Line7

Ive never experienced any sort of sound you are describing that ended up being a transmission/suspension/engine problem. Although its tough to describe a noise in writing, and if you are positive its not your heatshield or the cat, then it might just be an exhaust leak. Is it really loud, or do you just hear it when you are driving next to a wall or another car? Does it sound like marbles in a tin can?

An exhaust leak is really easy to pinpoint. Put in on a lift and you could actually see exhaust coming out of the leak, or put your hand next to it and feel it, or put a mirror to it and see if it fogs up. To diagnose a bad cat, just hit it with a wrench and you'll hear that the insides of the cat are broken and sounds like marbles in a tin can, same with heatshield.

You really need to put it on a lift and really check shit out under there. Good luck.

mdb20

When I drive it on the highway at higway speeds, its much more pronounced and louder when I downshift to 3rd gear. 4th gear is a little quieter and 5th gear its the most quiet but I can still hear it. It seems to get much louder when the rpm's rise and much more noticeable when I'm at 1/2 to full throttle as well. Not sure about the marbles in a can sound though. It's more of a metallic buzzing type of sound that seems like its coming from under the hood right in front of the firewall.

joe_kewl81

the only thing i can think of is the master cylinder is right there. A vacuum leak would certainly have a unique noise, there is a small plastic valve that goes to a hose on the intake for vac. maybe replace that valve?

mdb20

So I took the Teg to the local Acura dealer a few weeks ago to see what they could stir up on the car. I drove the car with the technician in the vehicle and he was able to hear the noise that I was talking about. I left the car with them for the day and they weren't totally sure where the noise was coming from. They advised me that the noise wasn't mechanical and they believed it to be coming from the dash. They told me it would require 8 hours of labor to take apart the dash and find the problem. I told them to pretty much f*ck off with that recommendation. Especially, when I really felt this was am "educated guess" at best. Long story short, as of yesterday, the car isn't making the same noise anymore. It's been pretty cold here in KS lately and now the car is making a noise similar to when the car is in reverse. It sounds like a remote control car when driving when the engine is getting warm. When you first start the car, it makes a god awful noise that seems to be coming from the front of the engine. When driving, it makes the noise under the same scenarios as before under load, but the noise is much different now. It's very puzzling. It almost sounds like its a noisy alternator, but the noise seems like it's coming from the front of the engine and the alternator is closer to the firewall than the front. Once the engine warms up completely, the noise seems to disappear all together. Any ideas or similar issues?

markyoung

I agree with you. I had the same problem with my honda parts and to may surprise as i checked the mounts the noise was coming from there.

Khazzy

The rattling nose the mechanic at the dealer would be talking about is the plastic that protects the speedometers. I have been trying to fix mine as when i drive and only during certain RPMs it tends to rattle making a god aweful noise. Just try this, I know it probably is not what you are dealing with, but push the plastic towards the speedometers, basically push on it and see if it goes away. I thought it was coming from the engine bay as well but that quickly opened my eyes. As for sounding like an RC car in reverse...every honda i have owned sounds like that in reverse.