Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting in this forum, so I apologise first if I do make a mistake.

Around 3 weeks ago, I acquired a second hand Accord Euro 2006 (auto) from another private seller. Standard model, no modifications at all, no accidents since new (so the seller claims and RTA record shows) and has done 80,000km mileage.

I have been driving the car very regularly for the last 3 weeks, and while it gets me from A to B, I can’t help but feel that there is something not quite right. Below is a list of strange “sensations” / “symptoms” which I’ve felt very consistently, and I’ve given my best to describe them.

I do realise they can sound very vague to the audience, but I hope you can throw me some recommendations as to what I can raise with my potential mechanic. Apologies as I’m just the average Joe and not fluent with car terminology. Please provide your 2c, and provide as much detail as you can. Even if you think they are “normal” for the Euro, I’d still like to know. The issues are not necessarily related (but they could be, I simply don’t know enough)


  1. While traveling on low speed (e.g. below 40kmph), followed by letting the accelerator go (but without stepping on break) such that I start to “coast”, the RPM arrow would suddenly drop sharply below 1000rpm and then suddenly bounce back to above 1000rpm to maintain “coast”. In all other cars I’ve driven (including a Honda CRV), letting go of the accelerator to “coast” normally means RPM will simply drop to above 1000rpm and stay there to “coast”, but never doing a sharp bounce below 1000 and then suddenly go back above 1000rpm. This car does this “rpm bounce” when I let go of the accelerator to “coast” very very often.

  2. Under normal circumstances the car is quiet and noise feels smooth. However there are often times, usually after letting go of the accelerator, that I can clearly and distinctly hear and feel mini vibrations from the front. It hears like a small drum is being played from within the engine, and the car also physically shakes a little (enough shaking that I can tell this apart from normal driving).

  3. When going downhills, very often the 2nd / 3rd gear gets “stuck”, in the sense that the car will continue REVing up up and up without shifting to the next gear. As it is doing this, the car feels more shaky, and the steering wheel feels a lot harder / tougher to turn. At the same time, the drumming noise mentioned in 2) is very audible. When the downhill road finally becomes normal, the rpm (which is probably about 3000rpm because it never shifted to next gear while going downhills) will suddenly drop back to just below 2000rpm, and then everything is normal from then on.

  4. When coming to a stop (either by breaking or coasting), there is often a single forward jerk. Just before this jerk, the car feels like it has a lot of forward thrust and the steering wheel is also hard to turn. The “RPM bounce” mentioned in 1) is sometimes noted as this happens. Then this one off forward jerk occurs, and car is normal afterwards (i.e. feels lighter and steering wheel no longer hard to turn).

  5. Minor issue. Steering wheel – turning right is a lot heavier than turning left

  6. Not an issue, but maybe helpful to know ? – I’ve just done the Honda Power Steering Hose recall at the dealer, about 2.5 weeks. When I got the car 3 weeks ago, the Power Steering Fluid was leaking. I’ve checked that the PSF no longer leaks.



Sorry if I have provided a bunch of useless descriptions, but I hope there can be some helpful responses to some of these symptoms. You may ask “why don’t you just go to your mechanic in the first place”, but I realise that it is very hard to explain these symptoms to them. I’m relying on the experience of this forum on the Euro to see if anyone knows about any of the above issues, and hopefully can provide me with more specific advice. At which point, a mechanic will atleast have some directions to go by as opposed to listening to me rambling on about the symptoms.

Hope to hear some tips.


Thanks in advance,
David