Hey Everyone,
This is my first post on this forum as a semi-proud TL owner so please no flaming. I have done some searching here and found some info on my issues but not exactly what I am looking for so I figured I would post and get up-to-date answers.

I purchased a super clean '05 TL w/ Navi back in July. The car was in great shape and had low miles of 38,000. I have since put 6,000 miles on the car and I love it, well I also hate it at the moment. It has developed several interior issues that bother the crap out of me. When I bought the car I feel I was led to believe CPO warranty was bumper to bumper. I have now been informed it is not. Yesterday I took the car in to have the A1 service and have all these little issues fixed and I was told they are not covered. I am extremely disappointed, not only did I pay a premium for a CPO off-the-lot Acura I paid a premium for a "luxury" car. I have driven several other vehicles close to the age and mileage of my car of various makes and models and even my gf's '06 Cobalt rides quieter then my TL and I consider that car all but garbage. I don't understand how this car went from quiet as a mouse to rattling like crazy. It honestly is a pain to drive. I have to tolerate driving this car right now. I have called Acura and they have opened a claim and instructed me to contact the service manager at my dealer but I can't see this going very far. I do love everything else about this car so I am going to list my issues and if they are something I can fix then I will do so with a little displeasure with Acura however if they are not easy I might walk away from Acura. At this point I don't really consider their cars worth the money.

#1 - Rear subwoofer rattle - this seems to be pretty common, subwoofer rattles even when off. How do I fix this?

#2 - Headliner coming apart - the headliner structure right about the drivers head is unseated. The fabric itself is fine but every few days it begins to squeak and I have to press up on the area and it re-seats the structure and goes away. Any ideas here?

#3 - Passenger seat sqeak - any time I have a passenger and they shift their weight or I take a corner or a accelerate from a stoplight the passenger seat squeaks like a rusty old bed. It is really quite unpleasant. Dealership said it was a plastic on plastic rubbing and not covered and I disagree, it sounds much more like metal on metal.

#4 Rattle inside driver's side dash - this one has made me the most angry so far. A month after I had the car I took it on a road trip for the weekend to Chicago and about an hour into the drive it developed a distinct, constant plastic on plastic rattle that I could not get to go away. It returned again after an hour on the way home. It now will only be a constant noise at highway speed after an hour but will always rattle upon hitting most pot holes. It is distinct enough to hear it over a conversation or the radio.

I really wish this car was better quality because I think I would be attached to it if the interior wasn't so poor. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Jason

 

Most cars rattle. Even Lexus owners are complaining that their IS350 or GS350's sound like a diesel engine or the rattles coming all over the dash, etc. We aren't alone is what I am trying to say.

To fix all your complaints, do a search or look in the DIY, it's all there.

 

1. some people have gotten the subwoofer rattle fixed at the stealer. run a search in the 3G forums. this was a commonly discussed topic a few years ago. personally, i would remove the rear panel, check the screws holding the sub in and cover the area with dynamat.

2. there is a tsb for this called something like "falling headliner". the dealer should fix this.

3. this doesn't sound normal. i would make the dealer diagnose and look at this.

4. is the rattle on the upper or lower dash area? if it's coming from the lower dash area it's really easy to remove the panels and see if there's a loose bundle of wires hanging and making noise. a lot of these rattle type fixes are a waste of time trying to get them fixed at the stealer.

 

Acura is certainly not alone in these problem areas, as others have pointed out; but the 3rd gen TL is known to have a lot of rattle issues; consumer reports even has a great addition to their reliability charts for each car, its a rattle/squeak column for each year

the TL for I believe 05-08 was listed as avg for squeak/rattle problems though almost every other area for the TL was above avg or much above avg, which just proves your point further

it all depends on the model you get too; the Acura TSX seems to have less rattle/squeak issues then the TL does and consumer reports chart shows that as well with the 09 and 10 TSX getting above average marks for squeaks/rattles plus it depends on the specific model you get; I had a 09 TSX as a loaner car a few weeks ago, had 5k more miles then my 08 TL had and it had not one squeak or rattle the entire time I had it

for instance, I have three rattle issues on my 08 TL, two of which I was able to fix myself with a simple cushion from Home Depot; the other, similar to #4 on your list was and still is on the upper side of the dash but on the passenger side for me; Acura has put some foam cushion behind it which helped a little bit but it still makes a lot of clicking/rattles when ever I go over even light bumps and imperfections in the road, long story short, they would have to remove the windshield and pull the entire dash out in order to get back there and put in the proper amount of foam and sealant to make the noise go away completely

on the other hand, I had a 2006 TL for three years before my 2008 and I had absolutely no problems or squeaks/rattles the entire time I had the 2006 (reason why I went and got a 08 to replace it); this 2008 has had nothing but problems since the day they delivered it to me and that is with a brand new car!

 

The rear shelf rattle I fixed myself in less than 5 minutes. Loosing up that undercover in the trunk, and while it rattled with some good bass music, I found the area on the passenger side near the trunk opening seal if I pushed up on it, it went away. So I put some padding in there between the metal and the inside cover through the trunk area and it stopped the rattles.

 

All I read is QQ.

 

Qq?

 

It appears all of my issues except for #4 have related TSB's. What is the change of Acura picking up the tab on these repairs that have TSB's if I am still under the CPO warranty? I have scheduled an appointment with Acura next Tuesday but I am afraid of walking out with a big bill of diagnosis fees.

Jason

 

Haha, good luck getting them to fix shit. It will take an act of congress and lot of your time to get it done right.

 

well everything I've taken the car in for in regards to TSBs and tracking down and foaming areas where specific rattles are has been all covered under warranty by Acura; I've even gotten a loaner TSX everytime I have had the TL in for work since I live 25 minutes from the dealer!

Now, I mind you and the service advisor told me Acura covers this stuff if done under the 4yr/48k mile basic factory warranty; I'm assuming though that if your out of warranty they won't cover anything and those extended warranties, well I don't know what to tell you, I stopped buying those 20 years ago; they are just a waste of money because its been my experience that the car dealers always worm or find their way out of honoring the extended warranties because of some BS reason; usually they try to say stuff wears out under normal wear and tear policy which the extended warranty doesn't cover

usually, the bottom line is, if your out of the basic factory/manufacture warranty then your pretty much screwed!

 

best thing you can do is shop around a name drop: "Well Acura of ___ said they won't fix it because...". Sometimes you catch the right service tech on the right day and they treat you like family.

I've even had luck going back to my dealer about a repeat issue and acting like I never mentioned it before. It's all about who you talk to behind the service desk.

 

Well I guess I will give it a try. I am just out of the original manufacture's warranty however I am still within the CPO warranty. At this point I don't think I will purchase an extended warranty however it is early.

 

CPO will cover the rattles as I had some fixed and a couple more will be getting fixed soon.

 

Good to know. Thanks.

 

it always helps to go into the service dept armed and informed. print out the TSB's relating to the rattles, specifically the door molding fix and rear deck fix and tell them this is what you want. You get much better results when they know you've done your research and they can't jack you around.

 

I went in with the tsb's and they didn't fix anything because they claimed they could not reproduce the problems when they drove it.

 

Its funny, whenever I read about a rattle in our car I start haring it in my TL. jjejej . anyways, all cars have rattles. some worse than others but they all get them at one point or another. Thanks to Acurazine you can find them and fix em on your own if you do yoru research.

peace,

Rolan

 

Listen to what rolan has to say. When I picked up my TL a couple of years ago, my TL had a horrific rattle/buzzing that started at my drivers side tweeter and ran all the way up my A-pillar. After researching similar issues here on this forum, I was able to find the remedy from a fellow member with the same exact problem. A few pieces of carboard (and an old sock) later, I am happy to report my TL is rattle free.
Dealers will not fix them as they cannot replicate them, and do not have the resources you have here to remedy them.
Good luck!

JJ

 

Well I took the car in last week and authorized a hefty diagnostics fee and Acura fixed everything. They said all my concerns applied to the TSB's and they fixed everything freer of charge. Honestly I was ecstatic and the car was so nice. this morning (a week later) I heard a bit of the headliner squeak again. Has anyone had better luck fixingthis issue then the tsb? Thanks.

 

i hate rattles as much as the next person but i have been very impressed with Honda in that department. No problems here. If you take a closer look at these rattles, you might be able to fix it yourself. They all sound common except 4. tisk tisk stealership