My transmission developed this problem about two weeks ago. The car is currently at the dealer and they are looking into the issue... but I wanted to get your guys opinion.

There is a noticeable click upon gear engagement from P-R P-D R-D, and every upshift/downshift. I can modulate this noise, and replicate it by downshifting with the tiptronic at any speed. Say for instance I am cruising at 50Mph and I switch over to the tiptronic, and down shift to 4th, you will hear this "click". I can downshift to 3, and 2nd and you will hear the same noise. Upon shifting back up to 3rd, 4th, and finally 5th the click can be heard again.

The noise is audible with the windows down. It is harder to hear with the windows up given the amount of sound deadening installed within my car. The click sounds as if it is originating from the driverside front wheel area.

Any ideas?

 

I Just turned in a 2006 Accord V6, and my wife has a 2004 MDX, I just bought a 2006 TL all with auto. They all do this. I only noticed it when backing out of my driveway then shifting into drive while coasting a little forward.

 

^ +1 that's what mine does too

 

motor mounts tranny mounts....

 

MDXin: This is a new noise -- and is different then the sound usually heard from gear engagement. The fact that I can reproduce it whenever I want, as opposed to the normal reverse, drive scenarios tells me this could be something else....

 

if u hear it when engaging gears from a stopped position it should be the mounts if its not it may b worse. im thinkin mounts.

 

Yeah, not only is it heard from upon gear engagement when stopped, but also when at speed... upshifting and downshifting into any gear at any speed.

 

I got a call from the dealer. Apparently they were unable to replicate the sound. So I ended up driving up there and spent over 1.5 hours there, an hour of which in the car with the technician, 30 minutes with me driving, 30 minutes with him driving. I was immediately able to replicate the noise. Upon upshift, and downshift, it seems to do it more when there is no load on the motor. Transmission tech was also able to reproduce the sound as well.

It is definitely drivetrain related, but at this point until he can spend some more time with the car it sits parked. (Right next to NFR NSX )

Service manager drove it as well, and also verified the same issue... work/troubleshooting resumes mid next week. Looks like I'll be in a loaner again for 2+ weeks....

 

Little update...

Cause has still not been found. Entire front end has been greased up, upper ball joints removed, and replaced, caliper, rotor, hub, axle spindles all removed and checked -- all are fine. Bushings checked fine.. list goes on -- basically all the troubleshooting done so far has been ineffective in fixing this issue. Multiple tech's have heard / duplicated / helped troubleshoot this according to the service writer, and the service manager has been involved since last week.


Question is... at what point do I tell them to stop scratching their heads and troubleshooting an issue they obviously can't fix, and take my service to another dealer???

Mind you, to this point, my dealer has been fantastic. I get parts over the counter just above cost. When my car is in for service I get to request a specific loaner. Service writers, salesman, and my overall experience with the dealer has been top notch -- really couldn't ask for more.

I'm just at a point where I'm very frustrated. It seems every 4-6 months I have bring my car back for some sort of issue, no matter how big or small and I'm in a loaner for 2 sometimes 3 weeks. Now don't get me wrong... I don't mind the loaner service, and I love that I'm not racking miles up on my TL (I drive at least 1000 miles a week, most weeks more)... just the inconvenience is really starting to get to me...

Perhaps I'm sweating the small stuff too much.

Off my soap box...

 

lol yea let them scratch their heads n replace everything....enjoy ur free ride.... to some degree. in the mean time think of when u get ur car the bearings and all moving points should be new if not all lubed up and the car should be running even better.

 

Oh I'm enjoying the loaner. I took possession of it at 118xx miles and I'm over 132xx so far. Should be another 150-200 today... possibly a trip out to NJ this weekend... time permitting.

I came into the dealer again today and spoke with Bob, the service manager who started questioning the Koni's and where I had them installed, how long have they been installed etc etc... I attempted to explain the adjustable perches, and dampening ability of the shock so that he could understand that ride height, and characteristics were very similar to the a-spec.... he just couldn't grasp the concept.

I have been told the next plan is to sit 3 or 4 techs down and get each technicians opinion on this issue, as well as possible troubleshooting points.

I then questioned at what point do we drop the sub frame, and start looking at the internal components of the torque converter / transmission... and they had no response for that. Since they are pretty positive that this is not a transmission related issue...

I think a call to Acura Care by Monday might be warranted if we are still at a stand still. Sitting around with scratching heads, and replacing / troubleshooting issues with no logic makes no sense to me. And to think... I was told by the service manager, and service writer that there is no logical way to pursuit this issue... they just have to go step by step through each component... but, you'd think at 6-8 hours into a job you'd at least be have some sort of an idea...

 

Issue resolved:

Picked the car up. Driverside axle replaced under warranty.

Only downside, they washed my car even after I had "Please do not wash" on the inside and written on the work order.

Looks like I'll be spending 4-6 hours fixing swirls and scratches...

 

damn that sucks man. at least it got fixed yes?

 

Yes it's fixed!

Note: Repair bill sent to corporate for warranty claim, thus I did not end up spending a dime out of my own pocket.

 

the reason the dude probably asked about who installed the konis is because if the springs werent set correctly and kinda forced into place (even by a few degrees) when installed back on the car the axle woulda broke due to that...ive had it happen....actually ive had worse things happen due to that.

 

wait...so u are lowered on konis and they replaced ur axle free of charge??

 

tell them to pick up the phone and to call acura tech line like they should be doing.

 

I can't believe that it took these "technicians" weeks to diagnose a broken axle. The second I read your first post I had no doubt in my mind that that's what it was. I wish I would've purchased my tl sooner and registered sooner, I probably would have saved you a headache. Well, I'm sure you enjoyed the loaner while you had it, but I know what it feels like to be without your own car for a while. I just can't believe how dumb those technicians are. I'm no genius, but I've been through my share of broken shit to be able to diagnose easy things like that.

 

Yes.

 

Thing is... I was told they removed the rotor, hub, and whole half shaft assembly gave it a lookover... greased it up, and everything was fine... put it all back together and proceed troubleshooting for 4 more hours till they had a "tech meeting" and they decided to just order a new axle and try it out.

And regarding the Koni's... I'm not slammed by all means. I'm actually 1 perch up from the middle, and I'm running the nuespeed sport springs.

 

Ignore the poor camera phone quality... color is wayy off balance. But here are some pictures showing my front and rear wheel gap.