Hello Friends,

So as you know I recently purchased my Acura TL 2010 Tech w/ SHAWD. I have noticed a few start up( only while cold tho) it makes a noise for about 3 seconds. IT comes from the front left side of the motor and sounds like a light train horn or some sort of horn or something similar. Please tell me its something small or nothing at all if anyone knows what it is????

A new Owner

 

A train horn? I might have an idea do you have your foot on the break when starting it up?

 

Check your belts.

 

I experience the same thing... when its extremely cold out (like below 20°F) and the car hasn't started in a while. It's probably the belts.

 

Unless he has the 6MT, doesn't he have to have his foot on the break when starting it?

I too have noticed some strange start up issues, but only when it's below -10 F and the car has been sitting. When I start, it revs up to 2K RPM and stays there. Then the engine sounds rough for a while, it grumbles. When accelerating it sounds very rough, and revs very high before shifting. When it does finally shift, it takes a while to engage the gears. Meanwhile, the breaks don't work very well at first. I've never had this happen with prior cars, so I was curious if this was normal. I am also used to a manual, so maybe this is normal for an automatic?

 

same here in -23*C
other thing i get at this temperature is a griding noise when you turn either direction from the wheel wells

 

I completely forgot, I had that too. Glad it's not just me.

 

Do you have any clue which belt it could be??

 

I've had two startup noise issues on my '09 TL SH-AWD Tech, both fixed under warranty

The first sounded more like belt squeal and was as many describe here: especially prone to happen in the cold and after the car had sat for awhile. It turned out to be the bearings of the serpentine belt pulley. So, not the belt itself.

The second issue, which was just repaired (I'm picking the car up today) was also intermittent, but not nearly as dependent on temperature. I was lucky enough to catch the sound using my phone (admittedly using a voice recording app, which meant the recording quality was poor). It turned out that the starter was failing. I only have about 1200km of warranty left, so I'm really glad to have caught this before the warranty ended.

An MP3 of the second startup sound -- the failing starter -- so that the OP (and anyone else) can grab it and compare with any startup sounds they might be having. Again, apologies for the poor recording quality, but I had to record every time the car started up for days before I caught the sound, so hanging my phone out the driver's window was the solution. https://www.strongspace.com/shared/9hw6ex0pnt

 

ACM: your first issue is exactly like what I had and changed that pulley too that is part of the tensioner assembly. I threw a new belt on just in case. I believe I mentioned that in some other thread. But your second issue, for the starter to show sings of failure is a bit extreme for these engines that have pretty much bulletproof starters. Maybe your battery isn't all that good so the issue will come up again. It may be a good idea to check the battery while you are under warranty. Just my 2 cents but then again I am no expert LOL.

PS. with noises issues unless you are infront of the car and looking at the engine its almost impossible to diagnose over the internet, either with typing or audio files. Sometimes we get lucky and we all have the same issue that is easy to describe and sometimes unique situations arise and nobody can really tell for sure unless your head is right infront of that engine.