sauceman

So we left the bitter cold behind us it seems, and we headed down to Florida Thursday, Jan 20th.

I had taken good care of preparing the car for a good road trip of 5000km. Type D service was (supposedly) done that morning, as well as switching back to summer rims & tires. I also had a back panel rattle that has gradually appeared over time, but I hadn't taken care of it since I couldn't hear it up front... until I sat at the back... It was a PITA then. So being the good guy that I am, I didn't want my wife and my buddy's wife to have to put up with that rattle (present with volume as low as 5), so I got it fixed by the dealer(very well done by the way). They tore out the back seat and panels, and hunted down the every small rattles there was. I had provided them with some Massive Attack, so I guess their job became somewhat easy...

I wanted the valves adjusted, since it has become so loud with ticks, but I was just a little tight on budget, not knowing what to expect so I put it off till later. Good thing I did BTW. Credit Card's full today..

Anyhow, with the car clean and all, we were set for a nice trip.

So we leave during the evening, with fair winds, and the temperature down at -20°C.

I hadn't reached the Thousand Islands Bridge for I-81 that the car was hesitating, then running on 3 cylinders, then 2, and with no acceleration power whatsoever. So I stop and check to see if water hadn't iced over the plug wires or something, because I had pressure-washed the inside of the hood that day. Nothing.. So I left, and right after leaving the border, the engine was running just fine.

I cross the State of NY this way, with no further issues until I'm about to get to Binghamton (a few miles north of PA), and it all starts again, but a lot worst now, because I had to drive up grades. Even going down the car wouldn't accelerate. So I finally end up in 1st gear doing about 4500RPM and no power!

By then I was pretty annoyed, so I pulled over and shut the engine for 5 minutes. Took the time to check on the air filter. It was ok. Nothing wrong after a visual check either, so we shrugged, and fired it up again. The engine started running just fine again, and did for the rest of the trip down.

Hours later, she finally threw a code. Though the car was running on limp mode, it had full power, but somewhat of a worst fuel economy.

Still, down in Florida, I pulled a 500 mile tank doing 80 mph. That was ok, I guess...

I was a little too exhausted and excstatic by then to really give a damn.

We were embarking on a Cruise Ship (Royal Carribbean's Splendour of the Seas) on our way to Grand Cayman, Mexico (Costa Maya and Cozumel) and Belize City!

For those of you who've already cruised know exactly what I mean when I say we didn't have enough stomach for the food and drinks...

Oh, and the places were awesome too!

Anyhow, 7 days is pretty short for a trip, and it also applies for a cruise, as we discovered.

Reluctantly we headed back on Saturday. Hit some rain in GA all the way up to VA. By then we were in the middle of the night, and I was driving into ice (heard they had 3/4" of that in Atlanta), slush and snow with my OEM tires. I-95 was ok, but Rte17 and I-66 in NoVa wasn't up to my tastes. Had to stop and assist a few ditched people on the way. By the time I had reached Harrisburg, PA, the Interstate was okay.

Then the problems started again arriving in the region of Binghamton once more: The oil light flashing!? So I check the dipstick, no oil on it. Added 2 quarts, still nothing! I stopped there, because the oil seemed to not be able to stay on the dipstick, instead it dripped of like water on a waxed surface, so in case I might be overfilling the engine I let it there.

Well, adding it all up, it did look a little starnge and all, so I'm having it checked on Thursday, but I found out for sure that the guys didn't do the oil change.

As soon as I know what the CEL code is, I'll tell you guys, but I'm betting it's another O2 sensor. Changed one last year. Looks like they catch cold in winter. Not too solid...


But all that certainly didn't overshadow the trip, and so here are a few pictures I took. (I'm slowly getting to know my camera better, so the results are hopefully improving.. )


Here we go:

The Cruise started with a cancelled day in Grand Cayman. Bad weather, chppy seas. 13' waves would have sent everyone throwing up on the tenders, so... we were left with the pool on the boat doing this: 1ft+ waves




Mayan ruins in Chacchoben an hour from Costa Maya. (I was actually more interesting in "catching" birds, but that's another story)



Our Cruise Ship:



Sunset in Costa Maya:



In Belize, we jumped aboard a Cessna and flew to some reef Islands. We were pretty with the plane ride, and got rewarded with awesome views in the air and on the beach on the Island of San Pedro. This place gets a from me!




Cozumel, Mexico: Beautiful place from diving, annoying for shopping.

There was another Cruise Ship right beside ours, the Navigator of the Seas from Royal Carribbean. Awesome. 139,000 tonnes, not very far from Queen Mary 2, the world's largest cruise ship. Unfortunately, we could not visit..

Large as hell:




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And now I'm back. If there was something I was anxious to do on the way back was get back here and post again.

Kinda hooked, huh.

Dan Martin

Looks like you had a great trip! I had a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas and I was very impressed. I'd do another in a heartbeat.

Dan Martin

So did you figure out what happened to your tsx?

sauceman

I'm pretty sure the oil that was missing was pretty normal since it turns out the guys didn't do that type D maintenance. I was somewhat a little in a rush and also pretty exited, so I never thought of checking the bill. I would have seen then that there hadn't been other work than the rattle, wheel swap and harness recall that had been done.

As for the CEL, I'll have it looked at on Thursday, but I'm 90% sure it's an O2 sensor gone bad, and that's not a problem to drive around with. Just that the car's running on limp mode, but I've seen worst.

It hasn't pulled a 3 cylinder trick either, despite last night's -14.

Oh, and we'll be back with Royal Carribbean, hopefully next winter, with our friends. Hopefully it will be in an Adventure Class ship, one of the 4 sister ships to the Navigator of the Seas in the pic above.

Might be Hawaii that time around...

Where was your cruise, Dan?

Dan Martin

I was on a 10 day cruise for new years 2000 which was cool. I stoped in many of the ports you did but we also did Jamaica.

sauceman

Yyya Maan!

Dan Martin

Actually I could do without the stop in Jamaica. I've never felt so unsafe before. They had guards armed with AK47s escort the tourists from the boats to a taxi where they were instructed to not get out of the car until you enter the market. The market was of course also guarded by guards with AKs. Apparently they have "incidents" with the locals every now and then so they have to be prepared.

I'd rather spend time in the caymans.

sauceman

See, you're confirming the exact thing that we've been told. When we were about to book the cruise, we were browsing through our choices, and at least half of them had Jamaica on it, but knowing what you just confirmed, we decided it wasn't worth the risk, so it "simplified" our choices down a lot.

I'm actually glad we didn't go there then, we already thought we were getting swamped pretty bad in Belize and Cozumel, wouldn't have wanted to put the ladies at risk and us getting in a brawl as well.

Belzebutt

Sounds like a little piece of Africa on America's doorstep

jj87

cruises are awesome. i've been on the mariner and the explorer of the seas, talk about big ass ships. i think that carnival is the best though, i'm going on my 3rd carnival in march.

so i take it the acura doesn't like the cold weather? you can come chill with us here in Florida in the winter if you want :-)

sauceman

The Mariner.. That wasn't too long ago huh?

ric

great pics. I'd lay your problems down to the bad Karma around Birmingham.............

sauceman

Indeed!

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Ooh...cruises sound like fun. I need to find a way to go on one sometime.

Hey sauceman, how long did all the work done actually take? I've got a trip coming up and I'm having the recall and a few TSBs addressed before I go so I just want to make sure I'll have my car in time.

JOZMAN

WOW i need a vacation badly... never had one in 2 years!

GSI

Sauceman,

What type of camera do you use? Your pics look good.

Tsx536

Wow...sounds like you had a nice little adventure Sauceman!

You're pics look great....it looked so nice and warm there. And the water looked nice and clear

500 miles on 1 tank? Nice man!?

Good luck with getting the car fixed!

jwb998

I once took a Jeep rental wheeling along the beach at Cozumel, there was a bunch of us kicking the crap out of rented Jeeps. Right up there with the best "shore expedition" I have been on (behind swiming with stingrays at Grand Caymen).

jj87

We did that jeep thing too. That sounds like a popular thing that people do. It was alot of fun.

jj87

It was 1 year ago on the 14 of march

sauceman

CG, we got the deal on www.skyauctions.com . In the "buy it now" section. Good deals.

As for the job done, I left it for the morning at the dealership, and they called me back at around 10:30, and it was all done. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

The recall shouldn't take more than half an hour.

sauceman

Thanks man! I'm really getting a kick out of snapping pictures now that I have a good camera.

Kodak DX7590

forbid...

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the tip. I'll check that out sometime. I don't have any money lying around right now (lots of loans to pay off) but once I'm more in the clear and have some extra vacation time, I'll be booking a cruise.

And it's good to know that the service shouldn't take long. I've got the appointment made so I get a loaner, but I would like to have my car when I start my 400 mile trip.

sauceman

We really considered that, but when we saw that we seemed to be on a short leash, and couldn't really go anywhere, we dropped it.

So we went on a snorkelling excursion. That was pretty cool too.

sauceman

Yeh, shouldn't be too much of a problem.

So how did it look on Sunday morning in your area? I passed at Fredericksburg at like 2 AM, and the ice was starting to pile up.

matelot

woa going from CA to FL ...man you must LOVE driving. did you drive that trip because the airfare was too crazy ? cause I wonder how much you saved assuming you had to stay in a motel before reaching FL

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Sunday wasn't bad, I suppose. It was snowing by the time I got up around noon, so I didn't really get to see the morning.

Dude, next time you drive through my neck of the woods, let me know ahead of time. I would have invited you out for lunch or something.

sauceman

Of course, it wasn't to save money, but to see some country.. It's almost like a pilgrimage or a "road to LeMans" for me.

Oh and there was no stopping for hotels. We were 4 drivers, I did the night stints. HIDs pwn.

Plus, if we had taken the plane, we would have shortenned our trip by a good 3 days.

It's like taking the time to enjoy a real good dinner. The longer it takes to eat, the longer you enjoy it.

jlukja

So sauceman, to go off on a tangent here, how many miles (kms) do you have on your TSX now?

xizor

The megaships are amazing, I went on Voyager of the Seas 2 years ago and absolutely loved it. IMO Royal Carribean is much better than the 2 Carnival ones I went on (old Extasy and Spirit). I will only go on the megaliners now, there's so much to do, and the entertainment has so much more variety (ice skating shows!). I want to go on Mariner of the Seas or its sister ships for my honeymoon.

We stopped in Ochos Rios and I really liked it, didn't notice anything unsafe

Dan Martin

I guess guys with AK47's just make me a little uneasy when I'm supposed to be going to a place for R&R.

sauceman

I believe I'm in the late 148,000's by now. That would be in excess of 90k miles.

savage

my god...that is sick...congrats on the miles...

also i wanted to ask you if you determined the reason for the loss of power and what you said was only 3 or 2 cylinders firing? i wasnt clear on your explanation....

sauceman

I won't know for sure until I get the code read whenever I have some spare time, but I'm pretty sure it's a faulty O2 sensor.

Since then, the car runs fine. I guess it's just ignoring the sensor, and running as if the sensor was telling it what it whanted to hear (The ECU).

sauceman

Sure enough, it's the primary O2 sensor that went bad.

Some follow-up here: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20221

RMATIC09

wow looks awesome!