Hi All,

Just want to know weather anyone gone through this.....I only have 11000 miles on my car. When ever my car starts cold I get this whistling sound from the engine? I always drive my car windows closed ( since I am in upstate New York). So this summer I started hearing this noise. Initially, I started hearing this in narrow roads where I could hear the engine sound reflection. I initially thought it can't be my baby is too new...

So anyways, I took it to the dealer and they could recreate the problem...and they are in contact with the Honda. They are saying something wrong with some belt or something and they will have to replace some parts and it will take sometime....dropped the car this Wednesday and they say it will be like next Tuesday.

I have a funny feeling it might be a big problem or else why would they take such long time?

Do you guys I should fuss??? because this is a bran new 2006 and have only 11k miles....how could it have engine problems or even a need of replacing parts?

Please give some ideas??? I am worried.

Thanks....

 

You probably have a bad belt tensioner on the serpintine belt that drives the alternator, air conditioner, and water pump. I don't know why your dealer is dragging thier feet on repairing your car. You should ask them why it is taking so long for them to fix it. As far as parts failing, this is the reason you get a warrranty. Parts can fail at any time for any reason and nothing you buy will be 100% perfect. If you had not dropped off the car already, you could have used a spary bottle with water in it to spray the belt with water while the noise was present. If it stops making noise for 30 seconds and trhen comes back it is a belt squeal/whistle you are hearing. Never use anything but water because belt conditioners will ruin your belt and contaminate all of the pulleys. - Good luck and ask your dealer why it takes a week.

 

Those serpentine belts tend to make some weird noises in humid climates, you indicated you live in upstate NY so I figured the fall rainy season has started. The reason the dealer gave makes sense, it also may be a tensioner going (potentially a bearing). But nothing too much to worry about.

 

In addition to checking the belt, I would just bring it to the local service station and have a load test done on the alternator. It takes about a minute, and they shouldnt charge you, if they know you or buy your gas their.
Sometimes an alternator can start to go bad slowly, and what you may be hearing is a whineing noise from the alternator, trying to rejuice the system. Its probably not, but since you are going to open the hood and check the belt, do a load test.
Stay safe

 

I get that light whistle too on my '06. It comes and goes but has been gone lately. I notice it gets louder when I accererate mildly. If I hit the gas hard, it is gone.

 

Is it like a high pitch whistle noise comming from your vent when your ac is on or thru the radio? I had this problem in my 96 prelude. There like this diode in the alternator that went bad so your getting feed back in almost all the car electric systems. swap out the alternator and it fixed the problem. The best way to troubleshoot this problem is unplug the alternator while the car is running and the feedback should stop. or if its an just a squeeky belt my friend just puts a little baby powder on the belt and the squeek goes away. not sure if u want to do this, kinda like a back yeard fix for squeeky belts

 

Hi All,

Thanks for the input....called the dealer and had a long chat....they said the long wait is because of parts were ordered. It is the tensioner and tensioner pully which is making the noise.

They are going to replace those...should I be worried? dealer said they have not seen this before....So am I one of those 1:100000000 people who got a bad car?

What are my options?

Thanks,

 

I definitely wouldn't be jumping to any "bad car" conclusions... At least not yet

Your talking about mass produced mechanical items. The tensioner pulley/bearing assembly is no big deal. May be a part that's not readily available thus the longer wait.. The pulley has a bearing and that's most likely your culprit. Bearings tend to work that way - if not just right from manufacturing, they go early vs after many 1000's of miles..

Sure it would bug most of us if anything (sounding serious) went wrong with a new car etc.. Overall, think positive and let your dealer do what they do.. All should be fine by next Tuesday.

Good luck

 

The pulley tensioner is a passive part outside the engine that has nothing to do with the engine's operation other than keeping the serpentine belt tight. If it were to fail completely, some accessories would stop working until you replaced it. It is just a round roller that pushes up against the belt and has a spring inside to take up the extra slack as the belt stretches from use.

Not a big deal. I doubt the part is more than $100 even if you had to pay for it. Which you don't.

 

Acura playing dumb and saying that " its the first one they've ever seen" is nothing new. I have heard of several other members here with belt tensioner problems. It is really not a big deal. Your car is still good and will remain that way for years to come

 

All,

Thanks for all the input.....and keeping my spirit up...

thanks.

 

I Put Money On The Half Shaft Heat Sheild, I See Too Many Of Em'

 

I took my 05 in for the same problem, and they claim to have replaced the tensioner, but the same problem has resurfaced again. I am going to take it in again and hopefully get it fixed for good.

 

when exactly does the noise become appearant? 23-2600rpm? is it all the time, when you accel? during colder drive cycles before the motor gets real hot? all the time?

 

All I have to say is that the dealerships in NY are all blow jobs they hesitate and screw over 90% of all their customers

 

Assuming you are referring the heat shield over one of the front driveline pieces, I agree that this could have been a related piece of the issue if not the whole problem.

Here are some details just so people are aware of the issue *I* had and how it got fixed.

At about 6k miles, my 06 5AT starting making what I call a "typical heat shield vibration noise" (metal on metal, vibrating, high frequency, more prevalent when cold). I took it to my dealer, and the service writer put this peculiar smile on his face and said "I'm pretty sure I know what it is".

Turns out that a heat shield that covers one of the drive line shafts in the front has a bit of a "design flaw". Apparently, the proper fix is not to replace the shield, but repair the one that's on there. The heat shield has [I believe] three small mounting holes on it. These are basically a bushing with a metal cap on each side. The assembly of these allows for the shield to move slightly, even when the bolts are completely tight. However, the bushings apparently flatten out a little, and allow either the metal caps to vibrate against the body/heat shield or the bolts (or both).

The fix is to remove the heat shield, place each of the mounting bushings into a clamp (vise) and flatten them out to make them nice and tight, then reinstall. I have had ZERO recurring noise from this little baby since the fix.

 

OR, LOOSEN THE 3 BOLTS HOLDING THE HEAT SHEILD TO THE MOTOR, APPLY MOLYKOTE M-77 PASTE(ANTI-SEIZE) TO THE WASHERS/BUSHINS. SLIDE THE SHEILD AS FAR AS YOU CAN TO EITHER SIDE(I DO DRIVER SIDE) OF THE VEH THEN TIGHTEN. THIS IS THE WAY OUR DPSM(DISTRICT PARTS AND SERVICE MGR.) HAS RECOMMENDED.