NSX acting up HELP

winreboot

winreboot

Experienced Member
Joined
5 September 2000
Messages
684
Location
PA
Today on down hill when I let go of gass pedal and still in gear I heard a noice like dragging a bucket under a car then when I accelerate the noice went away but then when I let of off gass it came back.

I pulled over to gas station and check under the car and my rear driver side wheel. Everything was fine. I drive for another mile and it all went away. ????

Then I floor it for couple of miles and everything was fine but when going up hill my speed meater whent down and it was not showing how fast I was going only my rpm was fine. I turn off the car when going and then turn it back on and everything was fine.

I have NSX for 2 years and I never had anything like that.
Can it be snap ring? Axle going bad ? etc...

Any help apreciated.
Thanks,
 
Hmm - not enough information for my little brain to help you out.

Questions:

- Year / millage / service history?

- Any Check Engine Lights come up?

- Did you notice any dummy lights (including the TCS)?

- Any recent repairs / work?

- Forced induction of any kind?

FYI - if I heard a sound like that I would limp off the road and not go to WOT for a while to make it go away - IMO. Not preaching but would hate to go from a bad problem to worse.
 
With the car parked, grab hold of each one of the tires and try moving it around to see if it is loose. If any of them feels like it's not firmly attached to the car, you could have a VERY serious problem...
 
Thx for quick reply.

- it has 62,000 miles I have it since 40,000 and chenge oil every 3k. I know I'm do for timing belt change and I have all the parts ready just have to schedule it.
- No engine light came on.
- I had my TCS off (most of the time when it is dry I tend to turn it off when I start the engine)

- The last thing I did was to add wheels 17, no recent mods to the engine at all.
- I use 75 wet NOS, but I only went through like 4 buttles and last time I used it was 7 months ago.

I'll jack up that side and check the wheel if it is bolt on tight and if it is not moving.

Thank You,
 
winreboot,

It sure sounds like something in the driveline. The speedo cutting out usually represents an issue with the speed sensor, which is run off the differential gear. This could be an electrical or mechanical issue, hard to tell yet. The dragging/scrapping sound could have been a dif bearing, or the counter shaft out of position, in the case of a snapring failure.

In regard to snap ring possibilities, is your shifter moving irratically as you are on and off the throttle in second gear?? Is your car's trans in the range?

I would check your trans oil, even change it and have a look at it for any metal, just to be sure. Also do check your wheels as Ken suggests, since a bad wheel bearing could sound that way, but I cannot see how they are "self healing":)

HTH,
LarryB
 
Yes, my trans is in the range of snap ring.
When I'm in the gear and I'm holding my shifter I feel a little movement under my hand. Maybe few mm but yes there is movement front to back in the shifter. Then when accelerating again it is not moving.

Can this be the snap ring ? :(

But the thing is why it went a way and I drove in to work today and my speed meter is fine and no noise when letting off the throttle but still movement in the shifter.

Thanks again,
 
winreboot said:
Yes, my trans is in the range of snap ring.
When I'm in the gear and I'm holding my shifter I feel a little movement under my hand. Maybe few mm but yes there is movement front to back in the shifter. Then when accelerating again it is not moving.

Can this be the snap ring ? :(

But the thing is why it went a way and I drove in to work today and my speed meter is fine and no noise when letting off the throttle but still movement in the shifter.

Thanks again,
Click to expand...

I hate to tell you this but - YES - sounds exactly like the snap ring!

There is an access panel for the transmission just behind the drivers rear wheel. Pull the wheel and the cover and you can see the snap ring (or what's left of it IMO).

Very sorry / hope I am wrong on this
 
You can check here:

http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Reference/tsb/93-010.htm to see exactly what Nick mentions to check the snap ring.

It can be done by raising the car on the drivers side only, removing the wheel, and opening up the cover. If you have the car high enough on the drivers side you will get very little trans oil when you open the cover. Put a pan under there to be sure and USE A JACK STAND for safety:)

HTH,
LarryB
 
I'm going to peek throught that sealing bolt to see the snap ring. I'll try this after work.
In this service bulletin it talks about the VIN or a serial number of the transmission?

Becouse my VIN is JH4NA1151MT003205 and trans in range from J4A4-1003542 to J4A4-1005978 are effected. I was just told that my tranny was in the range but I never actually checked.

Thanks again,
 
FYI - You can not tell if your car has the affected transmission case by the car's VIN - only by the VIN on the tranny itself.
 
If you conclude that the snap ring has broken on your car, STOP DRIVING IT. If you continue to drive on it, you may need to replace the entire transmission. If you stop driving on it, you may be able to replace only the snap ring and the upper transmission case. This is the difference between parts that cost $7000 and parts that cost $700.

If this happened to me and I still lived in New Jersey, I would have the car flat-bedded to Davis Acura (in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Trenton) so that Bernie could fix it.
 
matteni said:
FYI - You can not tell if your car has the affected transmission case by the car's VIN - only by the VIN on the tranny itself.
Click to expand...

That's technically true, but as a practical matter, you can tell with a high degree of confidence whether a car left the factory with a transmission in the snap ring range.

Cars with snap ring range transmissions started showing up in the U.S. VIN sequence in the '91 model year, around VIN MT002600. For cars that are somewhere around that number, they might or might not have a snap ring transmission. For cars whose VIN is significantly higher than that, they almost certainly left the factory with a transmission in the snap ring range, all the way up to the end of the model year, which was around MT003220. Of course, it's possible that the transmission was replaced after the car left the factory, so if you don't have a complete service history, you would need to check the transmission number to verify whether it still has its original (snap ring range) transmission.

The same thing is true for cars in the early part of the '92 model year, but I don't know what the VIN value was at the time that they stopped installing snap ring range transmissions. I know of at least one case in which a VIN over NT001000 had a snap ring transmission. '92 VINs went up to about NT001280.
 
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this is what I found after removing the screw. How long can I go like this or I can not at all ? :(
 

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I remove the broken peaces, but I see some of the ring is still intact. Can I drive like that?
 

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No. Not unless you want to go from a $2000 problem to a $7500 problem. Right now you probably haven't sent pieces of metal through your gear box wrecking hell on your expensive gears.

Please have your car towed to your shop of choice and get it fixed and flushed before putting more miles on it.

Good luck / sorry about your troubles / hurts to see that...
 
Agreed - do not drive the car like this. You risk (1) getting stranded and (2) causing more damage.
 
At first I did not want to belive that it happen to me. You hear the snap ring stories but I thought that it will not happen to me.

I got short gears R&P4.23 and Dali fix it tranny kit all ready for tommorow upgrade. Once open up I hope that I will not have to get more parts after carefull diagnosting mention in the manual.
 
I forgot to update you guys.

OK, this weekend we took the tranny apart. Removing it was very easy and straight forward. Inside the tranny there was a magnet that small peaces of the snap ring wore attached, and smaller peaces wore caught in the filter (I didn't know there is a filter in tranny)

There was no damage to any gears, all looked like it just came out of factory. I think I don't drive my NSX hard enough :) All synchros wore fine and had still factory markings on them. I forgot to take camera to take pictures I thought it will take two days to do it but it was a quick install.

The noise that I heard was created by the shaft moving towards differential and the first gear on the shaft grind on the differential. I could see round circle from grinding on the differential housing. All very minimal and the way the first gear teethes are on angle and Acura thought of this might happen so it is designed so it will not get damage. It grinds the bottom of gear and does not damage teethes or any edges. It is very little and it sounds worse then it is.

My short gears and 4.23R&P were aborted because it seamed like a lot of more work and I thought all my gears will be messed up. Now I have to sell it. Any one interested ?

In 6 hours everything was put back together.

All gears engage MUCH more smoother then before.

My friend tech from Acura told me that the design of the case is little outdated. This snap ring takes a lot of beating and there is a lot of stress put on such a small peace of ring. He said it should not happen for another 60K miles. But I don't know how this is true. The gears are on angle and push snap ring when you let of the throttle. At high RPM's you have up to 270hp press against it. I don't know how much it is true but after looking at it with my own eyes it does not look like a good solution by ACURA.

Thanks for the support :)
 
" He said it should not happen for another 60K miles."

60000 miles? It should not happen anymore if you resolved the problem correctely.

Did you change the upper transmission case too? Or only the snap ring?
 
Yes, the whole new case/bearing/seals and all the recommended parts on the TBS wore replaced. I don't know what he based the info on it might be false that is why I run it by you THE tech guys :) Yes, everything was done by the BOOK.

(60,000 miles it is not a lot)
 
winreboot said:
Yes, the whole new case/bearing/seals and all the recommended parts on the TBS wore replaced. I don't know what he based the info on it might be false that is why I run it by you THE tech guys :) Yes, everything was done by the BOOK.

(60,000 miles it is not a lot)
Click to expand...

I am glad to hear that. So will you be able to come to the Poker Rally this Saturday? :D
 

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