i have been suffering from this clunking noise since i bought my 5AT TSX.
brought it to the dealership over 10 times, and also tried different dealerships.
the noise still there. therefore i went to deal with customers relations, but none of the dealerships could fix it. eventually, the customer relations offer me 7 years of extended warranty. THE CAR IS DRIVEABLE BUT I AM STILL SUFFERING FROM THE CLUNKING NOISE.

I know that this site has a lot of experts, so please help diagnose.

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Problem: After the car warms up, drive it @ low speed, can hear a pronounced noise, like something was hitting the drive shaft/axle. It was a rotational sound; the faster it went, the noise got faster.

Cause: unknown

Correction: 1. Machine rotors
2. Replace brake pads
3. Replace rotors
4. Replace wheel bearings
5. Replace wheels and tires
6. Replace the axle/ intermediate driveshaft
7. Replace the tranny.
8. Replace drive belts
9. Replace exhaust hangers
10. Loosen engine mounts

NOISE STILL THERE

 

The fix is to use the lemon law (if applicable in where you live), and tell the dealer to buy it back.

 

10 times?? Insane....Lemon law, use it.

 

JTso, did notice that u become a moderator now. congrat. btw r u in Seattle? I'm just 1.5 hours away from Seattle.

no luck with lemon law. bought mine in canada.
eventhough if i live in the states, i dun think u could make the dealer to buy back since the vehicle is still driveable. anyways, i'm not a lawyer.....lets get back to the topic as stated!!! any solutions.......what else could be done???

i'm now thinking about the " CASTER ANGLE" between the driveshaft and hub.
Cos it is a rotational noise, it has to be something to do with turning objects.
i tried to press brakes while the noise is there, it wont go away then it won't be the rotors.

90% of the time i went test drive with the acura tech, his first response is " ROTORS". DAMN

 

more comments from experts in this site are welcome.
appreciated for any positive solutions.

so, the noise is there when the throttle is slightly pressed.

if i floor it, noise goes away.

and if i let go the gas pedal, it goes away.

therefore, i assume it's nothing to do with the suspension as well.

 

I've been into the dealership with around 4-5 attempts to fix the vibration problem in my steering wheel on the highway. Sometimes it's so bad that i can't keep my hand on the steering wheel comfortably and it's wobbling around like crazy at times too.
I tried to file a lemon law claim through a lemon law attorney and Acura DENIED my claim and just said "we'll fix it".

 

What speed is the sound the loudest at?
Do you have any mods?
Exterior body kit?

 

Where in the car do you hear it coming from? There was mention of a weak join on the rear support cross member just behind the backseats. Just all depends where you are hearing this occur.

Is it a metallic noise, a thud, etc etc. Need more descriptions.

 

The noise loudest at 30mph, 50km/h. I don't have any mods, it's pure stock.
The car equips with the wing spoiler.

 

In the car, we, the tech and me, heard the noise from the front. we could not tell left or right. then he brought the car up a hoist, and test drive the car up on a hoist, says the noise from front right area. also says around the driveshaft hub area.

the noise itself is like something hitting/rubbing the driveshaft. the tech also tried to shimme the driveshaft to seee if it would centre, but the noise still there. so he swop the whole front right suspension from another tsx in the lot.
the noise still there. is it a metallic noise? sounds like a clunking metallic noise.

the noise is related to acceleration??? it's there only if the gas pedal is slightly pressed. once i floor it, it disappears.

 

Almost sounds like a motor mount or something isn't torqued down enough, but you should be able to recreate that without the car moving.

Does this noise happen when you go over bumps or is it only associated to acceleration?

 

Sounds like a CV joint noise - under a load whether speeding up or slowing down(engine breaking) it would make less noise because it is loaded - did you say both axles were replaced?

 

special thanks to every experts who walked through the diagnose with me.
i'll let you guys know once the noise problem is solved.


the noise is there no matter over bumps or flat even roads, the noise is there when the tsx slightly accelerated. i tried to pull up hand brake while the noise appears & i tried to turn the steering left and right to push weight on, the noise still there.

however, when the car is parked. shifting @ "P". i slightly press the gas pedal, then i don't have that rotational clunking noise.

therefore, if the driveshaft doesn't move, the noise is not there. once the wheels moving, the noise appears.

and the tech already proved that it's not related to the rotors.

 

i have everything black & white. when i look at the papaerwork, it's the SHAFT ASSY, R DR (part # 44305-SEA-N00). i think the tech insists that the noise from right side, then he replaces every part on the right side of the tsx.

the worst thing is that my tranny was also replaced for nothing. the noise is still there.

 

I've heard a noise like this in a car in my neighborhood and I'm not wondering if one of the brake pad clips isn't letting the pad slap against the rotor and then against the caliper... I mean, you'd see wear evidence of it and it would only get worse as the clip gets worn out. This could be a few things... geesh.

 

I would have them check the left side - I have seen CV joints that are noisy, and they do make a "knocking noise", when they are brand new. I had this happen to me when I had a new axle installed on another front wheel drive vehicle. Noise was minimal when the cv joint was loaded under acceleration but once that load was reduced it started making noise. Mechanic was sure it was somethingelse but turned out the new axle was the culprit -

 

so is it the "clip" of the pad is worn?

i would make an appointment to have acura inspects the "clip" if a worn clip could cause rotational clunking noise.

is there a picture of an acura tsx brake pads clip?

 

So, is it the "left CV JOINTS" would cause a rotational noise on the right side? okay, then i will request acura to inspect my "left CV joints" as well.

 

Ten times is about 7 times too many to fix a problem on a new car. I would give the dealership one more shot, and then it is time to get a lawyer. Lemon law isnt for undrivable cars... its for new cars that break down over and over. To me, a car that makes a clunking sound is NOT drivable.

 

thanks for the recommendation. as for reference only, if i purchased a vehicle and the engine cannot start at all just for an example. I will 100% hire a lawyer and sue. but if the vehicle is driveable and there is a noise going on. I wouldn't waste any money to bet on it, coz it's like 50% chance of losing. I mean noise is 100% a warranty issue whatever. on the other hand, the dealership which i bought the car from will not dumb enough to take the car back. all i could do is to deal with honda/acura customers relations. to be honest, who doesn't like money? no offence.

apologise for being off topic for a bit.

lets go back to the diagnose! i welcome anything positive, and i would try any possible solution.

 

It now seems that I am having this problem. I was getting off the freeway the other day and out of now where going into 3rd gear (at a reasonable speed) i started getting a clicking noise. This noise is directly associated with my speed. If I press my clutch in and take the load off the wheels it doesnt make the noise.. from about 1 to 10mph the noise is not noticable but once i'm hitting 20mph you can hear it. As speed increases the noise gets faster. It NEVER goes away if the clutch is engaged. Only time the noise isnt there is if I'm not in gear. I'm hoping I can get this covered even though I never actually went for a 10k, 20k, or 30k check up. I'm at 36k and I have a 2004 6MT... and if they see my intake I'm sure they won't be happy.. but I gotta get this noise taken care of.. it's LOUD.

 

I think you underestimate the length of the arms of the lemon law. You need to do a quick search on google under lemon law + your state, then if that doesn't do it, lemon law + province in Canada.

But in any case, as long as it's documented, if it is shown that a problem has been attempted to be repaired with no success, generally after 3 times, and that it may impair either driver's enjoyment, resale value of vehicle or even security of it's occupants, you have a definite case for buy-back.

In your case, I am 100% positive the venture would be worth it.

 

So how does this story end?

 

you can put it on a dyno, and visually look at every part from underneath or something, and try to ID the source of the noise while the car is in motion.

 

I had a clunking noise on takeoff from my RSX. They replaced a faulty strut and the noise went away. Later on when I had the 6spd gearbox grind issue, they had to drop the struts. They said they fixed it but when I left the dealership it was making a "stereo" clunking noise on takeoff from both sides. I turned out to be a rubber strut bushing between the chassis and the strut. They tried to use the old bushings but they were already malformed to the prior install. Definitely cannot reuse these!

What happens when you have the car in park and gently rock the car back and forth? Do you hear the noise? The engine doesnt have to be running? How about when driving the car and putting it in neutral while coasting? Do you hear it then or when you rev the engine?

 

Don't know if this would work when you live in USA, but Canada does have a Lemon Law equivilent:


CANADIAN MOTOR VEHICLE ARBITRATION PLAN
http://www.camvap.ca

 

I noticed this morning on my drive to work that my car is making a fairly obnoxious rotational slapping sound. It seems to happen less when I'm on the gas or bake, and possibly entirely disappear when I have the clutch pedal pushed in, but anytime coasting, it's slapping away at a rate that seems to relate to my speed. My commute is about a mile and all less than 35 mph so I wasn't able to experiment much with it. It sounds pretty unpleasant though and not something that I want to leave for awhile. It's an 04 6 speed with ~46K miles. Anyone have an idea of what it could be?

 

Did you look under the car for anything that might have got caught? Check around the axles. I've had plastic grocery bags get wound up around the axle before and it caused a vibration in the whole chassis. Another time I found an orange traffic cone jammed in the suspension of a friends car. He couldn't figure out what all the noise was.

 

Update for anyone interested:

Got my car to the dealer on the day of my previous post. They decided it was a problem in the transmission, which is what I sort of expected. Their "transmission guy" had his plate full for a few days then was scheduled on vacation, so it was awhile before they got to it. Finally got to it, pulled the tranny, about 6 teeth were sheared off the differential. They then ground up and circulated through the rest of the transmission. Then waited another few days for the regional rep who was coming into town to have a ganders and tell them whether to repair it or replace it with a new one. Rep came in, said replace it (I'd have been seriously upset if he said to repair and put it back together), waited for some parts and what have you, finally got the car back yesterday. That was 29 days in all.

This problem occurred when I had about 6 weeks left on my warranty. My work order shows no prices, but the service guy who dealt with the tranny mentioned in the course of a conversation that a new one costs about $3K, I'm guessing with labor and all it would have been at least $4K, feeling pretty lucky to have just squeaked it into the warranty period.

They didn't give any indication as to what caused it, the gears themselves were all fine, I did not have any bizarre occurrences leading up to it, no missed shifts or anything like that. I'm thinking/guessing/hoping it was just a defective part but will never really know.

 

Lemon Laws usually apply in the first 12 months/12K miles of ownership

 

Many years ago I had a very similar symptom on my Neon. I was pulling the harmonic balancer and had to remove to front driver's wheel only to do the work. I was using an air impact to take off and replace the lug nuts, but that's all I used it for. Well, one of the air lines inside the impact had blown. It worked fine rotating counter clockwise (lefty loosey), but turning clockwise (righty tighty) I could almost stop it with my hand. Anyway, long story short, the culprit was loose lug nuts. Took FOREVER to figure that out. We ran it on the lift for almost an hour trying to figure out the source of the noise and vibration. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere.