Hey everyone, I'm a new member but have been reading up on the forums for a while - it's unfortunate that this incident has motivated me to join.

My '01 CL-S, 64,000 miles, was having some problems starting two days ago - starting hard, running rough, tranny slipping. I took it into the dealership yesterday as the problems were getting worse, and today's diagnosis was a transmission replacement and two blown head gaskets. The tranny replacement is under warranty, of course, but the head gasket estimate ranged from $2480 if the heads were serviceable to $5K/$6K if both needed to be replaced. An engine mount needs to be replaced at a cost of $150 when the transmission is serviced.

Other things that are wrong with the car: vehicle was sideswiped two weeks ago and requires about $1000 of body work to repair a shallow scrape that reaches across all three body panels on the passenger side. (I will be paying out of pocket); also, the driver heated seat stopped working, but that's minor.

I bought the car about six months ago, and had the 60,000 mile service done at 56,000 miles; all maintenance has been kept up since then. I'm unsure of previous service.

I've recently graduated college, and although I have an excellent job, I'm strapped for cash from putting myself through school and surviving. Especially after the holidays, these repairs are not welcome news. Do any of you have suggestions? Do the prices for these repairs sound reasonable? Might the two issues be related (so I can convince Acura to pay a portion?) Does anyone have the contact number for Acura's complaint service, and would it be worth my time to try? With all that is wrong, could the car just be totaled (Seriously doubt it, but with 10K in repairs looming...)? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Have an independent Honda-Acura mechanic repair the engine first. Maybe find a local one on cartalk.com MechanX Files. Then drive it to dealer for tranny.