My wife has a 2014 RDX that is doing the same exact thing. It has about 50k on it and we bought it CPO. I am surprised this is a timing belt tensioner issue... I cannot imagine any work has been done by the dealer on the timing belt @ such low mileage; I know Honda usually calls for replacement closer to 100k. We still have an extended warranty. My question is should we have the dealer do any other service at 50k if they are fixing the tensioners anyway? My wife does not drive much. Thanks!

 

This post was moved from Loud rattle on cold start, goes away when hot. My car is showing the same exact symptoms/noise here: Cold start noise

Thanks for the help.

 

Sorry for digging up an old post, but this was great information. Unfortunately I did not get a video this morning, but our 2014 with about 87,000 miles just did the same thing.

I was afraid it might have been chatter from a tensioner. Was that your ultimate issue? I was planning on doing the timing belt early next year but maybe I need to do it sooner than later.

 

That's right, it's time to instal the new kit =)

 

I had my MDX tensioner replaced under CPO at 75k miles. Had the timing belt and water pump done while they were in there at half cost, since the warranty covered the labor of opening it up.

 

So, I heard this again briefly the other morning when it was cold. Kind pissed my off because I had the dealer do the timing belt. It was the full “kit” they do, but now it has me questioning if they actually replaced the tensioner.

It happened for just a second when it was about 20 deg one morning. Makes me wonder if it’s possible it could be a drive belt tensioner. The noise wasn’t there right after the work, I specifically checked a few cold mornings. So either that wasn’t the original problem, they skipped replacing the tensioner or I’ve got a bad part.

 

Hey, this might be your starter making the rattle. When it's cold outside the grease in it thickens and it doesn't retract immediately after starting the engine so the rattle is the motor spinning the gear on the starter until it retracts. If this is what is causing the rattle it doesn't do any damage to anything other than your ears.

 

My tensioner made the noise at every cold start. Wasn't sporadic.

 

Hopefully this was just one weird time where it didn’t have enough tension and rattled a little bit. We have some cold mornings coming up I’m going to check again. Heard it that one day and that was it so far, knock on wood.

I believe I have heard the starter noise mentioned as well. Every once in a while on cold start you can tell it does not retract the starter gear as quick as it needs to.

 

Thank you for this thread, we took my wife's 2105 RDX into the Acura dealership and they replaced the timing belt kit. The sound has been reduced dramatically, now it just sounds like a normal car with 90K miles as opposed to one where we thought it might fall apart any minute. What a difference! It was due for the TB service anyways and bonus of getting rid of the noise. I normally avoid the dealership at all costs but saw on another thread where their mechanic used the rockauto kit and it didn't solve the problem and they ended up going to the dealership. The dealership of course found another $6K worth of BS that they wanted me to approve to fix, and there was a big nope from me. Best of luck to anyone with a similar issue.

 

$6K? I wonder what it is?

 

Hey Altair here is the listing minus the Timing Belt. I’ll get second opinion on the shocks and struts and get my mechanic to do it. Are the recommended brands/models to use? Had the brakes replaced recently they just squeal will see what mechanic offers there as well. $499 Spark plugs -already did recently

$219 Battery

$662 Axle Seal: intermediate shaft axle seal is seeping due to internal failure recommended replacement

$1500 struts

$1250 shocks$783 Valve adjustment, might have done this already

$129 alignment

$645 Front and rear rotor resurface + sanding down brake pads

Valve covers . which I’m pretty sure I’ve already had replaced

 

Also Valve Adjustment: Recommended due to time and mileage of vehicle $800

 

Hey TenorTP, These are some kind of cosmic numbers, the dealer knows how to rip people off,
$499 spark plugs ($60 6 x NGK iridium spark plugs + 1 hour labor)
$662 Axle Seal ($15 seal + 2.5 hour labor)
$1500 struts ($500 pair OEM Acura + 3.5 hour labor)
$645 Front and rear rotor resurface ($100 pair front ACDELCO 18A81021 Gold, $70 pair rear ACDELCO 18A81041 Gold, $60 front pads AKEBONO ASP1697, $50 rear pads Acura OEM ($280 in total) + 2.5 hours of labor). I understand the point of resurface $300rotors from BMW ($600 per pair), but doing the same with low-quality rotors from a Honda is a perversion.

 

Agreed. I would just replace them fully.

 

Well fud, My 2G RDX has been doing this for 6+ Months. ~115k+ Miles, so yeah, water pump/timing belt time it is, I guess.