Tsx536

^^ If you see a Check engine light, go to the local autozone right away. Get their ODBII scantool as a loaner tool and pull the code right away. Then look the code up and see what the problem is. This won't end up costing you any money and at least you will know how severe the problem is.

GSI

Ditto what the others said. Insist on Acura repairing this problem because to me it sounds like the dealer wants you to buy a new tsx then take the old one and get a new engine for free and sell it for even more profit.

HI OFECR

Here is motor + trans + harness + ECU for 6k

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-05...QQcmdZViewItem

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

Isn't this something you could take to your insurance agency?

Considering that an 04 TSX with that much mileage blue books for around $15k, $13k to install a new engine...wouldn't that be considered a total loss?

I don't know, but just a thought.

I don't completely blame him for wanting a _new_ TSX.

PACman

Yea...$13K for motor, but $15K for a used 04. That leaves freakin $2K worth for the rest of the car? No way....the A/C system alone is $1,800.

Mokos23

that sucks! if i were you, i would also stay away from Honda/Acura.

you must be a dedicated Honda enthusiast.

btw, i guess they don't build Honda/Acuras like they used to. My 1988 Accord Lx-i that my folks handed down to me still ran well and my folks told me that they never changed the timing belt or catalytic converter on that and it ran well until 133,000 miles and it needed a new radiator. It wasn't worth the cost, so they traded it in.

hmm, i thought Honda/Acuras run well with proper maintenance into 100,000 miles and longer even 200,000 miles with no problems?

curls

Sorry, but you're CRAZY if you want to ditch the car and not pay anything to repair it. If you were to put in $3K (which is significantly more than you should pay for new valves and a machine job, if you do the labour mostly yourself)... you could sell the car for $15-$17K and then use that towards a new car.

Yes, you're pissed off and want the headache to be over, but why not think about this rationally?

CGTSX07

well you are judging all this on one experience. overall, yes, honda/acuras do run well over 100,000 miles.

CGTSX07

either way, his insurance will probably drop him a large chunk of cash for the value of the car.

925tsx

im not spending a dime on it.

it needs pistons in addition to valves.

it served me good for 4yrs of hard driving. time to move on now. I have the money to spend on a new car, and thats just what im gonna do.

SimpleWhite

how many miles did you have on the engine?

925tsx

100k

INSPIRE 32V

iTrader: (1)

13k WOW!. for that much it better come with a lifetime no questions asked warranty or something

Mokos23

i wonder if sauceman experienced anything like this. he's at what almost 150,000-180,000 miles? what happened to him?

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

People are right you should take the car in at another dealer to fix, and then sell off the car.

Honestly my car at 79k right now for an 05 and thats pretty crazy people like to say.

Miamicarfan

I don't think car insurance is going to pay for this kind of repair as some have suggested. It was not in an accident or suffer loss because of nature or vandalism. What do others think?

Miamicarfan

Did Hondas and Acuras that had timing belts (not chains) also have a belt tensioner? I don't remember ever changing a belt tensioner when I changed timing belts in my old 1987 Acura Integra.

That car got me 200, 000 miles on the original engine. This development with the TSX does not make me feel very secure in duplicating that feat with my current 2005 TSX. This news today is just horrible.


Any other members of this board who were plannning to keep their cars for the long term and try for maybe 150,000+ miles plus?

bz268

I have 120k+ miles on my car.
Should I be worry?

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

A tensioner is not something you normally have to replace.

I don't know if timing belt equipped vehicles have a tensioner. I've only owned timing chain equipped vehicles...all of which have over 100K on 'em and never needed timing chain related maintenance/work.

An ex co-worker of mine has horror stores about his '91 Eclipse and the timing belt breaking multiple times .

ChrisQ1980

No, it's the other way around. Secondly, if you drove your car "hard" you should have had the timing belt service done around 80-90k. It's an expensive service but it needs to be done on these cars.

It's as important as being on top of fluid changes with Honda/Acura cars. They go forever with the proper maintence. Some can go 150k on the original belt/chain, and others give up as soon as 90-100k.

I think poor maintence had an effect on this.

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

Our cars have timing chans, and from what I understood didn't require any maintenance. The chain gets engine oil, correct? So regular oil changes should be all you need, correct?

The chain didn't fail, anyway. The tensioner failed and caused the chain to jump the sprocket I've never heard of tensioner maintenance.

ChrisQ1980

No, the timing chain does not get engine oil. The tensioner is replaced with the service, along with the waterpump. They don't require any maintence besides being replaced every 90k.

Sebo1

how much do you want for it? i'll buy it and fix it.

LuvMyTSX

This is only one person who has had this problem so far, that we've heard about on this board, so I wouldn't feel so nervous. If it were happening to many people, then yeah, but one person? Please.

With that said, the '04s seem more prone to issues (A/C, HVAC lights), so I probably won't keep my '04 past about 7 years since that's when my CPO warranty runs out. I'm not going to pay 2 grand to fix the A/C and 2 grand to fix the lights if/when they go out again. I think that's just ridiculous money to pay for repairs, especially on something they know is a common problem.

925tsx

your right. they wont cover it. it wasnt a collision, or an act of vandilism.

925tsx

dude learn what your talking about. first of all there is no belt in the tsx
second of all, the light monitors oil level, not pressure. (i know this for a fact)
thanks, drive thru.

925tsx

The acura tech told me this....The timing chain tensioner is a hydraulic system that relies on oil pressure. When the oil pump, is pumping, it creates pressure which somehow operates a hydraulic system that keeps pressure on the tensioner. my oil pump blew, therefore the tenisoner went ka-bam

curls

One thing I just remembered.

when I had my engine replaced under warranty (not for this kind of problem, but for burning oil --- low VIN#)... the head tech did mention that he replaced my timing belt tensioner as the TSX uses the same one as is on the CR-V with the K24 engine. These are known to go out of adjustment over time, which is why he recommended to me that the tensioner be inspected and adjusted at 1/2 the interval of the timing chain inspection (so I guess about every 60K miles?).

Food for thought. I just Googled it though and didn't find anything to back up his claim, but then again he's a tech and sees these little quirky problems all the time... more than the average person on the internet.

Nogard13

Well, if you have the money for a new car, go for it.

I doubt Acura would give you any compensation since it's actually a normal wear and tear part.

If I were you, I'd check into the new G35 sedan.

LuvMyTSX

That's interesting. Wonder if we should be doing preventative tensioner maint. at 60k, then.

black label

For the price they are quoting you I would investigate the RDX motor.

ChrisQ1980

You should take your own advice.

First of all belt/chain they still need to be replaced. In my original post I wrote belt/chain. Look in the owners manual under when the chain needs to be inspected/replaced. Also remember that is under "normal" driving conditions. You mentioned you drove it pretty hard.

And you are 100% wrong. Again look in your owners manual. The oil light measures OIL PRESSURE. It's an idiot light and when it goes on it's usually too late. Unless the TSX has a "Low oil level" light (which I don't think it does) it measures PRESSURE. If the level is low enough there won't be sufficent pressure so the light will come on. But again, it's not measuring the level.

925tsx

I just called Ramsey acura and spoke with a Service advisor named Tom. Tom said the light comes on when the oil level is low. Said the light does not monitor pressure. I then asked to speak with a service technician. He re-affirmed what Tom told me.

Phoned Acura of ocean county, NJ spoke with service advisor maryann. Maryann states the light comes on with low oil level, not pressure.

30 seconds later, i phoned open road acura in wayne nj. I forgot the name of the tech i spoke with , but they too said its oil level, not pressure.

Also phoned DCH Acura in Montclair NJ, They too said it monitors oil level and not pressure.


like i said, know what your talking about before you respond.....

curls

Heresay, your honor. Sure, the indicator SAYS "Check oil level", but the actual thing being monitored, as per the Owners Manual, is OIL PRESSURE.

There's two dots on the dipstick -- those are to check the actual oil level itself.

You will also notice that there's no such part called a "OIL LEVEL SENSOR", but the following parts exist for our cars:

37240-P2F-A01 SWITCH, OIL PRESSURE (FASCO CONTROLS) 1 2004 TSX
37240-PT0-014 SWITCH, OIL PRESSURE (TEC) 1 2004 TSX
37240-PT0-023 SWITCH, OIL PRESSURE (DENSO) 1 2004 TSX

What you should have learned from this, is that low oil levels result in a drop in oil pressure, but not the other way around. So, by monitoring oil pressure, the sensor is not only monitoring the level, but also other things as well.

Nogard13

RTFM

Those people don't know what they're talking about. This could've easily been resolved by reading the freakin' manual. I've attached an image of the 04 TSX user manual and it clearly says that the light indicates pressure, not level.

925tsx

i have to apologize to chris. The manual does say oil pressure.

acura must have their heads up their asses.


SORRY CHRIS

TinkySD

I still feel like if a part isn't scheduled to be checked for 120 k and it fails then that's on acura. I don't care if it's "good practice" to do more maintenance, if you follow the letter of the schedule and a part fails before it's even supposed to be checked what is the consumer supposed to do about it? (other than apparently take it in the ass for repairs?)

A timing chain should be good for the lifetime of the car honestly. Is there anything in any maintenace schedule that says "inspect" or "replace" the tensioner before the 120k service??

PACman

If the timing chain is part of the powertrain warranty, then we've got 6yr/70K miles. Clearly OP is out of any warranty.

Nogard13

Yes, but they're estimates made for normal driving conditions. If someone drives the car harder than intended (and the OP clearly says he drives hard), the parts are expected to last less.

TinkySD

It is most doubtedly out of warranty but I would say that's not the question here. If I took my car to acura for every service and followed the letter of the maintenace schedule and still wound up with a 13k repair through no fault of my own then I would expect some kind of good will gesture on acuras part.

I could be wrong but I dont' see how a timing chain would be an item that would wear heavily dependant on driving style. It's used as timing mechanism so that the valves and pistons line up. It's only a load bearing part in that it has to spin the cam shaft. As long as maintenance was followed there should be no issue there.

To be honest in the original posters case it makes no sense to repair the car unless acura covers the whole cost of the warranty. Even fi they were to split the cost if he repaired it he would likely only be back to even after selling. His best bet would be to just sell it as salvage for the best he can get.