Honda OHC valvetrains are ticky - always have been. You can tinker with the valve lash and quiet it down temporarily, but it will just come back. It's a resistance engine; nature of the beast.

The sound I hear occasionally is more of a growl from an exhaust rattle or a drivetrain groan - always under 3000 RPM, and at low throttle under slow acceleration. I'd almost attribute it to a heat shield type noise vibrating with something else, but it's deeper - definitely rotational related.

 

You are the second person to mention exhaust as possible area where this noise is coming from. (I think the other person is on the MDX forum.)

I have also thought that it might be exhaust related as I can actually hear it better when I turn my head so that my ear is turned to the back. It sounds as though it is coming from the exhaust area and my just be one point that makes a funny noise. (Other wise the exhaust sounds great. It growls just right under acceleration but is quite at steady speed.)I sure don't think there is anything wrong with the car it runs so good and gets better all the time. It is really fun to drive.

I am writing this off as one of those quirks that come with high performance cars and learning to live with it.

 

Did the knocking come back adding the lubro moly?

 

Acura is replacing the engine on my 2011 TL. Acura rep and dealer both agree that the knock I have is abnormal and a characteristic of a defective engine. Acura also stands by an extended 8 year 120,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty along with the new engine.

I met with these folks today and I must say I was impressed with how serious they took my issue. There was no haggling or fighting over anything and they made getting my ride right a top priority. The service manager told me that he was going to personally take my car home with him after they do the work just to make sure its right.

This is my third Acura and my husband has an MDX...I'd say we qualify as loyal customers! I doubt other car companies would go the extra mile or even care if the consumer had faith in the product anymore.

I considered the buy out for another 2011 TL but they only had odd ball colors all with taupe interior. After that last dealer incentive to make room for the 2012's there are hardly any left in my area to choose from. Honestly after seeing my ride today at the shop, I fell in love with it all over again...even with the messed up engine.

It sucks to have to go through all this with a brand new car, but I'm happy they didnt blow me off.

 

I wish some of these NY dealerships were as good as yours. I hate when they say "Corp says that's how it is."

 

sorry for the delay, but i did take my car in for service and acura rep called me and told me this was a normal noise. after telling him to take the car to a quiet area and listen he called me back and asked me to leave the car with the dealership so they can look into it. well they kept my car for two weeks and told me they hear the noise but they cant figure out where it is coming from(i think their making excuses)and every thing checks out so they are not doing a thing about it. had an argument with service manager because when i picked up my car the repair order stated NO PROBLEMS FOUND. a play on words, they hear the problem but cant find it! what were they doing for two weeks if they say no problem found?

 

hi i have a 2010 tl with 5000 mi. with the tapping noise since new(purchased car oct. 2010). dealer had car for two weeks and agreed the noise was way to loud but they say they cant find the problem and i have to live with it. can you send me some info? you seem to have a dealership that knows how to keep a customer. thanks in advance

 

Mine seems to be doing the same thing. 2000 TL with 58K. Honda Mechanics say it is fine. Internet and corner garages say it dont sound right. Who knows? I say drive it! Good Luck.

 

I think there's more than one issue posted in this thread. I've owned 5 Acura's and unlike the previous 4, I also have a "pinging" under "heavy load". I don't really mean heavy, it's most noticeable when shifting into second with low RPMs. I agree with Edward'TLS, this is not normal and in the long run, harmful to the engine. I took the car to 2 dealers, neither one acknowledged the problem. One of the service reps even went so far as to tell me that my car didn't have a timing chain so the car can't be making this kind of noise. Switching to 94 octane fuel practically eliminates the problem but I'm reminded that I have a sub-standard car every time I gas up and of course it also costs more...

The problem is not infrequent, check the 3G TL forum of this site.

As for what I think is a different issue, I must say, if I had a non-diesel car that sounded like one, I would be very disappointed.

 

Did the knocking come back after adding the additive, and if so how long after adding?

 

How long did the additive last?

 

I heard a slight pinging in drive thrus, switched from Sunoco to shell vpower , problem solved, most noise I hear is from injectors, I can't complain though, I had my motor replaced at 9k miles for a spun bearing .

 

Was there ever a solution found on this thread? Does the lubro moly MOS2 really eliminate the noise? And is it safe to use on TL SH-AWD's high compression 3.7L engine?

 

Guess I'll find out the answer to this question with my car. Just added a bottle today. I'm on vacation all week so I'm going to put some miles on the car and see. I put about 10 miles on it today after adding the product and noticed a difference right away. The sound is almost completely gone.

 

Please keep us posted! You had same ticking noise when stopped in Drive or in Reverse?

 

I'll explain exactly what my car was doing so the rest of you can see if your cars are doing the same. When I first start my car up there is no ticking sound at all for about 45 seconds to a minute. Then I start to hear what sounded like a slight valve tap. I have NEVER heard anything that sounded like bearing noise. I can hear the sound from idle to about 2300 rpm then it goes away. I did notice that after about an hour of driving one day that it was quiet. I've now switched to Mobil 1 and added the Lubro Moly treatment and noticed it right away that the engine was significantly quieter. I will keep everyone posted on my experiences with this product and if the sound ever comes back. I plan to use it at every oil change. I have the budget for oil changes so I could care less what that stupid oil life monitor says. I usually change the oil every 3 months.

 

I have an appointment at the dealer on the 28th of this month for a valve adjustment. The Lobro Moly worked and I noticed a difference but I find it hard to believe that some stuff in a bottle is a real fix for this. They are going to do the 10-027 speaker TSB while the car is there too since my vin number qualifies for the TSB. I'll keep you all posted.

 

They're giving you a valve adjustment for free?? My dealership offered to do it for $500

 

They are doing the valve adjustment for $240 plus gaskets, so I should be under $300 for the whole deal. Getting it done where I used to work.

 

Isn't the TL V6 engine guaranteed by the factory to be adjustment free for 100K miles ?

 

Thats what I've heard, but apparently not. I'm still going to take it in and get the valves adjusted though. What also gets me is that there are people on this site including myself that have made the trip to the dealer for the tick, tick sound and many of us are being told that this is normal by service advisors and Managers without anything in writing from Acura. They, (Acura) needs to stand behind there products a little bit better. Remember all the tranny issues with the 99-2003 Cl's and Tl's, and the so-called fix was a stupid Jet kit which made the problem worse on some of the cars. I worked at an Acura dealership from 2006- 2008, and I can't tell you how many of those trannys were replaced.

 

^

Over 50K now on the TL, 30K more than my last report on this thread (2 years ago), engine still makes the same noises and runs like a champ...THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR CAR.

 

I had the 2002 TL-S before, and the crappy tranny was simply a badly designed one. Inadequate oil passageways inside the tranny block was preventing sufficient lubrication and heat removal inside the gears, especially during some downshift scenarios. As a result, the 3rd gear clutch pack started to fall apart after being cooked, and the resulting debris clotted up the oil filter, thereby making the lack-of-oil situation even worse.

Some 2G TL members had replaced the dead tranny multiple times.

My tranny had also been replaced once. After all factory tranny extended warranties had expired, and the replaced tranny was starting to show the tell-tale signs of yet another failure, I traded it in right away.

No way in hell was I gonna fork out $5K for a tranny replacement job, when the car was only worth a bit more than the repair cost at that time.

 

The first Acura I ever owned was a 2001 3.2 CL type S that I bought certified back in 2006 and I went through the same crap you went through with your car. The replacement trans in mine was showing signs of failure as well less than 4 months later. The trans design was bad enough and their fix actually made it worse. Then I got the 04 TL which was the most reliable of the three acuras I've owned. Had it for over 5 years. Back to the tapping sound in the current car, I know there are other posters that have learned to live with the tapping sound however I have let people that are master techs with 30+ years of experience listen to this engine and they all agree the tapping sound is not a normal sound for this or any engine. Noisy valve trains in Honda engine, yes, but tapping no. As far as I know, Acura hasn't release any data stating that the sound is normal so my guess is enough people haven't complained about it yet.

 

I had another idea... could it possibly be involved with the purge control solenoid valve? Its a solenoid thats mounted near the intake... and operates at idle to inject fuel vapor from the roof of the fuel tank to the intake for emissions purposes. Perhaps when the solenoid is active at idle, its open/close cycling operation is reverberating through a hard connection to a canister mounted somewhere below.. near the fire wall.

 

I suppose at this point that anything is possible. The Shop Foreman will be working on my car so I will see if they can check that out, also going to have them inspect the belt tensioner for the serpentine belt since the tap sound on my engine seems is near the front ( Pulley side) of the engine.

 

Did you own a BMW before this?

Ya, be sure to keep us updated so we know what was wrong with your car...

 

Eh-um, any updates...Dave?

 

I'm night dropping the car at the dealership the 28th and it is getting looked at on the 29th.

 

Update: I dropped my car off at the dealer on May 28th, Was called on the 29th and told that the valve adjustment was out of spec. I had them adjust the valves and now my car is tick free and I am very happy. The folks I dealt with in the service department are my former coworkers and were just as shocked that this type of service was needed on an engine with only 55,000 miles. The valve train in the 3.2 liter in my 04 TL was nice and quiet even when I had the timing belt done at 90,000 miles they weren't making any noise. Guess the 3.7 liter engine will just need more maintenance or the owners can just deal with the ticking. I'm just glad its finally gone in my car.

 

Fixed.

What are you doing to your car?

 

Bought my car pre-owned and have only put about 2500 miles on it. My question is, what did the previous owner do to it. This car is quick for what it is, but my days of street racing are long gone.

 

How much did it cost?

 

I was lucky and they got it covered under warranty for me. Normally, the job pays 4 hours labor, plus gaskets if you choose to replace them.

 

Hi Dave_W, isn't the valve adjustment covered by a 5 year major components warranty?

 

Hi everyone. How are your "disiel" engines holding up? I also have the 3.7 which solids like a semi at idle.

 

You folks should be aware that some valve train ticking noise is normal and desireable. You need a bit of experience to know what's normal and what's not.
The valve adjustment can be done to eliminate almost all the ticking noise (if it is really from the valve train) but you do not want to do that.
If you eliminate the "valve lash" and make the engine nice and quiet, you are very likely going to cause burnt valves which is a much more serious issue.
The valves need to seat against the heads every time they close and this promotes cooling of the valves via heat transfer to the heads. It is this seating that cause the noise.
You have to strike a balance when adjusting valve lash - not too tight (too quiet) and not too loose (too noisy). You also might have some noise from the chains that operate the cams, but that would not be affected by an adjustment.

 

I think that when this thread started discussing engine noise people were referring to "piston slap".
It seems that the 3.7L engine introduced with the fancy cylinder wall coating in 2012 (?) was prone to loose pistons and rings and subsequent excess oil consumption.
That is entirely different than problems related to valve train noise or other noises from sensors or relays.
Although I dislike car dealerships as much as the next guy, you have to cut them a bit of slack on engine noises.
These issues are very difficult to pin down and your best bet is to work with the best technician you can find.
Service advisors as a general rule have no idea how an engine works and most of them could not spell cat if you spotted them the c and the a.

 

I think I have both piston slap and valve train noise on 08 MDX with 68k miles. Its been sickening that an Acura would have this noise with such low mileage. Question is how long will the engine live? My 99 Infiniti QX4 has 195,000 miles with slight lifter noise, that's all. I've seen the MDX for sale with 150K + miles, but not sure if they had all the same noises.

Also, someone mentioned a claim of a maintenance free engine to 105K miles. Says it right on the original window sticker. thinking I may show this to Acura customer care when I ask for assistance paying for valves.

 

So Iv had my 2010 tl no power loss no issues with oil consumption replaced oil not too long ago with mobile one 5w20 less than 1,000 miles. Thinking would fix the problem just wanting to know Is this a simple fix I don't remember this sound when I first bought it at 60,000 miles I'm at 70-80,000 right now. 3.7l is a pretty nice sounding engine also have an aFe takeda cold air intake maybe someone can shed some light on this problem not sure if maybe timing belt needs replacement or just valve adjustments