Takehold66

This is from the TQI that is to be performed prior to car delivery. I checked and these are NOT installed in my car. Do you think it matters and did these get installed in your car? They should be just behind the front wheels and just in front of the rear wheels in oval slots about 1" wide and 1 1/2" long.

"Four underbody plugs are stored in the license plate holder bag in the trunk. Install the plugs in the holes as shown.

• •
Some vehicles will come with two underbody plugs marked “FR.” Install these plugs in the front underbody holes.
If the plugs are difficult to insert into the front plug holes, lubricate the plugs with a mild solution of dish soap and water.


• The underbody plugs are part of the noise-reduction package. They play a significant role in reducing road noise."

Just wondering. Got this info from this site in the sticky area. Thanks.

Kingmeow

Damn! Just checked and NOT of mine too. Can you point me to a more official looking doc so I can print it out and take it to my dealer. Printing out this thread probably won't convince him.

BTW, I'm curious about the statement "Some vehicles will come with two underbody plugs marked FR." "Some"? What do the others come with? None?

Takehold66

Found it in the Sticky TL Garage here on this site. It is on pages 5-6 of this link -http://www.in.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/SB/B08-042.pdf

Kingmeow

Awesome! Thanks! Guess where I'm going this afternoon??? I'm going to print the PDF and take it with me. They didn't give me back the license plate hole covers (searched all over the car).

But, the car came from MD (port of entry and dealer) and I bought in NJ. So which one is the idiot????

2011TL

My plugs are installed. Bought it at Pohanka Acura, Chantilly, VA

Kingmeow

Well, went to my dealer and they said they will order a set but it took them almost 1/2 hour on the microfiche to locate the part number. It's not every day that some one comes in looking to replace lost underbody plugs.

They were nice. I didn't have to argue or show them the Service Bulletin even though I had it in hand ready for a battle. My car came from another dealer in Montegomeryville, PA so my dealer said it looks like they didn't do the TQI properly. Now I wonder what else they didn't do so I checked the zone setting on the compass. Alabama??? WTF?!!!!!

Does anyone know about setting the CKP-Pattern and Idle Learn Procedures in that Service Bulletin? What if the idiot dealer in PA didn't do any of this? Would the car operate? Should I redo these just to be safe?

nyyanks81

Mine did not come installed. I ended up buying them by myself to save me time and gas visiting the dealer. The plugs are inexpensive (under $5 for all 4 plugs).. Just be careful if you do buy them yourselves, the front plugs which are labeled "FR" are a larger size than the rear plugs (the 2009 parts catalog shows wrong part number for the front plugs. The 2010 parts catalog is correct). I still have an extra 2 rear plugs laying around because of the error in the parts catalog.

Takehold66

I was thinking of going to the dealer and asking for them. I figure if they are not installing these when they prep the cars they should have dozens of them somewhere. It seems that they really do serve a purpose and should be installed on every car. I wonder why they would skip this simple step. Maybe they figured no one would ever even know. My car came from Island Acura in Wantagh. Anyone else buy from that dealer? Are your plugs installed?

Kingmeow

Oh no! My dealer ordered it from the 2009 parts catalog (I think) so I don't know if they will get the right ones. Ugh! Do you happen to have the correct part number(s) so I can point it out to him if the wrong ones come in?

Wouldn't they come in a set of 4 to avoid this problem? Just wondering.

Also, I assumed you can order these from any dealer?

Kingmeow

Exactly! My dealer said that the dealerships charge back Acura for doing the TQI - "Total Quality Inspection" - basically prepping the car. So if they cut corners, they make more money by saving time.

Was your car destined for the dealer where you bought it from? If that's the case, there's no excuse and they didn't hold up their end of the TQI. In my case it was a swapped car so one dealer (mine) can easily blame it on the original dealer though you can't prove was missed it. In my opinion, my dealer should have inpected the car before giving it to me as it's their reputation is at stake. Supposedly they assumed and you know what that gets you!

As for having dozens of these lying around, my dealer said that they install them on every car they get so they don't have any spares to give else they have to "steal" it from another car and they weren't going to do that.

nyyanks81

You can order parts from any dealer. I ordered mine from curryacuraparts.com.

Here are the correct part #'s:
Front: 90852-TK4-A00
Rear: 90851-TK4-A00

Kingmeow

Thanks! Now let's see what turns up at the dealer next week. Since it's not a critical part I can have patience.

dtc5

So that is what these things are for!

when I got the car 3 months ago I found these plugs sitting in the trunk! Never did find out what these are for...stupid dealer...

Add: It looks like all the post are from poeple in the NY/NJ area? I got mine at Open Road Acura in East Brunswick, NJ. I'm wondering the dealer in the area has a problem with the TQI...

PetesTL

I don't notice any difference in road noise with or without the plugs.

ll_22

Mine came installed, did you pull them back out to compare RE: the road noise? Wonder why they were shipped without them on?

Kingmeow

Were they just in the trunk rolling around or somewhere specific like in the tool section?

Kingmeow

My wild ass guess is that those holes are used in securing the car during transportation. And the holes need to be plugged so the tube doesn't resonate and add to the noise. Sort of like tapping on an open tube vs. closed end tube. The open tube will sound louder.

Kingmeow

Although mine dealer is in NJ, the car came from a PA dealer and port of entry was Baltimore. Given the initial miles on the car it looked like it was driving to the dealer (265 miles). I was concerned about that but it was either that or no car. It was the second to the last AWD model they have w/o Tech.

Takehold66

I agree. I just ordered mine yesterday from Curry Acura using the part #'s provided by nyyanks81. Thanks for the info. I thoroughly checked the trunk and everywhere else but they are not in my car. It is worth a look though. Did anyone take them out and compare the noise level and then replace them and check again? Either way they should have been there and belong there so we might as well get them one way or another.

PetesTL

Yeah, I took them back out to experiment and didn't notice any difference in road noise at all.

Kingmeow

I'm assuming you don't need to jack the car up to install them? Just crawl under and push them in?

Takehold66

yes. just slide under and pop them in.

dtc5

When I first bought the car they were just laying in the trunk. Not in the tire tool section or the spare tire area. I had no clue what they were for at the time and after a while I actually forgotten about them.

I happen to have my car in for a service today so I also told the tech to install them in. I didn’t drive on highway speed yet and only took local roads to work today and I kind of think it does make the car quieter. Maybe it just feels that way because I now had them installed. It doesn't hurt the car so why not have them installed

My car had 9 miles when I first gotin it. I saw them peel off the protective sheets off the car. They had a lot of FWD w/ tech so thank god I didn't have to wait for a transfer from another dealer. But it was the only royal blue pearl left.

scv76_

someone take some actual noise level measurements

Takehold66

just got mine in from Curry Acura for less than $5 for all 4. Took about 2 minutes to install them. Don't know if I will hear a difference but I feel better that they are installed like they were supposed to be.

nyyanks81

Same here. Just gives that warm and fuzzy feeling.

Kingmeow

Ugh! As expected and warned about above, the dealer ordered the parts according to the microfiche and the wrong parts showed up. When I went last week I didn't have the correct part numbers above. So this time I gave them the right numbers (thanks, nyyanks81).

Another week of wait. And, get this, they said that when they come in they can't give them to me to install as they will need to install it as it's a warranty "repair". They have to write up the work order so they can charge back Acura. So a 10 mins. job that I can do myself will most likely turn into an hour job. Friggin' unreal!

BTW, there was a white TL-AWD w/Tech in the showroom and it too came from another dealer (from Syracuse, NY, mine came from PA). For grins I checked below and yup, all 4 plugs were installed.

Acura is going to call back in a few minutes (I was out) and do the initial survey with me. Guess what I'm going to mention????

Takehold66

That's too bad. I know it is too late now but ordering myself from CurryAcuraparts.com was the way to go. Free fedex shipping and I got them in 2 days and took 2 minutes to install. Never even told my dealer that they were not installed. Figured it was easier to pay the $4.81 and do it myself. I may mention it when I am in for my first oil change, but that won't be for at least 8 months since my car is 2 months old and I only drive 7500 per year.

Kingmeow

I may go that route depending on how much Ramsey Acura jerks me around when the parts show up. I haven't heard too many positives about their service departmant though.

NYPete

I did it the easy way. I went to the service department and asked about it, they wanted to give me an appointment to bring the car in. I didn't feel like laying the car up for this minor problem. So, then I went down to my dealers "prep" department located in a different location and the guy had two handfuls of the plugs. I didn't bother asking why they had them, but took four and took a couple of minutes to put them in (it's easier if you spray them with a little soap and water). BTW, The plugs labeled "FR" will also fit in the back.

NYPete

Kingmeow

Devious....I like it!

Kingmeow

Well, finally the right parts came in today and I was able to schedule a same day appointment. Took about 30 mins. so it wasn't too bad.

At least I get a free car wash from them.

pimpin-tl

Anyone have new pics of these so I know what to look for? First post no longer works.

VelfarreClubber

Click this https://acurazine.com/forums/4g-tl-2009-2014-123/4g-tl-technical-service-bulletins-tsbs-701767/ and follow the instructions, then scroll down to the bottom of 1st post and click on TSB 11-005: 2012 TL TQI

SeismicGuy

When I picked up my car I found a plastic bag with the plugs in the glove compartment. It took a while to figure out what these were for (found the answer here on the forum) and then just put them in myself (took a minute or so). Frankly, I could not tell any difference in road noise with or without the plugs.

pimpin-tl

Says I am not authorized to view that TSB.