Jared Stiers

First time posting here. Currently own (bought 2 months ago) 2009 Acura TL SH-AWD 3.7 w/ Tech Package. Purchased from original owner with 40,000 miles. Car has been religiously maintained but I have ran into a problem as of recent. Outside of the faulty prop shaft (replacing next month) the car has developed this odd noise at start up. It only happens when it is rather cold out (below 40) and will go away after a minute or so. I have looked through many threads with lots of different opinions and wanted to post it here (video attached). If you have any experience with this or can point me in the right direction that would be fantastic. This site has been nothing but help and I thank all of you fellow Acura owners for being so open and transparent. Anyways, appreciate any feedback. Thanks everybody!

bryan916

If the noise goes away after the car warms up then it sounds like it POSSIBLY could be the hydraulic timing belt tensioner. It's located on the passenger side of the engine. Next time you do a cold start, pop the hood and take off all the plastic beauty covers. If you hear the noise on the passenger side close to the firewall then its most likely the tensioner. Has the car had the timing belt/water pump service done yet? They're due every 7 years or 100k miles. The sound in the video sounds like a bearing in a pulley going bad but it's hard to tell.

Jared Stiers

It goes away entirely once warm. It is located on the passenger side and I will do that tomorrow morning. The car has the original timing belt/water pump and though it is a 2009. It only has 40k miles and the original owner kept it in the garage its entire life, barely driving the vehicle. I realize I will need to change this and was assuming it would be around the 60k mark but it may in fact need one now.

Thanks for the response!

OhhNoVtec

did you ever get this problem resolved?

vucelick

Mine did the exact same thing since i got the car back in 2014/15. It is not the timing belt tensioner, i believe it to be the serpentine belt tensioner, mine also made the noise when cold with old or new factory acura tensioners, i decided to not worry about it, I sold the car a few weeks ago with 166xxx miles on it.