FeldWill

Went to a dealer and looked at 2006 Acura TL 5-Speed AT, 90,719 miles.

Car looks good but when I opened the hood I heard slight ticking from the engine you almost need to put your ear to it. Is that normal? Could it be from dealer not putting proper gas in it and may be I can hassle him on price, also when I went for a test drive there was absolutely no gas in the tank, I only went around the block not to get stuck on the road, and during test drive error message came on TPMS system check or something like that.

Thanks for input.
William

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

Did you mistype the year?

Type-S model was only made available for 2007-2008. 2006 Type-S does not exist.

Aman

He wrote TL 5-speed, not Type-S.

The ticking sound could just be valvetrain noise. At 90k miles, it wouldn't be entirely unexpected.

Most dealers leave their cars low on gas so you don't go out on joyrides. I'm sure many of them don't put premium in cars that want them, too. I once ran out of gas while testing a Saab 93 out on my own. No business card, or any dealer info in the car. That was fun.

TPMS is something I'd ask about for sure, though.

erdoc48

TPMS light could be something as simple as 1 low tire (pressure). The tick is likely valve train related and unless loud, would be considered normal. Can you hear it from the driver's seat? If not, it's likely normal. I don't think there's any engine that's completely silent.

Jase13

Stick with 07-08. Just my

quanaman

iTrader: (4)

Get them to put some premium in the tank and take it for a proper test drive.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Tell them to go over the car, put some good fuel in it and you'll be back.

GKinColo08TL

+1, the ticking is pretty normal, there are several threads about it in here. Premium fuel will likely eliminate it. 04-06 had some auto trans issues so have that checked, plus 105K miles is the big timing belt service. that'll run you somewhere in the $500 -$1000 depending where you get it done.

ApexZen

Dealership quoted me $1,600 for timing belt/water pump/drive belt replacement in Timonium, MD. That should come off the price. That said, my '07 has been pretty solid otherwise.

NorCoTL

In cold weather, especially below 32 degrees, the TPMS alarm could mean nothing. TPMS is a pain the ass in cold weather. Double check the pressure with a hand guage and you will probably find that the pressure is fine even though the TPMS is unhappy. If the temps drop below 0 degrees fahrenheit TPMS systems can really freak out even though the tire pressure is actually just fine.

FeldWill

OK so what I gather is worst case scenario:
Timing belt-$1200
Valve adjustment- $800
TPMS sensors-$200

Best case scenario:
Good gas-$60
Air pressure- Free

So the dealer better knock off $2500 off the the price. Hopefully he does TL definitely had more balls the 2004 Audi A6 twin turbo and girlfriend was more "I want, I want" for TL.

P.S. I'm in FL so temp is no prob. And clicking is so quite that I had to put my ear on the engine to hear it otherwise I hear nothing, can somebody do the same on your well tuned car and let me know if you hear anything?

ez12a

You could also look at another TL to compare sounds.

GKinColo08TL

Man that is high, not sure where you're located but many many places will do it for half of that.


Realistically you have a year before timing belt service is due, so don't look for them to knock that off the price.


Most likely the valves don't need adjusted, like I and the other guys said, that ticking is normal for this Honda motor, but should be less with premium fuel.


Definitely they should take care of the TPMS light issue, they should be able to tell which one is the problem. Does it have after market wheels? Previous owner might have blown off the sensors. I have a friend that did that and just put a little piece of black tape over the light so he didn't see it.

FeldWill

This guy only has one TL. Could drive to Acura dealer.

1FasTL

Ticking sound you are hearing is probably the fuel injection. Most systems make a quiet ticking sound you only hear if the hood is open and the engine is idling. It's normal.

djdonte

+1 If you put your head near any new-ish engine you will hear the injectors clicking.