refinedluxury

hello all. been reading this site for years and its been lots of help with my older hondas and acuras. now that i own a 2005 RL i really need some input. bought the car used over 100k on it with a 3k mile warranty. ive been hearing a light knock or thump noise mostly when accelerating from a stop. sounds like motor mounts to me and i noticed theres a tsb for it. i took it to the dealer and they said they could not find the problem and the mounts check out fine. for the first time the other day it seemed to make the noise when i went over some hard bumps slowly. but still seems to mostly do it when accelerating from a stop. it is intermittent but you can actually feel it in the floor boards slightly when it happens. after researching many threads im coming up with either motor mounts(which dealer said are fine) or upper strut mounts. ive also read some threads about older tls that have side to side minor play in the cv axle? is this normal? and does it pertain to the 2nd gen rl? im ready to throw some motor mounts and front strut mounts on it but i thought id get some advice here before doing so since it is somewhat expensive. also had a second shop check front end and they say all looks to be ok. any suggestions or solutions are greatly appreciated. thanks

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

can you narrow it down to suspension noise or engine noise?

refinedluxury

its not engine noise. its suspension or driveline noise (axles?) when it happens you kind of feel it in the body/floor of the car. i had a passenger who also felt it. seems to be on right side. really seems to be like a motor mount noise/vibration that the tsb is about but my dealer who i dont trust says the mounts were checking out fine.

M T L T L

Good luck finding that out. I have a thump, clunk sound on my car that happens when the car goes over bumps or shallow potholes at low speeds and uneven surfaces from left to right. If I take a speed bump perfectly aligned right angle, no sound but at an angle, it will do it. I've shown to 2 shops, they can't put a finger on it. I changed sway bar bushings, still nothing. When the car the jacked up, everything checks out fine but when I drive it, its another story. I can live without the radio but can't live with a suspension noise sound and this car is hard to diagnose.

refinedluxury

M T L T L - have you ever had the motor mounts or strut mounts replaced?

M T L T L

nope but I don't think its motor mounts as it doesn't make the sound on acceleration from a stop.

05RLinOK

I have something similar happening with my 05 RL. When I go over bumps at a slow speed, it almost feels like it is coming from the right side, but almost feels like I can slightly feel it in the steering wheel. There have been plenty of posts in here for ideas on what it could be, but I just need to find the time to troubleshoot down which one of them it might be. It is more of an annoyance than a big problem right now. Hopefully I will have it fixed before it gets worse than an annoyance. Good luck with the fix.

EL19

iTrader: (4)

I have the same issue. Dealer said it was the k frame becoming misaligned and needing retightening. They performed that and it went away for about half a day. I'll get it looked at it again at some point. I'm guessing cv axle/joints.

colouny

Hi all,
I have this annoying clunk sound for about more than a year, visited all the shops around where i live, and no one can find the problem. Thow it doesnt get any worse at all, its always the same. By the way its more like on the right side. and i can feel it thru the accelerator pedal...
So anyone maybe by any chance has got this sorted?

Personally i am suspecting the shocks, or the the brake pads, well not the pads itself, but maybe pins, that hold them, or those steel plates... i dunno what else...
All other suspension parts are replaced already, except those.


And also i am looking for the left head light? anyone ?

Blues Legend

Just a thought, but maybe gooogle 'Prelude shock knock'.

The top bushes used to shrink and one could fix it by putting a couple of body washers below the nut at the top. That was a Honda TSB, IIRC!

I wonder if it's the same problem?

mitchkramez

maybe your link pins on your sway bar or bushings for the link pins? mine clunked from time to time... not anymore!

(i'm a n00b and don't really know what this means, but it's what my shop did for me and it worked perfectly)

Blues Legend

Yup - had exactly that on an EK Civic.

Drop links, Honda calls 'em.

colouny

will check them out, to see whats there, will let ya all know when done.

refinedluxury

well i just ordered complete front strut assemblies due to high mileage and 3 motor mounts. will update everyone in a couple weeks

M T L T L

<p>I changed my link on both ends and now it runs solid without any sound. Out of the 4 times I checked, only once I saw a little loose in the links. Again its very hard to diagnose problems on this car. Oh if u decide to change ur links, make sure u get nuts as they don't come with it and the old ones won't fit. I forced an old one and stripped the rings on the link but the parts guy at the dealer is an enthusiast n nice enough to replace the damaged link with another one for free and with 4 nuts this time.</p>

refinedluxury

hmmm... i think i will order end links and install those first and recheck. i kinda wish i didnt order motor mounts and struts now but i guess they can easily be resold.ill probably do the struts anyways for the mileage. ill let you guys know how it turns out. thanks

tc5280

^You need the mounts and struts anyway... The tl had that kind of noise and it was links. This car has that noise and is strut mounts in my opinion. Put some chassis ears on and the noise was def coming from the top of the strut.

colouny

Could you share the part now for the links?

M T L T L

http://www.oemacuraparts.com/oem-par.../51320-sja-013

Its part number 6. Make sure to get new nuts too as the ones one the car have locking thread that once taken off, they can't be used again.

refinedluxury

well guys heres the update..i had 2 motor mounts (front and side) front struts and stabilizer links all replaced. my mechanic found front and side motor mounts completely broken when the dealer told me they were fine. i cant believe they could miss that. all noises are completely gone now and problem is fixed. in my case it was the mounts for sure. i thank everyone here for their input. now my next question to you all is what can i say or do about my dealer seriously misdiagnosing this? i bought the car used with 3000 mile warranty. the car was state inspected by dealer. there is no way these mounts should have been allowed to pass inspection. i had it there while it was under the warranty thats when they told me they couldnt find a problem with the mounts. now that its out of warranty and the problem is fixed should they owe me any reinbursements or anything? i saved the old broken parts. this is my first time ever buying from and dealing with a warranty at the dealer. it is an acura dealership. thanks everyone for your advice.

06RL/NBP

Call Acura Customer Care and explain your situation and also tell them how much you love your car and have been a Honda Motor Corp customer for years and perhaps they will offer you some financial assistance.

nralpmet

On my 2005 with just over 200k KM, I had the following wrt noise from the front. On accelerating from a stop on a right turn there is a crunching-type noise. First my dealer replaced the left-side suspension joint was was work (saw the old part and it was clearly loose). But the noise persisted. Even went for a drive with the tech. He pulled the drive shaft apart and has identified the right drive shaft as the problem. Anyway waiting to book the service (C$900 for OEM part and C$200 for aftermarket)

refinedluxury

nralpmet - be careful of what the dealer is tearing apart and diagnosing for you. like i said my dealer seriously misdiagnosed mine saying the motor mounts were fine. after deciding to do the mounts anyways by going off the tsb from acura my mechanic found 2 completely broken mounts front and side. if you havent had yours replaced yet that could still be the problem. good luck with the repairs. by the way i just followed the parking brake cable thread from this site and fixed a rear ratlle noise i was having. thank you everyone who posted that also. this site knows much more about these cars than the people working at the dealers do. thanks again everyone for all the incredibly helpful posts.

scottsan

I've been having this for years now on my 05 RL too. I even paid an auto shop $100+ to diagnose and they said they can't figure it out. The noise goes away at times.. it's strange.