Tailgate creaking noise and engine judder - Honda has no clue

[JamXRS]

Hi everyone, new member here. I have been following this forum for a while but didn't get around to register until now, as I'm after some advice! 

I have owned an Mk4, 2020 EX model since Feb, bought as Honda Approved from Vertu. It has 2 strange issues which I have not found any mentions in this forum:

- A weird shaking / juddering of the engine when first starting it in the morning, or after being parked for hours. It shakes the whole car for a good 30-40 secs when first starting, but disappears after driving off, and later the engine is pretty much unnoticeable. No lights in dashboard or any metallic rattles when this happens (I know there was a thread about a violent shaking with metallig rattling, that's not the case here). It has been checked twice by my local Honda dealer and they said they have no idea what the issue is, and they're contacting Honda about it.
- A creaking noise from the boot lock / latch mechanism when going over bumps, or simply pushing the tailgate up and down manually, from behind the car will trigger it. Very annoying while driving, again checked twice by Honda, first time they said it was the parcel shelf and it was fixed (obviously not), 2nd time they said it some spring in the locking mechanism needed oiling, and it's now fixed. Guess what, it is NOT fixed 

Anyone else has had any of these issues? I am shocked by the inability / laziness from Honda dealer to find out and solve problems

[RomanianJazz]

From my experience, the engine is very tightly secured specifically to avoid vibrations and noise. Definitely abnormal. I would try another Honda dealer to take a better look.

[JamXRS]

The thing is, it doesnt vibrate at all after you drive off. You cannot notice the transition between EV and engine. This shaking only happens after sitting overnight or over a few hours.
The clueless responses from Honda dealer didn't give any reassurance lol at least they're contacting Honda about it...

[guest334]

Difficult to advise other than write a letter to the dealership take by hand ask them to rectify the issues within 7-10 days.
You bought a car with defects the seller seems to be fobbing you off. Pity about the time that's elapsed however you are protected in law

[Lincolnshire Rambler]

I wonder if it could be something to do with the catalytic convertor ? Maybe the matrix element has broken so it causes a vibration only when cold ? Sound in cars can travel in funny ways so it can be quite hard to pin point its source ?

[Lord Voltermore]

Has the dealership left the  car overnight on site and an experienced technician been the first to hear it start up  and run at its worst?

A few members on this site have reported that the Mk4 Jazz can sometimes run a bit more roughly and noisily than normal for a period  when first started.  I've sometimes noticed a slight difference myself, although i certainly wouldnt describe it as juddering or shaking the whole car. Just slightly less smooth and quiet than it usually is.  And very occasionally the opposite happens. The car doesnt need to start the ICE  at all on a morning start and I can drive off immediately in silent EV mode.  That can be a  bit disconcerting as well   

If the technicians have only ever heard the engine start   after its already been recently running, such as when moved into the workshop , they might be wondering what you are complaining about  .  They might think the same about the tailgate  if they havnt taken the car for a test run.     

Not all staff are skilled at dealing with disgruntled customers and might have hoped you would go away  and leave them in peace with vague promises that   'Honda will look into it'   rather than say what they really think ,such as "They all do that'  .

It might be difficult to arrange  but ideally the car should be left overnight   then only started when both you  and a Honda mechanic are present to witness  and agree on whether its what you normally hear, or what Honda can claim is normal.

You could also  try going to a dealership who has a used jazz in stock  and listen to that starting up. Go soon after they open  to increase the likely hood it has stood all night and not yet started.    If yours is clearly worse then it adds to your evidence that something is wrong and someone needs to take responsibility for fixing it.

[Kremmen]

There are posts building where some dealers are almost walking away from any problems

Maybe we need a dealers thread with good and bad

I'm not going back to Honda Reading for this years service due to adverse reports on 3 Honda forums I frequent

[5thcivic]

Maybe email Honda UK asking for MD to be alerted with concerns about Reading with links to the forum threads discussing them? I would imagine central would like to know about disgruntled customers? My dealer is always confiming I am happy and willing to give a good report to the online questionaire after a service.

[JamXRS]

It might be difficult to arrange  but ideally the car should be left overnight   then only started when both you  and a Honda mechanic are present to witness  and agree on whether its what you normally hear, or what Honda can claim is normal.

Yes, that's exactly what they did. I picked it up from them yesterday after 9am, they had started it at 8am and it had done the shaking thing. They all looked at loss with no explanation for it and said they would contact Honda and give me a call back.
It is not running more roughly, it's just an irregular shaking and juddering for the first 30 secs or so, then the engine revs slightly go down, and the shaking stops. After 1 min or so, the engine fully stops and the car sits in EV mode.

As for the tailgate noise they couldn't fix, I found the root cause yesterday. It's the 2 bolts on the sides of the latch (photo attached). Spraying some silicone spray on them immediately stopped the creaking.

Will report if / when I hear back from the dealer, FYI is it Brayleys in Ewell, Epsom just in case anyone else here uses them.

[Nicksey]

I am just hitting the 22k mileage on my 72 plate, and it has always had a bit of a noticeable engine rumble from a cold start. Even the demo model did it before I bought mine... but it doesn't really judder or shake, just a cold engine noise, not too dissimilar to a diesel engine start up.

[Lincolnshire Rambler]

My 71 jazz after 41000+ miles behaves consistently when starting from cold . When its below freezing the noise is slightly louder and as others have said it is noticeable in summer when the jazz moves  off in EV mode .  Compared to the near silent idle of my previous nissan NOTE 1.4 petrol the Jazz is more vocal when cold.of course the jazz never just idles at 800 rpm its always running beyond 2 -2500 rpm to do useful stuff -heat and HV battery charge etc . The compression ratio of the petrol engine is very high too and its non otto cycle with direct injection isnt designed for quiet operation  but for very high thermal efficiency.

[Kenneve]

Whilst talking about the tailgate, I have a slightly different problem. as per the attached photo.
This image appears randomly in the main display and appears to indicate that the tailgate is open.
Except, ITS NOT!
The tailgate shuts normally and the car drives and locks normally.
It appears mostly as & when I turn the car Off.
I haven't yet been back to my dealer, just wondered if anyone could point me to a solution.

[Marco1979]

Whilst talking about the tailgate, I have a slightly different problem. as per the attached photo.
This image appears randomly in the main display and appears to indicate that the tailgate is open.
Except, ITS NOT!
The tailgate shuts normally and the car drives and locks normally.
It appears mostly as & when I turn the car Off.
I haven't yet been back to my dealer, just wondered if anyone could point me to a solution.

The image is indicating the rear seats, not the tailgate. This is also a new European regulation: you should be made aware to check your rear seats and not forget any children or pets…

[Kenneve]

Ah, Marco1979, many thanks for your reply, I certainly wasn't aware of that new regulation.
I very often put my seats down, to carry goods etc, so will check that out.

[coldstart]

Whilst talking about the tailgate, I have a slightly different problem. as per the attached photo.

AFAIK this warning can be disabled somewhere in the obtuse settings menu (at least in the MY24).