weird hard to describe noise. Especially when warming up
 

I bought a 2010 acura TL with 98k on it back in the October time frame. I drove the car a little spirited during the test drive and didn't catch the really poor transmission shifts. Now that I sit in traffic considerably more with the car the transmission is not right. I have taken it in to Acura and they said it seems ok. I have driven a lot of cars and this trans is far from ok. It may be relevant, but that is not why I am posting this.

I had the timing belt changed a couple weeks after I bought it. Ever since then I have noticed a weird sound (maybe this is just when I noticed it) especially when the car is warming up. Its a deep warble or fluttering sound. It gets louder at certain angles from the engine. You can hear it out in front of the car a lot and it seems to be slightly louder on the passenger side by the timing belt. When I had it at acura the master tech said he heard something, but wasn't really sure what it was and that it might be in need of a timing belt tensioner. I told him it had just been replaced and he said sometimes they need to break in a little and to give it some time. The noise if anything has gotten worse. I took it back to the dealership that did the timing belt and they checked the tensioner and said it was fine. They also said they really didn't hear the noise. To me this noise is supper obvious and I have had other people ask me why my car makes that noise, but yet mechanics don't seem to be able to hear it. I have tried to take a video, but in the video all you can hear is the valve noise. I have used a large screwdriver and a cupped hand to listen to different parts of the engine, but can't hear that noise from anywhere like that.


Has anyone experienced this before? Does anyone have any suggestions on what to check?

Hmm...hard to say without hearing the sound. Too bad you dont have a good mic and perhaps recording furtheraway from the car since you cannot find it up close and over the valves. How many miles?

I actually have good mics, but all my recording equipment is attached to a desktop and not a laptop. This video is the best capture of the noise I have. The valves are definitely a little loud, but the phone always exaggerates how loud they are. I heard a honda van making this same sound the other day. It's hard to describe. hopefully you can hear what I am talking about.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WjK...ew?usp=sharing

Oh. Car has almost 109k miles on it.

either timing belt or accessory belt is touching something...

honda dealership says the timing belt is fine and they don't hear the noise. To me its very obvious.

the timing belt may be fine...however, one of those belts is making a "whirring" sound...indicating there's a little rubbing going on.
you can troubleshoot by removing the serpentine belt to see if it still makes the noise.

So there is a little whirring sound, but do you hear the wobble, warble, whatever you call it? it's almost like a gobbling sound, but deeper and not like the sound I have heard on these forums related to the trans. Thanks for all the quick replies by the way.

was it an OEM waterpump that was installed? If not, some aftermarket pumps have slight clearance issues which allows the impeller to vibrate slightly and moreso when warm. Another member found that out and got a new waterpump

It was done at a Honda dealership so I assume it was. I don't know for sure, but I can't imagine they would install anything else. Something like that would make a sound that is throughout the engine though and would make that kind of sound so I will look into that.

So In looking for a video to make sure I was loosening the serpentine belt tensioner correctly I found this video In this video I hear the same fluttering noise. I am not talking about the rattle from the pulley, but the warble/flutter sound that I am talking about is there. I also was able to capture another video that was slightly better this morning. You can really hear the noise when I go under the car and then when I back out from it a little. Also note this video is on the drivers side.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u0K...ew?usp=sharing

Is this just the sound of this car? It seems to slowly be getting worse.

Wouldn't hurt to get an opinion from another dealer or see if they have vehicles on the lot you can compare to. I don't have any suggestions on this unfortunately.

I had a whirring noise but it wasn't very similar to that. Ended up being the tensioner pulley for the accessory belt. Replaced the pulley and it went away.

Also, to eliminate the possibility of the drive belt misaligning (which is a primary cause for belt noise), spray a little water on the belt and see if the noise goes away. If it does, the belt or one of the pulleys may be misaligned. Get a goodyear gatorback belt and it will solve the problem.

Dude.. you are a life saver. My 2012 has the same noise but when I bring it in to the dealership, they said it was because of the low octane gas i used.
I said I always used the 93 or higher octane for gas then they said must be the oil change that I didn't do the right interval. I was pissed but had to pay for the diagnosis fee.
Thanks for your post. I will order the pulleys and change them out.

Did you get the OEM or aftermarket?
Since i'm replacing the pulleys, I will change the belt to just to have peace of mind.
Thanks.

Auto transmission filter. Search around on here. My car was a 2013 and dealer did it....I think there was a service bulletin for it.

I think the transmission filter issue is only with the 6sp auto '12-'14.

Be aware. The bolt that mounts the pulley to the tensioner on my car is left-hand thread. You must turn opposite direction for loosening and tightening. I assume its the same for all 4G cars.

The bearings on these pulleys are a wear item and I typically change them on all my cars at about 100k miles. High quality pulley bearings are required for quiet operation. I use OEM or Aisin (usually Koyo bearings). I don't use replacement parts that have unknown bearing sources (Gates, Dayco, NAPA, etc). Those are reputable brands but I don't know the source of their bearings.

I got the Gates tensioner pulley from RockAuto. Cheaper than OEM. I'll keep an eye on it but Gates makes pretty good belt related stuff. Although ironically, their belts always seem to squeal.

Good to know. I ended up replacing the entire assembly rather than just the pulley.

is this the part?

https://www.acurapartswarehouse.com/...oner,1176431,3

Yes. That is it. I went that route because the assembly essentially replaces both the tensioner and pulley bearing. Might as well do both instead of replacing just one or the other.

Of course they said that.