TheEndorphin

Sorry for posting this again. I accidentally posted in the wrong forum.

My 02 3.2 TL has 55K miles on it. I took it in today for transmission and found out that the transmission is screwed which will be replaced under warrenty but also the front left wheel bearing is messed up as well. They offered me a 50-50 split on the cost..which will end up costing me $200. I called acura customer service and requested a them to pay for the entire thing. I am hoping somone can give me some advice on this issue...how do i convince acura to pay for the entire cost of the wheel bearing replacement? They said a manager would be getting back to me in about 2 business days. I was in the dealership to buy a new TL when i took my car in for service. I am having 2nd thoughts about buying an acura now? I loved the car but damn..a bad transmission and a bad wheel bearing? I havent even hit anything..no pot holes nothing. Well anyways acuras are still the bomb...but it just seems expensive. Well I hope somone here can give me some advice. Thanks in advance guys!!!!

NYbsbl04

have them pay for the wheel barring and tell them that you are going to buy a new acura from them. Makes no sense in paying $200 then selling the car, unless you include that either in the selling price of your 2002 acura or make them come down $200 from their lowest point in the price of a new acura.

fsttyms1

why do some people get their undies in a bundle when something mechanical breaks? Its mechanical and things do go bad. Just because a specific name is on a product doesnt mean that it will never go bad.
Yes its a little early for a wheel bearing to go, but it does happen. all you can do is try to talk to acura CS and try to get them to cover it. thats all you can do. you are past warranty. Sorry for sounding so negative but thats the way things go

caha14

I agree that you should definitely mention your plans to buy a new TL to the ACS people. In fact, you should mention it to the dealer (if you haven't already). Honestly, they'd have to be pretty stupid to lose a sale over the $200 involved, although nothing ACS does would surprise me at this point.

As I see it, yes, the car is out of warranty, but only by a few miles and it's only a few years old. It'd be a no-brainer for me if I were making the decision. Not only would you buy a new car, but I bet you'd remember this and share the story with other people. Their little gesture could go a long way, don't you think?

03CoupeV6

What were the symptoms? I ask because it seems like my TL has every problem of every TL ever produced.

whatwasthat

hmm.... it you really want to save money, you can buy the bearing yourself and install it. my rear bearing was $75 and my buddy installed it for free watched him do it, you basically just have to take the wheel off and the bearing is one big nut that you have to tighten (or loosen if you're taking it off) . . .

BLaCk Acc

First of all do you even NEED a new wheel bearing. I don't believe shit the dealership tells me. I went there for a tranny replacement and they came up with a list of things I also needed to get fixed. For starters they said I need new axles because the boots are ripped. It's funny because I was underneath my car that same week and I saw them and they were perfectly fine. I told there punk ass's that i'll let my mechanic look at it and fix it. Went home checked out everything that they said was wrong. Everything was fine except one thing which I was already aware of. If I were you I would show it to someone else if you actually want to see if its messed up. DAMN dealership peple lie tryna squeeze you for every penny they can get!!!

TheEndorphin

Well i went into the dealership to mainly go check out the new TL's and drove in my 2002 there and figured i would get my transmission checked out as well, since it would ocasionally act a lil jerky...very little though...well anyways i asked them about other stuff and they were asking me to pay a diagnostic fee. I was told by ACS that diagnostic is free even if the car is out of warrenty.

But on a seprate note guys...when i drive around 50+mph I hear this sound from the car like a humming kinda sound..best way i can describe it...kinda like you can hear the road..and the dealership said its b/c of the wheel bearing. Also i can hear a lil wind noise again when doing 50+mph...not sure if its maybe b/c of the wheel bearing making a sound and perhaps i am mistaking it..i dont think so...but you never know. can anyone give me any ideas?? They wanted me to pay them a 150 to diagnose it..I dont think that will happen. lol. I feel like the damn car is falling apart. Even my CD's dont eject properly. Specifically no 2 and 4. I get an error message flashing on the cd player..when the latch opens...so what i do is push the cd back inwards as if i were inserting it a bit...and then it comes out fine. I think that about covers it.

03CoupeV6

Mine does that humming shit, too!

My 02 TL-P also seems to be falling apart. At right at 47k miles, it drives like it has 147k miles. My VIN ends in 43294 what does your's end in? Maybe they're close, and they were both built at 4:55pm on a Friday at Marysville, OH.

TheEndorphin

good thing atleast your car is still under warrenty. I would advise you to upgrade your warrenty to 7yrs 100K miles..b/c the dealership wont sell you a warrenty or upgrade your warrenty once you are out of 4 years or 50K miles. I think the extra money is worth it.

moat

I had both my front wheel bearings replaced under warranty in my 02 TL-S, at 70K (along with a new trans, the first of 5). The dealership, Inskip Acura in Warwick, RI, said they were having issues with front wheel bearing and had replaced quite a few under warranty.

Good luck,

Mark

moat

Also got a new CD changer for free since it was stuck full of discs... a complimentary gift with the install of trans #4 at 99K

fla-tls

FYI - you don't just replace the bearing on the front. It's non-serviceable. You have to replace the entire knucle!

This also means you'll need an alignment when you're done.

Refer to item 12:

fsttyms1

Actually hate to tell you this but your wrong

Its Part #4 its just a bearing and it by itself can be replaced, And it costs about 70 bucks

whatwasthat

told ya.

fla-tls

Wow - I only knew that because my dealership fixed both of my fronts and said thery had to replace the whole knuckle.

Perhaps they were screwing Acura under warranty?

fla-tls

Well - I try my best...

fsttyms1

Its ok, we are all wrong sometimes

TheEndorphin

so when you got ur cd player and bearings replaced...did the dealership charge you a diagnostic fee in either incidence? b/c the ass H**E acura customer service guy at the dealership was trying to charge me 150 for the few problems i had stated. While ACS (acura usa) told me it would be free to run a diagnositc for anything even after warrenty.
ThankS!!!

03CoupeV6

Have ACS contact the dealer. That'll take care of it.

fsttyms1

If its going to be covered under warranty they will waive the diagnostic fee. IF its not ive never heard of a dealer giving FREE diagnostic's

whatwasthat

lol.

FuzzyNutz

Hey guys, I'm new here and have had my TL for the past year. One quick question about the humming noise you heard earlier. Did the noise change in pitch as you increased or decreased speed? I'm having that trouble with mine. Mechanic said that it was the tires (which was believeable, since they were pretty low), but I just replace them and the sound is still there. Sounds to me like it's the bearings, but your input could help diagnose. Thanks!

TheEndorphin

Oh yea fuzzynutz exact same thing with me. Humming increases with speed. I will let you know after i get my wheel bearing replaced. if i do

seans5

Hey guys,
I have a 2002 TL Premium with the exact same moaning/humming noise (increases in pitch with speed) coming from the front end. It'll be a couple of weeks before I can do anything about it. Is there any danger in continuing to drive during this time?

TheEndorphin

My TL drives like a dream now after getting the wheel bearing and transmission replaced. The humming sound is gone. As for the dangers of driving w/ a bad bearing, just really depends on how long its been humming. I drove mine for 4K miles b4 getting it replaced. So..... just depends. From what ive been told by mechanics, you cannot tell when it will stop working. It just does.

Another experience i wanted to share...When i gave them my 02 for replacing tranny they gave me an automatic 05 TL. Awesome care but i started missing mine after driving it for 2 days. My old TL is a lot more comfortable and the sound system is 10x better.

fsttyms1

Hopefully your tranny holds up.

More comfortable and 10x better stereo, what were you wearing a space suit? The 3rd gen stereo is 10x better than our BLOZ stereo

russianDude

I had my wheel bearing replace for the exact same problem (humming noise - increased pitch with speed).
My car had 41K miles and few month after warranty.
The fukers at dealership made me pay close to $400 and did not wish to work a deal with me... I should have called customer care... if it fails again (even on another wheel), I am not paying for this, this is B.S....

fsttyms1

Bummer.

FuzzyNutz

I just ordered a rear bearing assy. (hub) from Rockauto.com. Going to try to do it myself and follow the instructions from another post. Shouldn't be that difficult... and hey, if I can do it myself for $80 versus the mechanic for closer to $300, then I just buy myself a new toy with the extra money.

fsttyms1

And if you get stumped along the way let us know

Black TL

My car makes a very noticable humming noise around the front driver side wheel. It's been doing it for about 30k miles now and it's getting bad now. I can't believe how many problems I've had/have with this car. Sad to say, but this will be my last Honda. I used to be a Honda fanatic until the TL was about a year old. Now, I would never recommend one.

fsttyms1

Its funny how a few little things will make people say that. Besides the crappy tranny the car has been better than expected for me. and if ti wernt for the tranny, id deffinatly get another. (that and if Honda would get there heads out of their butts and build a RWD)

03CoupeV6

I loved the driving the new TL, but these older ones are more comfortable. And despite what everyone says, I tried the ELS system in the new TL with all sorts of music and while it does have a more surround-sound to it, the Bose speakers in my car have a fuller, richer quality to them. Acura should have stuck with Bose in each car like Infiniti has, and offered more money on developing it. The Bose system's shortcomings in the 2nd gen TL are the fault of Acura's need to offer a ton of equipment at low costs.

Not that they're competitors, but go try a 14-speaker Bose studio surround system in an M45. Like Car and Driver said, it has to be heard to be believed.

Black TL

It's not a few little things that make me say this. It is two engine mounts, wheel bearings, an engine coil kit, steering problems, idle problems, starter problems, and most of all, tranny problems that make me say this. All within 80k miles. The car just does not drive right anymore. I'm comparing the TL to our '94 Accord, which I drive everyday to/from work. The car has 206,000 miles on it and it drives amazing. We've never had to do anything but normal maintenance with that car. I tried to convince myself that things go wrong once in a while but this is just ridiculous.

Cheers,
Roshan

Black TL

I forgot to mention the four times my rotors warped. ;-)

FuzzyNutz

Alright folks, I need a miracle. So I followed the instructions to a "T", and got the hub assembly off. (it took some coaxing, but later found out why). After I took it off, I looked at the old hub and saw exposed ball bearings and thought "Well that's not right". So I look at the shaft and see the race (the inside part of a bearing) frozen on to the shaft. (see picture) I tried soaking the thing in WD-40 and liguid wrench overnight. And hammered it a couple times with a flathead screwdriver from behind. (probably did more damage than progress). I also tried every wrench i hav in the shop including a strap wrench. Luckily nothing has scored it yet. Can you guys think of what else I can do? I'm thinking of just keeping it on there and taking off the same part from the new assembly. What do you think?

Jamesmoore

So is there a DIY anywhere here for a front wheel bearing replacement?>

fsttyms1

not that i know of

Jamesmoore

Well it seems fairy easy, is it?