After having 62 000 km on my old 98 TL, I noticed that the brakes were not quite what they used to be. However, they were still far from being considered unsafe. The brakes in that vehicle had been stellar throughout the life of the vehicle. Anyhow, I brought the car in for service to North Toronto Acura, and left it there for the day. I get a call back from them saying my master cylinder had to be replaced due to a leak in the system. They said the car was unsafe to drive, and they would provide me with a rental for a week, while they waited for a new master cylinder. I had no problems waiting, however when I received my car back a week later, i expected the brakes to be somewhat better then they were when I dropped the vehicle off. Well guess what, Acura completely f*cked up my brakes. Not only did they claim to redo the whole system, re-bleeding it, re-machining all 4 rotors, and replacing the master cylinder, they even claimed they cleaned the system top to bottom. So I picked up my vehicle and the first time I applied the brakes, I noticed that the brakes were virtually non-existent. Now this is coming from a car that used to have brakes that when an inch of pressure was applied to the pedal, you would fly forward. I let the brakes work in for a bit, considering they were all replaced, and I decided to drive the car for a bit, to break in all the parts. Well i continuously brought the car back in to have the brakes checked because they just didn't feel the same. After nagging for a couple months, I decided that they couldn't do anything for me, and so I went in one evening and traded my 98TL in for a 2003 3.2TL Type S- A Spec. I'm thrilled with the new vehicle but do have a couple very minor concerns.

1) My sunroof rattles, which I have been told can be fixed with the snap of your fingers. So I'm not too worried about that.
2) The steering wheel shakes when you apply the brakes going 115 km/h and slow down to about 80 km/h.
3) The driver seat sounds like it's creaking/cracking whenever i brake. If I lean forward caused by the inertia of the vehicle, the seat seems to make a weird noise. I can't differ where the sound is actually coming from but it seems that it comes from the part where the back rest, and the part your sit on meet. I spoke to someone and they said it could be caused by the lumbar support in the seat. _/ <--

I think it comes from the part of the seat where the backslash and the underscore meet.

Will Acura be able to cure my vehicle of all these things? And I'm a little reluctant to take my new TL-S to the North Toronto Acura because of the problems I had in the past. Can someone suggest a dealer in relative distance to North Toronto? I'm located in the Bathurst and 407 Area.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for such a long post!

 

The steering wheel shake sounds like rotors.

The seat issue I'm not sure, but it's not normal.

I know it's far for you but Steve at Downtown Acura is simply amazing. Very nice and helpful. (he's the service manager).

 

I bought my TL-S at Acura in Markham, and their service has been top notch so far. They're located at Hwy 7 & McCowan Rd in Markham, is that far from you? Their number is 905-948-8866.

The problems you mention, my car had all of those as well, which they can fix no problem.

They fixed the sunroof rattle by adding tape to specific areas of the sunroof, under warranty.

Your steering wheel shaking is a warped rotor. These cars get warped rotors real easily. A hard stop from high speed on a hot summer day is all it takes. They can machine the rotors for you, then try to take it easy on them.

My driver seat also had that problem, it comes and goes intermittently, and I haven't done anything about it. The squeek appears to be coming from the seat belt buckle, which I'm sure Acura's aware of this problem too.

All in all, very minor problems for an all around good car.

Dirk Diggler.

 

Oh yeah, the squeak I get is the lumbar support handle rubbing the centre console when it's down.

I forgot about the Markham dealership. It's brand new so they should be willing to please.

P.S. I've heard similiar bad stories about Acura North and the worst horror stories you can imagine about Terrace Gate.

 

I don't think Terrace Gate is around anymore. There's an outdated website about them, at www.acurasucks.com

Dirk Diggler.

 

Terrace Gate is still around.

I just purchased my car from them. Great...... now I'm going to have to find somewhere else to have the car serviced.

 

Try Woodbine Acura... However, be forwarned that by going there you might get bitten by the mod bug

The seat squeek is actually the belt buckle... try moving the belt buckle within the receiver and you should hear the squeek. I heard someone here saying spraying WD40 helps.

Hope this helps

 

I also have good experience with Woodbine Acura, that is where I go to service my car and I would recommend them.
In regards to problems that you have:
1) Sunroof – there is a clear tape that is applied around sunroof opening that cures the problem
2) Shaky steering wheel when you apply brakes at higher speeds means usually warped rotors (disks). This happens because friction material on brake pads is too hard and it is very common problem on our car and a huge number of other cars as well. The solution is upgraded pads + NEW rotors. Dealer will usually try just to machine the rotors but making them thinner is just going to shorten their life. Since this is manufacturer related defect if you cannot convince the dealer then call Acura customer service. You and everybody else should end up with NEW front pads and rotors under warranty even though it may take some effort from you. BTW, my steering wheel (I am at 38K Km) just started to shake/vibrate but I am going to wait till the next service at 42K Km.
3) Seat creaks and squeaks (rocking motion provokes these) are related to seat base that needs to be replaced to solve this. This happened to me (drivers seat) and I did have some difficulty to convince them to do it. Nick in Acura Woodbine did it for me so you can talk to him for example. Talking to tech guys about this problem I figured that this is also common not just on our car but on MDX as well. Other squeaks can come from seat belt buckle (again, drivers seat), I also had this problem, and this is solved by just lubricating it.

If you have a problem with particular dealership find a new one and ultimately talk to Acura customer care. Honda is, at least historically speaking, pretty good at meeting customer needs and wants even after the warranty expires, but you have to be persistent.