I have 2002 TL with 30K miles on it. I recently received a letter from Acura stating that their was a recall on the timing belt tensioner. I took my car to the dealership and they replaced the timing belt tensioner. That night I noticed that my engine was making a wierd noise and then the "Check Engine" Light came on. I took the car to the dealership the next day and they told me that the Timing belt tensioner they had put in was bad out of the box. They replaced the timing belt tensioner with a new one and the "Check Engine" Light hasn't come on after that but I feel a wierd viberation when I start the car in the morning.

I thought Acura's were very reliable but I'm having a horrible time with this car. I've had major problems with the transmission and got that replaced a few weeks back since there was a recall on that and now I'm worried that my engine might be damaged permanently because of the dealers negligence?

 

sonuTL,

First, this is a Product Update and not a Recall. A recall is when a fix is mandated by the government for safety issues. This is not a safety issue but a problem they have found with parts that were supplied to them. If the tensioner is loose it just causes the timing belt to be loose it will not cause engine damage unless it jumps a tooth or the timing belt breaks. The vibration might be something you just started to notice or could be from something from the transmission swap. If the vibration goes away with engine temp then it would probably be related to an ignition issue and you might have a weak cylinder when cold and it is not related to a timing belt tensioner. If you think Acura is doing bad go and buy an american car and enjoy taking it to the dealer on a regular basis for warranty work. My work truck is a 2003 Chevy and every time the oil is changed by the dealer there is a list of warranty fixes to go with it. It is a joke. My Acura only has 13,000 miles on it but I have not had a single problem except for the squeeky moonroof cover which was fixed by the dealer. I will now take it in for the Timing belt tensioner. If you are unhappy with your dealer try to go to another dealer if that is possible.

Ryan Hubbard

 

Ryan,

I'm greatful to you for the valuable information provided but if your excuse on behalf of Acura is that I should compare it's reliability with other American cars it's a really poor one since when I bought an Acura I thought I was buying a very reliable car otherwise I would have spent less and bought an American car. I hope Acura has not stopped priding itself in the reliability they are known to deliver and immaturely compare their cars to lesser cars as two wrongs don't make it right. Hopefully they would take notice and strive to improve their technology consistently. I'm sure the reason a person buys an Acura is that they don't have the problems that I have faced in the last couple of months.

Thank you for taking time out to answer my question/concerns.