I truly hope that is what they're ordering.

What are the chances that they'd order JUST the block itself, and swap my crank, pistons, rods, etc, etc... into the new block?

(I know I'm being paranoid... LOL).

I also plan, out of paranoia, to mark the block with a scribe (just a few little dots here and there), to make sure they actually replace it. Yeah... I'm nuts.

 

Thumbs up if Acura manages to fix your problem with a whole new short block!

 

Unlikely. It would cost them just about as much in work to swap out and re-install everything than just ordering a pre-assembled unit.

And not counting the risk for error or out-of spec problems during the swap.

Anyway, since you've had a rebore on the older engine, the piston-rings combo wouldn't fit, so there would have to be a whole new measurement/fitting ordeal.

 

They didn't rebore the current block - they honed it (to get the crosshatch, but not enlarge the cylinders).

Anyone know when the water pump should be changed? Since the timing chain is lifetime (supposedly), what about the water pump? I might have them do it while they're in there if its supposed to be changed anytime in the next couple of years.

 

I don't see the water pump change in the regular maintenance schedule. The Civic (I believe) has it scheduled at 90K miles. Since they've already got the engine pulled and disassembled you might as well pay for the new pump (labor shouldn't change). My

 

The dealer should of put in a new engine in the first place. Brand new long block.

Now they are doing the same thing TWICE and wasting everyones time and money when they could of got it down in one try if they werent being so cheap.

Dealers are notorious for just replacing parts and not fixing it. So it doesnt surprise me that your engine still burns oil.

Dealers RARELY tear down an engine and find the source of the problem. All they do is just replace the entire part. That is good for warrenty work which they SHOULD of done with you.

 

Newsflash, the job was done as per request of Honda Canada, not the dealership.

 

Exactly.

gsrthomas: Look at it this way -- a new long block retails for over $7,500 USD. That's almost $9K CDN. Take off about 30% for markup, and then the engine costs about $6,000 CDN at cost for Honda Canada.

Add labour to pull the engine, replace with the new one, and you're looking at a HUGE bill for Honda Canada.

I don't blame them for first authorizing the rings/valve seals, as 99% of the time, that takes care of the problem FULLY. That job is only about $200 in parts and about 12 hours of billable labour. MUCH less than $7000+.

If you get a flat tire, do you never drive on that road again?

 

Hey Curls, let me know if this fixes the problem. I got an oil change done at 59,929km...topped up the oil with a litre already and now I'm below the bottom hole/mark on the dipstick @ 62,820 km as of today. I called customer service and they advised to take it to another dealership to have them do another oil consumption test.

This is truely starting to annoy me now, I love the car but burning this much oil is crazy... over 2 litres in less than 3000km and less than a month in time has passed since the oil change.

Going by their logic of 1L/1500km = 5.3L within 8,000km (standard oil change timeline)

 

I'll keep you updated, don't worry.

That reminds me... the dealership hasn't called to let me know the shortblock is in yet. It was supposed to be in yesterday.

Oh well... it's 23*C here - I bet all the staff and tech's are out drinkin' on a patio somewhere. I know I would be if I didn't already have the day off.

 

Hey Curls,

Hope all turns out well! Hope you get a CSX to drive around and not a rental.

See you around.

Adrena

 

So whats the latest news?

 

Haha I feel bad for the poor bastard that will buy my car That is if I ever plan on selling it.

Well, though it was driven hard and spirited it still runs strong.

 

Well well well... dropped the car off this morning, and whaddya know, they only got the hollow block (no internals). Supposedly Acura said they would only warranty the block itself (for now) and have the tech check all of the clearances (piston out-of-round, etc...) before completely reassembling.

So, not a complete short block (that would be logical). Still, better than nothing, and hey, anyone know about the lemon laws? (3 attempts at the same repair, I believe?).

On a positive note, I have a CSX w/ the paddle shifting as a loaner. Pretty fun car once I found a comfortable seating position (that was a lot of work actually).

 

From your perspective, a complete short block would be logical (and faster), but I'm guessing that this has purposefully become a training exercise for your dealer's service department. Hopefully it's not a problem for you, and you can help them break-in that CSX.

 

Lemon laws generally only apply to cars purchased new.

 

Funny, I called the dealer again, talked to my contact (the operations manager), and he said he's NEVER seen "just a block" come shipped... its always been the complete shortblock meaning block, pistons, crank, etc...

He said he'd be very surprised if it was just the block.

He will be getting back to me with the answer sometime today.

 

You are showing amazing patience through all of this. I'd be by now.

 

Wait a sec... keeping things bottled up inside is good, right?

 

Update: It is the complete short block, thank goodness.

 

How did that change? Do you trust a service department that doesn't know a hollow block from a complete block?

 

I don't necessarily trust the advisors, but I trust their boss' boss. The advisor just looked at the notes on the account and probably didnt know what a short block meant exactly. I know the file on my car is huge, so an on-the-spot question isn't easy to answer correctly.

But getting the assurance from the operations manager is good. I also plan to see with my OWN eyes, the block they removed from my car. That way, if there's old pistons and internals there, then I know mine are now brand new.

 

Pretty soon they're going to figure it's cheaper/easier to have you killed and forget the whole thing.

 

Hahahaha...

 

LMAO

 

Got the car back! (again!)

Everything looks good, the new block is nice and shiny, and they made a very good effort to tell me "drive like a 90-year old grandma, who knows stick, for 3000km". The service advisor was told explicitly by the head technician, to tell me that. LOL.

Anyhow, I wanted to verify with my own eyes, whether the internals were new. So, I popped the hood, looked down the spark plug holes, and noticed a nice shiny new piston staring up at me. Very very little carbonization, meaning they were just run for a few minutes and then the keys handed to me.

The work order is in the mail and I'll have a detailed list of EXACTLY what was done, sometime next week (the service advisor was still closing the order, but I had to go, so they're mailing it to me).

WOOOOO!!!!!!!

 

Hope this takes care of the oil consumption. Go easy on it, break it in gently, and enjoy.

 

That's effed up.

 

Congrats, curls. I really hope it works out this time.

 

So, how are you going to break-in this motor after what the service advisor told you?

 

No comment. (in case the dealership has spies... LOL).

 

Interesting news:

I was looking closely at the work order that I received from the dealership, detailing each nut, bolt, and part number that they used... and noticed this: 10002-RBB-A03 ENGINE SUB-ASSY (B I looked this number up on www.acuraautomotiveparts.org and noticed it is the short block for the 2006 TSX. The 2004/2005 are 10002-RBB-A01. I verified this in two different places, and even the product numbers are different on both places (not just the part number).

This means I have a hybrid engine (04 head, 06 block) and have the advantages of the "reduced cylinder pumping pressures" due to tweaked oil ports and holes drilled between cylinders, etc....

 

hahaha, you deserve the "hybrid" block after the crap you went through. Really glad to hear that it all worked out for you. Just out of curiousity, do you think that the carbonisation problem in the first engine was also due to using regular gas along with getting oil changed too late?

 

I don't know about the regular gas thing - I only used Premium (hard to say what the previous owner used). No idea on oil changes, either, sorry. If I had to guess, I'd say a combination of improper break-in, and probably late oil changes (oil sludge will eventually harden into carbon).

 

Hate to burst your bubble, but the A01 is merely an obsolecenced part number. The A03 is shared by 2004-2006 TSXs now.

 

Damn.

How can they order a 2004/2005-specific block then? Or do they just order a 2006 block?

In other words, which part number is the 2004/2005, and which is the 2006 block? Because there are differences as per Acura (internally)

 

They would, for any motor replacement, order the A03 now. You do have the most up-to-date block on your 2004 though.

 

So I'm still ahead.

Sweet. Thanks bro!

 

Absolutely. Just was making the point that it wasn't a mistake.