BluNosr2

Spent a few days on a road trip with a friend who has an 05 RL. We both noticed something: after a cold start (well, first start of the day, it was in the 80s F all week) and about 10 minutes of driving at highway speed (50mph or above), a faint "whine" noise (almost like a fan belt squeal being heard from another car a distance away) always starts being heard, that seems to be coming from the area behind the nav screen. The noise stops when you slow down to 30mph or below, and starts up again as soon as you cross 35mph. Turning the AC on or off makes no difference, and the noise is vehicle speed related but not engine rpm related: when we noticed the noise, I slipped the car into neutral and revved, no change in the noise, but pop it back into "D" and speed up and the pitch increases.

Any ideas what this is? The car has roughly 65K miles on the clock.

BDoggPrelude

Tons of threads on this subject. Search for differential whir and/or propellor shaft whine.

BluNosr2

I was thinking prop shaft whine as the sound is definitely from the front/dash area. We tried one person sitting in the back and the sound isn't audible back there at all.

oo7spy

+1 on the propeller shaft.

db22

I had the whine years ago and they changed the drive shaft etc with no solution. Eventually ended up with a new transmission because they said it was the torque convertor and it is integral to the tranny.

BluNosr2

So is the prop shaft whine more of an annoyance or a serious problem if it is left as-is? I know when mine on my 06 RL had the cold weather "howl" it was too annoying not to fix, but then it was replaced under warranty...no such luck for my friend's 05 which is long out of warranty now.

db22

Acura told me that there was no danger of failure but I hated the noise in a quiet car. My 05 was also warranty.

oo7spy

Propeller shaft is only annoying as far as we know. I do seem to remember someone else in addition to db that had to replace the tranny to get rid of a whine.

rlerman

Prop shaft or torque converter. TQ will be heard more at the bottom of a gear, usually 37-39 mph in 5th.

Rich_roll90

this whining..above 30mph but seems to increase gets louder and its not rpms racing..i jus changed the wheel bearing(actually did the whole hub assembly) and the noise was gone check that it could be that?