Hi All, I've been following the thread for a while and thought I'd share my experience with the high pitch ringing noise. As some of you have mentioned, it is a very annoying and distracting noise once you "hone in" on it. I find it nearly impossible to drive in the truck without pumping up the volume on the audio system and even then I can still hear the noise underneath the music.
I first started hearing the noise a few days after I purchased my BE earlier this year. I mentioned it to the dealership and took it in for them to listen to, but they couldn't "hear it" but said they would look into it when I brought it in a few days later for some other things. At that time I had not localized it to coming from the speakers so I could understand why it was hard for them to hear. Later that same day I realized that the sound always started a few seconds after turning on the ignition and when the Honda logo shows up on the head unit. This led me to pull the audio system fuse to at least narrow down the sub-system and I was able to confirm that the noise was being emitted from a speaker. I checked all the drivers side speakers to determine that it was indeed coming from the front driver side speaker only (I didn't check the passenger side at this time). I called the dealership back and they thanked me for diagnosing the issue and said that I should bring it in so they can fix it.
When I took it in, they said that they can't hear anything at all coming from the speakers but they believed me and they would research it. I pointed them in the direction of the wiring harness TSB but told them that they should verify if my car's symptoms match the TSB before taking action. A few weeks later they called me and said the wiring harness is in and they want to replace it. Well the repair happened and the sound was still there AND they managed to damage quite a number of panels that still don't fit together correctly.
After I complained they asked me whether they should change the speakers next. This was a little jarring since they should be the ones diagnosing the problem and I already have a full-time job :smile:. I told them they should do whatever it takes to make the sound go away. Well I took it back to them and they changed out the front driver side door speaker but for some reason also changed out the front driver side column speaker as well (it showed no issue). I guess they wanted to make double sure the noise was gone. Of course I got the car back and the noise was still there. Luckily there was someone from the dealership who was willing to actually listen to the noise and confirmed to me that he "could hear it" and that "there is no noise coming from this (loaner) CR-V, that (Ridgeline noise) definitely sounds wrong". We checked all the speakers together and this was when I determined the sound was also coming out of the front passenger side door speaker as well.
The service department decided to contact Honda Tech Line at this point and said they would get back to me. A month passed and I decided to reach out and they said there is a new amplifier sitting with my name on it (who knows how long it was sitting there, they never bothered to contact me). So I scheduled to have it swapped out. On repair day I once again wanted to make sure someone could hear the noise prior to repair. A different service team member came over and attempted to listen and said he could hear what I was describing. I politely asked: "Could you please check and make sure this noise is gone after the amplifier change?" Well I got the truck back a few days later and they confirmed the noise was gone....but you guessed it...the noise was still there when I inspected the vehcie!!!
At this point I asked the service manager if we could go check another Ridgeline on the lot to see if it also made the noise. Not sure the exact model, I think it was an RLT-E, and it also emits the same noise out of both the front driver and front passenger door speakers. This finding, in addition to the other posts on this thread, leads me to believe this is a design flaw somewhere in the chain from the head unit to the front door speakers and probably not a manufacturing flaw on my vehicle. I need to check some more vehicles on the lot and may do so in the next few days.
If I would have known from the beginning that the dealership/Honda wasn't going to do the basic due diligence in diagnosing the issue, I would have done the speaker check on other Ridgelines myself and also much much sooner. It would have saved me a lot of time and headache. At this point the dealership and Honda (I've opened a case with them) are waiting on the Tech Line to get back to them. I'm going to wait to hear what Honda Tech Line has to say but this is honestly starting to get a little ridiculous.
In the last few days I've analyzed the noise using a spectrum analyzer app (SpectrumView). This first screenshot shows the amplitude of frequencies after the ignition has been turned on:
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and here is once the noise starts to emit:
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Note that the highest amplitude frequency is around 8200Hz - which if you'll search youtube is a very very annoying noise - this just isn't acceptable. I've also checked a few other types of cars (Lexus RDX, Acura MDX) with the spectrum analyzer app and can confirm what my ears tell me, that there are no unusual spikes in amplitude for any particular frequency when the audio system is powered on.
So this leads me to....have any of you had any success in getting this issue resolved? I'd love to hear anything positive at this point.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post...
