Let's say I have a specific problem and I don't know how to fix it but I can describe the issue. Normally, as I understand it, If you take the car to a dealer they will charge a diagnostic fee for their time in pinpointing the problem.

Could this be avoided by taking the car to the dealership for a service special and mentioning the problem when they do the free maintenance check up, or is that scan rather limited?

I feel like it might be worth taking the acura to the dealer every now and then only using a service special/coupon. You get the maintenance check which would also offer me a checklist of potential repairs you could do yourself.

People say avoid dealers but I think this may make sense like once a year. The Acura Techs in my area know the ins and outs of these cars and can pick up on slight problems very quickly while other mechanics seem to wing it haha.

Let me get this straight, you have a problem, you don't know how to fix it but want to take it to a dealer and avoid paying the diagnostic fee for them to tell you what the problem is.



At the end of the day, you still don't know how to fix it so... What's the point of taking it to the dealer?

Point is the acura tech may pick up on the issue while doing the check and immediately know what's wrong. Thereby getting a free diagnostic when it would have originally cost 100+ for a billable hour.

Find a trustworthy mechanic. Even if you tell them whats wrong, they don't care, they will say "Well it can be other things." etc etc.

You have that much faith in them eh? Go try it and let us know the outcome.

They will say sounds like blah blah blah is going out, we can check it out for you for $120 Diog fee.

Or you can ask the good people of Acurazine who have a wealth of knowledge and most likely will be able to help you with the problem.


Dealers aren`t stupid, you can build a relationship with them but pay through the nose.


Do you have a specific problem that you want checked out?

Funny, I sort of did that by accident with the Honda dealer. I learned it was time to replace my struts.

On my wife's Element, they were very hit and miss. A year ago I brought it in and they wanted to charge $3000 to replace a bunch of stuff including compliance bushings and front struts.

I brought it in this month for the airbag recall (having not fixed the previous stuff) and they said the compliance bushings need to be replaced. They didn't say anything about the front struts, both of which leaking like a sieve.

They wanted $800 to replace the compliance bushings which is about $30 in parts and they should be able to do in under 2 hours. Needless to say, I did them myself. Also replaced a lower ball joint in the process. I wonder if they would have tried to tack on $300 when they discovered my ball joints needed new boots. I pulled the control arms and took them to a local shop to press in for $30 a side. Next time I'd just buy whole aftermarket control arms.

I bought quick struts for both vehicles and saved a fortune over the dealer.