euthorus

Please note: I have heard this noise myself only once through the phone while wife was driving. She has gotten it 2-3 times last month.

Vehicle: 2001 Acura MDX, 14x,xxx miles. Fresh timing belt package, struts, endlinks, all fluids and all maintenance on time.

What happens is while maintaining a steady speed of around 70mph with the AC on the car will suddenly go into a screeching/howling mode while veering into left lane for no apparent reason. It is scaring the crap out of my wife, to me it sounded like a very high speed rotary drill with whooshing air.

I have checked the pads, rotors, suspension, and steering and I cant visually tell what could be causing this. I cannot reproduce it no matter how much I hammer the throttle or simply let it coast. There are no codes stored or pending on the vehicle. Anyone experience this before ?

00_civic757

Does it only happen with the ac on?

euthorus

No seems to be independent of the AC use. Just checked everything over again and noticed the inner driver cv boot torn with most of the grease gone :/ I have never had an inner CV fail - what are the effects ?

jdm monkey

take a video with wife driving?

euthorus

naw thanks

Lord Humongous

It's probably the steering wheel-seat interface module

Fabrik8

Take a look at the power steering system and the accessory drive belt. A faulty power steering system can stall the pump pulley (which makes a lovely squeal if the belt gets polished) and possibly steer the car in a random direction depending on what control valve position it starts out in. That's not the only possibility, but this isn't an easy thing to diagnose with a very limited amount of secondhand information.

Maybe a dry wheel bearing that's oscillating, but you'd have some big telltale signs before you ever reached 70 MPH.

Get that CV joint taken care of before it gets bad enough that it can't be salvaged. It doesn't sound like it's badly worn yet or you would hear it. How much does the car change ride height at 70 MPH versus lower speeds?

euthorus

I have driven it several times and nothing ever happens to me aside from an occasional shudder sound that seems to happen at all speeds when the RPM's hit 1600 for any extended duration (still havnt figured that one out). The wheel bearing was my bet as well - going to open it up right before I do the half-shaft.

How would I tell if there is an intermittent problem in the PS system ? I dont get any grinding or complaining from the ps pump when doing lock to lock, the fluid looks a bit old but stays the same level, there is no seepage at any of the connections. The belt is in a crappy location to take a gander but I will try to see if any polishing or slippage took place.

The ride height is identical for all the speeds, the suspension is rather soft and forgiving, the front struts look about the same as the day I bought them and put them on.

92civic

Hey I am a acura technician at pohanka acura and the shudder ur experience is actually torque converter lock up but as far as the squeel noise , does ur wife duplicate the noise only while merging ? A possibility is the blower motor since ur vehicle probably has a rear ac system the blower motors in the center of the vehicle and under the dash tend to go bad and they will howl there ass off. More info and I can definetly help u out work on these vehicles everyday I know the ins and outs

92civic

Wtffffff..... Seat interface module