Yep, that's the propeller shaft. Mine whined in the cold weather between 30-40 mph, but only did it once per trip just after starting. After driving a very short distance, it warmed up and was quiet. Had mine replaced this past summer after the TSB came out (I had complained several times during the winter and they didn't know what it was then). Been quite chilly in PA this winter, but hasn't whined once with the new shaft.

 

Glad the fix worked!

 

Interesting...my symptoms were almost the complete opposite. Seems my whining wouldn't start until I had driven a few miles, and occurred with every trip. Once the noise started it would not stop until my speed went below ~35MPH. I think the reason the dealer didn't find this problem the first time is that they didn't drive the car long enough to reproduce the noise. Anway, its been about a 5 days now since the repair, and all remains well.

 

The dealer installed the new rear differential yesterday. This morning I took the car for a 25 minute ride to see if I could still hear the tuning fork sound. Nope. Granted, it was a balmy 34° degrees this morning but I was hearing that noise on a daily basis when it was near or below freezing.

 

GUys, i have a 05 RL with 109k KM on it
im in canada, i was wondering if i still had some warranty on this car?????
I am hearing the whining noise...
if it doesn't have warranty, is it safe to drive still? i dont have 2-3K to fix this right now

 

Depends. I don't know what they do in Canada for warranty.

My 2006 has a 6 year 70K miles powertrain warranty. Also the speedo is supposed to read 5% high, so that may extend it to 73.5K miles based on some kind of notice I received about odometers...so technically, 109K KM might make it, assuming you have that warranty.

 

Finally broke 60 degrees here in the midwest and the whistle is gone.

I was trying to think of an alternate fix for this. Other than replacing the whole drive shaft or waiting for warm weather.

Looking at the diagram from the May 08 TSB might be able to put a couple felt washers between the bearing mount and the underside of the car. It wouldnt "fix" the bearing but it might supress the noise by eliminating the metal to metal contact.

 

will leaving it the way it is harm the car in any way?

 

For me, with the all-weather mats in the car, the noise is slight. But I'm up around 68k miles and I'd rather it be dealt with by the dealer. So, I took her in this morning and drove back to the office in the '08 TL loaner that doesn't make this noise.

The dealer says the bearing is fine after they put it on the rack to listen, they can't hear the noise when driving it and etc... Of course, now that I've been thinking about it, I hear it.

 

Well, maybe it's time for a new thread: Rear Differential Whine.

Thanks to this thread, I knew to point my dealer to the diff, and I was adamant that I could hear something. Someone above likened it to a "tuning fork" ring and I agree. I also noted that some people can't hear high pitches (like those deadly, booty-call teenage ringtones), but I can and I am sure as shootin' that the same noise didn't emanate from the '08 TL I have on loan from them.

The dealer just called: the rear diff is "tostado". Now this is a technical term for that has only a passing relation to the "Mexican food" dish you may have ordered in the past, but suffice it to say the dealer now has a "nuevo el differentialo" on order and I have a bright, white TL for a few days.

Special thanks to Robarsan, above.

 

I changed the transmission fluid on my 05 RL with 70k miles the other day. As I was slowly driving it around my neighborhood after the change, I noticed the high pitched whine arounde 30 miles per hour. When I accelerated it eventually went away. I thought that maybe this could be attributed to the new fluid, but I am thinking not. I usually drive above 30-mph when the car is cold b/c my house it off of a main road. I will keep listening before I take it to the dealer. I have a CPO RL with extended warranty to 100k miles. Does the whine get worse over time?

 

Yes. Just have the Acura dealer tech guy put it up on a lift with another guy inside, have them put it in drive while on the lift with the guy inside accelerating the engine. They'll hear the whine in no time at all.

 

Thanks PRNole47. I made an appointment for Friday morning. The service manager told me they would perform the diagnosis procedure and make a decision from there to order the propellar shaft.

 

When I had mine done, it actually attracted a crowd of service techs to the lift where my RL was being tested. Even the guy that sold me the car came to tell me he even heard it when he walked over to the lift. They did admit they were not familiar with the issue, even though it had been noted in a May 2008 Acura service bulletin, diagram and all. I guess many drivers just chalk it up to "wind" noise and drive on. BTW, the replacement part costs them $1,800. It took exactly an hour to remove/replace the offending part.

 

I hope that they give me a loaner car so I do not have to make one trip.. wait an hour for diagnosis. Wait for them to order the part, then come back and wait another hour for installation.

One member said this is not a mechanical failure issue? Is this true? Is it just an annoying sound? I can't imagine this is mechanically ok for the car. Bearings are designed to keep parts moving freely without noise. Did the dealer mention anything to you regarding the cause? I would hate for this to happen 50k miles later after the warranty expires.

 

The center bearing issue is noted on page 3 of this service news bulletin. Might want to take the dealership a copy

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/B080500.PDF

 

Thanks!

 

I brought my RL in today for a diagnosis. It was about 65 degrees so the howl could not be heard while driving the car. However, when the tech used the stethosope to listen to the bearing, he could hear the noise. The dealer ordered a new propeller shaft which will be installed on my car this Tuesday (under warranty of course!) The service manager said he has not seen this problem before. I would bet that many other early model RLs suffer from this issue, but most people ignore the noise. It is not very noticeable unless the stereo is off. Thanks acurazine posters for all of your help!

 

I live in SW Fla and the whine was constant whenever driving between 30 and 60 mph, regardless of the outside temperature. The noise was loud enough that I noticed it over my sound system. The tech guy didn't need a stethoscope, as suggested by the service bulletin. It was plenty loud up on the lift, so much so that it actually attracted curious service tech guys from nearby service bays.

Glad you were able to get it fixed.

 

Does anyone have information on making this repair on your own? I'm beyond the warranty and mechanically inclined. I'd prefer to take care of this myself. Can the bearing be rebilt? Anyone have a copy of the manual pages that you could share?

Thanks

 

you can me to the list of those affected with this problem. Had my car into Acura today and they heard the whine, no charge for the replacement.

 

Out of warranty, will the dealer fix on acura's dime because of the tsb? (mine is not doing it yet, just wondering) 05 44k

 

Good question but I DOUBT IT

 

Looks like you have to remove the muffler...if you are still interested I will post up the pages from the service manual.

 

My car was in for service today and I had the howling last winter two times so I brought along the TSB and asked them to check it out. Unfortunately it doesnt do it when the car is warm so they couldnt verify it. I'll have to wait until next winter. I noticed the thread title calls it a whistle, but mine was definitely a howl, almost like a ghost in a fake haunted house.

 

Whine was a "tuning fork" ring... and Acura just confirmed I'm not crazy!! Muhuhuhaha!! I'm not a lunatic! Those birds really were talking about me and Acura is going to replace my driveshaft support bearing under the warranty!

Hey, does that park bench look normal?

 

my rant and rave:
so i go for a test drive with the "team leader service tech" and told him he wont hear the howl speeding from light to light. then he gets irritated and starts blaming it on the tire tread noise. he then says " i have never heard or ever seen a propellar shaft bearing be defective" when i suggested it to him. i then calmy whip out the service bulletin and he shuts up about it,haha. im all pissed back at the dealer that he thinks he knows everything so i make a scene and another tech tells me his buddy had the same issue.
i get a call later and im told that they still only hear the tires after driving on the highway but they will replace the shaft bearing since there was a service bulletin on it.
i really hope that it makes the sound go away or else i would feel stupid. can i see the propeller shaft bearing if i jack up the car? i just want to make sure that they are replacing it and not BSing me.
i get the whine/howl from 25-40mph and a slightly higher pitch at 65+mph.
*keeping my fingers crossed everything works out!

 

Yes, you can see the bearing if you crawl under the car.

Here's what should boggle you more: the dealer should be thanking you. See, the service dept now gets to charge Acura USA (the warranty) full pop for an expensive service/item. Thanks to you, they just made money, not lost it.

 

got the car back and i still hear the sound. the thing is that this is the part number for an 05 RL- 40100-sja-030, my invoice shows part # 40100-sja-e01 for an 07 RL. is there any difference? i doubt there is ,but i doubt the dealer would do that to themselves and do double work. i guess i just either have to wait til winter time to see if its more noticeable or just deal with the noise
any other suggestions? i just jacked up the car ooked underneath and i can see that its a new shaft and its the cleanest part on my car!

 

a few people had issues with the rear differential, as mentioned earlier. Its worth listening for.

 

how do the techs check the rear diff? cuz they gonna want to road test it again and i know they gonna not be able to duplicate the sound as usual. thanks in advance!

 

well after taking it out on the highway,the highway sound is gone but the 40mph sound is still there. any suggestions on this?

 

The tech needs to listen to the bearing with a stethoscope. Road tests are a waste of time. Regardless of weather conditions, the stethocope test as outlined in the TSB will determine a faulty bearing.

 

I have been following this thread and I thought that I had the bad propeller shaft based on the symptoms. Like the original poster, the dealer diagnosed the rear differential. I'm only 1 week away from my warranty expriring. Thanks to everyone for the info, saved me some big bucks!

 

That's interesting. You're the 3rd one (including myself) that has had this issue, to my knowledge. What year is your RL? So far I have seen only the '06 with this issue. I'm wondering what component is failing? Anyway, you saved yourself about $4K getting this done under warranty.

 

what were your symptoms?

 

I have a 2005 RL. Whenever the car was cold, I heard a mechanical noise between 20-40 mph. After driving a couple miles it would go away. The dealer said that this was a pretty rare occurence.

Because of big ticket fixes like this, I went ahead and purchased a 50k mile extended warranty. Thanks again.

 

my drive shaft was replaced from one dealership(closer to home) and i still hear a whining sound bet 25-45 mph. the second dealer(where i bought the car) said they followed the TSB and couldnt hear anything with a stethoscope. i also put my car on a lift before i went to the 2nd dealer and couldnt hear anything myself.

could my tires be the culprit? i have the michelin pilot a/s and they have a lot of thread left on it when i bought the car.

 

I have a 2007 RL with 24,568 miles, and I just had the Propell Shat Center Support Bearing replaced.

I cannot believe that this is a commun issue, and that Acura is not doing anything about this.

I will write to Acura; this is unaceptable for a $50K car.

 

I just have my propeller shaft center support bearing replace. I have a 2007 RL with only 24,568 miles. The part replaced is part # 40100-SJA-E01.
The dealer also wrote the following:"to correct condition 3111D4 .4 - 2191A8 .9 00504
Good luck