, I had a similar noise problem with my '99 CR-V EX automatic.
Are the tires all the same make (and about the same wear?)

It was just after I got two new front tires (Michelin) that I heard the
whining noise when making sharp turns.

The dealer recommended a differential fluid change, but this didn't fix
the problem.

The problem was the new Michelin tires had a slightly different
circumfernce than the old (partially worn) BFGoodrichs on the rear.
Measuring with a tape showed somewhere between a 1/2" to an 1" differnce
-- I don't remember the details.

But Sears no longer carried the BFG's, so the salesman and I checked the
size of several tires, trying to match the old ones. A pair of Uniroyals
seemed to measure the best; I tried them and it absolutely fixed the
problem immediately.

Many years ago I'd heard rumors of this as general caution on any
four-wheel drive vehicle, and think I recall some discussion of it in
this or some other newsgroup.

My conclusion for my All-wheel drive Honda : keep your tires wearing
evenly (rotate them) and replace them as a complete set, or at least
don't mix brands/models.

HTH
Greg remove the digits from my email address