I am not talking about the niggling little things that get reported over and over here...

I changed the oil the other day (using the Purolator oil filter that provides better filtering and more capacity!), and noticed oil on the starter and oil pan. I traced it up to the front valve cover, which is leaking enough to have stained my header!

I am going to the dealer tomorrow to have this looked at - this is the first time any Honda product I have owned has had any kind of oil leak. Perhaps the 5w20????

 

I had an oil leak in my 98 Accord EX V6 so welcome to the lonely club.

But if you think your problem is bad, check out my post regarding my dead tranny.

 

Sorry to hear about both of your problems. At least the warrantee will (hopefully) get you back to 100%! Good luck!!!

 

Well, thanks, they will sort it out, but Redlined gets my award for the Goody Headache of the weeK, NO DOUBT!

 

You know maybe it's only me, but does anyone feel that all these problems they are experiencing with the new TL and TL Type S, is due to they are just being made in Ohio? I had a 99TL and it was solid as a rock, sure small quality issues to be fixed here and there, and that is expected, but it's just not the same being built here in the US and in Japan. It's still the Honda name, but I think they just do it better there in Japan, not sure how, but they do it better.

You expect better, but there are always exceptions. Still a great car, but not sure what is going on with these dead trannies, etc.

 

I concur...the build quality for the Marysville cars may not be as good as the ones in Japan. I had major issues with my '99. That is why I had Acura buy it back from me.

 

Interestingly, according to the window sticker on my car when I bought it, the transmission is built in Japan.

 

Yeak, must be the air in Ohio! That Japanese transmission is used to sea air.

According to Honda itself in some press releases, the Marysville plant has some of the highest QC metrics ratings of all Honda mfg. facilities worldwide! I have also heard this from suppliers who sell to Honda, including my dear sister whose company sells bearings to the Lima engine plant.

I think this topic comes up again and again, and reeks of xenophobia.

Many Accords are exported to Japan, and sold interchangeably with domestic (Japan) sourced cars. If there were an unusual QC problem, they would not buy them in Japan - they do.

 

You can take the following info as you want, but the US Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio tied for silver from JD Power & Associates on initial quality. Toyota got the platinum and the gold, actually several of them.

Here is the chart:
http://www.jdpa.com/presspass/pr/images/0113afull.gif

Here is the entire press release. It was actually a plug for Toyota quality:
http://www.jdpa.com/studies/pressrel...ID=517&CatID=1

 

It took two days to fix, so I was without my beloved S for the weekend. On the other hand, they gave me a 2001 TL loaner.

They have never had a leak on these cars, so they had to FedEx in the valve cover gasket.

The work was done, they cleaned all the leaked oil off off the header flange, the header, and the starter.

My car was washed, vacuumed, and they even honored my request to leave that atrocious greasy tire dressing off!

I had forgotten how much better my modded S is compared to the base TL. I was very happy to get back in the Silver Streak.

Have I lost confidence in the car? No.

Am I ready to indict the Ohio plant? No.

Do I intend to keep her? Damn straight!

 

1) I need to move to Richmond just so I can get a better loaner. I got a 99 Integra. They are supposedly getting some CLs for loaners.
2) I've been w/o mine for 6 days and it's looking like another 6 before I'll get it back.
3) So what was the problem? Just a faulty gasket or did something cause it to go bad?

 

They think it might have gotten torn during installation and missed when the heads were bolted to the block.