My 06 tl started making a "fluttering" noise that gets a little faster and louder the higher the rpm gets. You can hear it at idle and when in drive its not noticable until about 2000rpm and beyond. Im assuming its a belt or pulley issue but cant see anything obvious. Anyone know what it could be? The best i can do to describe it is like when you put cardboard in the spokes of your tires on your bike when your younger but no where near as loud or annoying.

 

kind of hard to diagnosis with a vague term like fluttering. A sound clip would help. If by any chance it sounds like turkey gobble at idle, its your timing belt that needs to have a shim kit installed... which probably wont get rid of the noise, but at least mute it slightly.

 

If it sounds like a marble in a can type of fluttering or rattle it could be pinging or detonation from bad fuel. If you want to see if it is pinging use chevron techron or Gumout Regane in the fuel tank. Dump it in before you fill up and do this for 2 consecutive tanks. Get gas from a top tier gasoline station(In Mass there is only Shell I can think of). I will tell you this, I have had this "fluttering" issue with other cars and I have used Seafoam 5oz in the fuel tank and 5oz in the oil. Do this around 200 miles before an oil change and it did wonders for my fluttering. If you are mechanically inclined also use 5oz thru the PCV valve. You can get a demo at www.seafoamsales.com

 

doesnt really sound like either of those. Sounds more like a rubbing or scraping sound like if something was warped and hitting every revolution but not real hard just enough to notice it.

 

For safely, you need to visually check each tire. With the engine OFF and the car securely parked, you need to get on your knees, look and feel behind each tire. Feel all the way around each tire. Feel behind each of the tires where the tire meets the road.

You are feeling if there is a flap of rubber that is separating from the tire. If you do find this, this is extremely dangerous (tire separation). Replace that tire with your spare immediately. And, under no circumstance should you drive with that tire at any speeds higher than 35 mph.

 

Checking the tires is good for a saftey precaution but judging from what you said i dont think it's your tires cause you obvisuoly hear it at idle, i think it's a issue with your timing belt. I got the same problem! when your car is at idle pop the hood and take the plastics off and listen and if it comes on with higher rpm's trying running the a/c u'll hear it better.

 

Thanks Yonkers. Good save on your part

And on my reading comprehension.

 

haha ya i figured its timing belt but not sure how to prove that it is or fix it. How did you fix it yonkers?

 

Remove the surpintine belt, start it up & listen.
My son's 96 TL had a similar noise, I started removing drive belts, P S first, no change, A C next, no change, Alt. next, noise gone. The belt pulley for the Alt. was loose on the crankshaft pulley hub & clicking. Put 4 little welds, equally spaced, on the 2 pieces--- fixed. 70k miles ago, all ok.
New c/s pulley hub was $350---saved.

 

I didn't fix mine yet lmao, I'm bringing it to the dealer monday i just spent the day stripping all my after market parts off (still under warranty) PITA lol but i'll let you know what the dealer say's next week.

 

You need to visually inspect all the belts. Take the top timing belt cover off to inspect the timing belt. How many miles do you have on the TL?

 

i did look couldnt see anything visually wrong just heard it. Theres 42,000 miles on it