I was out driving yesterday morning and came to a red light. While waiting for the light to turn green all of a sudden my brake pedal went to the floor gradually. I pumped the brakes and it appeared to come back up a little and the brakes seemed to be working fine. No message on the computer and the parking brake light was not on. I drove a couple of blocks back to my home and the brakes seemed to be working fine except as soon as I stopped the pedal would go all the way to the floor. I had to replace a master cylinder on a 1976 VW Rabbit back in 1980 and the same pedal to the floor happened except the car had no brakes at all. So first I checked my brake fluid level to make sure it was not low. No problem there. So I took it to my local Acura dealer(Sussman Acura) who by the way has told me in the past when I thought I needed something fixed they said that it was not necessary so I totally trust them. After they checked the brake system they said that the master cylinder needed to be replaced at a total cost including tax of $699.00. They also said that there was a service bulletin that said there was a problem with the master cylinders of 2005 to 2007 RL's and that mine had been completed by the agency that I purchased the car from who I do not trust. When I purchased the car the motor was not working for the rear sunshade so they said they would fix it for free. I dropped the car off and called back in 3 hours figuring that was enough time to fix it. They said they were working on it. After not hearing from them for 2 more hours I drove to the Agency( Montgomeryville Acura) to find the car sitting outside and it had not been worked on at all. So they immediately put it in the shop and it was fixed in 10 minutes. My guess is that Montgomeryville Acura never actually did the fix according to the service bulletin and just said they did and entered it in their computer as done but of course I cannot prove that. Now I am not sure about any work they did so this coming week I will have the transfer and differential service and the transmission service done. I bought this one owner RL with 83,000 miles on it and it now has 89,000 miles. I did pay $17,990.00 which was $4000.00 under Kelly BB at the time so I am still ahead and the car is most amazing in every way. The agency lent me a 2012 TL with 599 miles and it did not even compare to my RL in any way shape or form. I am 63 years old so I will be keeping my RL until I can drive no more. Does anyone have any thoughts about this situation with the service bulletin? Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

I thought that was something that should be paid for by Acura. That's a huge safety flaw, why was it not a recall? I just got my used one as well and visited the Acura dealer and they looked up my vin and both the master cylinder and the power steering hose were replaced. You got no choice. If it's not a recall, you have to pony up, but I would call Acura first, maybe they'll pay some of it because it was a design flaw and a safety issue, otherwise a TSB would not have been issued. With this car, anything under $1000 is a reason to jump for joy. I am about to get a timing belt and spark plugs done on my Honda Pilot next week and it's going to cost $1100. I am pissed. Totally unreasonable for maintenance. This is not a Ferrari, and neither is the RL. Not the mechanics fault, parts are labor are what they are, they don't care about the car after warranty. If they don't make money on you cause the car is a POS, they'll kill you on maintenace. At least you didn't get a rustbucket like I did. Don't ever buy a northern car, even if you live in the north. And if you like your car and live in the north, move.

 

Thanks very much for your response.
According to my car fax both the master cylinder and power steering hose were completed. What I am saying is due to the fact that the master cylinder failed I believe that the agency never really did the repair and said they did and pocketed the charge back money from Acura but it will do no good to contact Acura because I have no proof. They can enter the repairs being done in their computer so it appears to Acura that the repairs were completed. If they were really done my master cylinder should have never failed.

 

Ask the other dealer if they can look at the master cylinder and identify it as the original or replacement part. Should be different part numbers. This, of course, depends on where the part number was printed, but even if it's found to be the bad one later you have cause for a claim. Acura owes you or any RL owner a master cylinder of the revised design if you car was the year/VIN range for this issue.

 

That is a good idea. I am going to take Shahram72 advice and send an email to Acura stating my case and hopefully they will be willing to at least split the cost. On a different matter now I am not even sure that the dealer did all of the services properly so I made an appointment to have the transfer case and differential fluid service done and the transmission service. Can't take any chances at this point. luckily for me money is not an issue at this point in my life.

 

Shahram, the master cylinder and hose was a recall for all 2005-mid 2007 models.

 

Really, my local dealer told me the master cylinder was limited to a certain range of VIN's. Oh well, she said and carfax confirmed that mine was done.

 

I just received a call from The Acura Customer Relations Rep in my area and he informed me that Acura will cover the entire cost of my master cylinder replacement. Acura really knows how to treat a customer and I highly recommend everyone to pass this information on to any friends that are in the market for a car to purchase a Honda Motor Corp automobile and I want to specially thank Shahram72 for the help you offered to me in resolving this issue.

 

That's good news!