detboy

I'm coming up on 50,000 miles thus my warranty is running out. Over the past couple years I've had my check engine light go on a couple times and they've had to replace what they called the "brains" of my computer once. I forgot what the official name is.

I was wondering if you guys recommend before my warranty runs out having my dealer do a full run through of my car to try and get anything else fixed before I have to pay for it on my own. What should I ask them to look at? How much should I pay?

Thanks in advance.

By the way anyone else have that computer problem. The first time my engine went crazy and the whole car would shake when I accelerated. They just reset the computer and it acted normal. The second time, about a year later, they said something was wrong with some thermostat. The third time, only about a week after the second, everything with the car seemed normal but then they said they had to replace the whole computer card.

-thanks

CO-CL-S

If you haven't had your front brake pads replaced or windshield washer hoses replaced you should try to get them done.. YMMV

jimcol711

i would take it in....but if you just take it to them and say "oh, my warranty is almost run out, please check over my entire car and fix it" they will probably just pop the hood, look at the thing, drive it around the lot and call it done.....

id make up some excuses, tell them its acting up again, that will force them to do diagnostics and actual checking of things...if you just tell them to check stuff without having a REAL complaint about something wrong, they will probably just disregard your car and look at it for 2 minutes.


american car dealers do this, thats one reason why i have a bad taste in my mouth about EVER buying american again. a buddy of mine has a 98 GTP and his warranty went out, a few days before his warranty went out, he called them and said "can you look at my car, my warranty is almost expired, id like you to check everything over" so they said sure, but because he didnt have an actual problem, he had to pay 60 fucking dollars for them to run diagnostics which they probably didnt even do. he got the car back a day later, they said nothing is wrong, everything is perfect. he checked the odometer, the dealer DIDNT EVEN DRIVE THE CAR 1/10th OF A MILE!!!! last time i checked, if you want to check out a car for any problems, you at LEAST have to drive it a bit. so he bitched about it and they just brushed him off.....and guess what, that was 3 weeks ago, now he is having a problem with a part called "fuel sender unit"

its the SAME fucking GM part that failed on my 1991 buick lesabre with the 3800 motor and the SAME GM shitty part that just failed a year ago on my girlfreinds 1997 grand prix and his is showing all the preliminary symptoms of a failure...not to mention, the part alone is 500 fucking dollars and thats AT COST...no markup....i warned him, because some of the tell-tale symptoms of a fuel sender unit failure on a GM car with the 3800 motor is: gas gauge reading inacurate, fluctuating, car hesitating on WOT, car running out of gas when its got at least a few gallons left...he was having those symptoms, and STILL IS and he neglected to tell the dealer about it, and of course they just convieniently didnt notice it because they probably didnt even turn the car on to test anything!! so now hes going to be forced to pay 500 bucks plus labor to get the damn thing fixed when it fails (and its only a matter of WHEN, not IF)


so in any case, the moral of my story, is when you approach warranty experation, DEFINATELY take the car in....BUT...and MOST IMPORTANTLY....have a laundary list of problems, true and/or fictional that you want looked at...this will FORCE them to actually take time to check shit out. otherwise, you will be brushed off and left for the "dogs" to ravage you....the "dogs" of post-warranty ass raping auto maintainance.

Nashua_Night_Hawk

jim what a big ASS paragraph you wrote... I gave up reading after the second line.

Try to make your paragraphs 3-4 lines only.

jimcol711

allow me to edit

jimcol711

there, try it again, dude

dfreder371

Why not just avoid this problem entirely? Just buy another Acura, and then you have the warranty. I know a guy who recently had to replace a carburator (remember those things?) on an older Nissan. $900 plus tax, rebuilt! I have also seen Acura "preventative maintenence" bills that have exceeded four figures, and I am not too cool on that either.

I know my situation is probably unique. North of 50, making a good, but not killer salary. I've decided to trade my 2003 CL-S for a 2004 after the thing is 365 days old (The RSX-S lasted 363 days). I plan on buying no higher than the Cl-S, figureing anything else is just a waste of money regarding depreciation. This way, I get dinged about 1/10th of my take home salary per year, which I can afford (no wife, no kids), and my total maintenence amounts to three oil and filter changes. What they charge for car parts these days borders upon criminal. I figure I can trade this car next Thanksgiving for about $4,000, tax included.

So, if you can, buy yearly. Yes, it will cost you. But your car is always "new", and the chances are the inside and outside will be near perfect, and the miles on it will be low. At that point, it gets very hard for the dealer to degrade your trade in. Happy new year!

darrinb

no way, another detoiter on the board

gsrblack

Detroiters all over....I'm a part time Detroiter....only come home when vacationing (hard to believe, not many people vacation to Detroit)...