Hi guys,

I have a quick question. I just had my valves adjusted for the first time (125,600 miles, 2003 TL) and now my car is idling very erratically and has stalled out a few times. I took it back to the dealership and they checked their work and reset my computers. My car is slowly starting to "adapt," but it is still erratic. The dealer said this is to be expected. I am worried that my car will stall out or something worse as I am driving, this especially worries me because I will be logging a lot of miles of the next two weeks. Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated.

 

Any auto engine stalling is not to be expected...

Valve adjustments are FINE tuning, they should not cause drastic changes.

Go back to the dealership and make sure they fix what they broke. Resetting the ECU should let the car relearn. At no point during this process should the idle be very erratic, and the engine should definitely not stall.

Even if your valves were REALLY out of spec, a valve adjustment and ECU reset should put the car back to normal without any issues.

Since it's a dealership, I wouldn't settle for anything less than perfect work.

 

did you take it in and tell them to adjust the valves?
or you went in and complained of erratic running and they diagnosed it?

no reason at all for valve adj to cause it to die
really old spark plugs, clogged egr system, really dirty fuel injectors, weak battery
those are all possibles

reck'd their work? only way to do that is take it apart and feeler guage every valve = a few hours work at `no pay` to the tech
I bet that didnt happen--
maybe tech listened with a stethascope and they all sounded fine
But thats not what is causing your prob

VERY strange for dealership not to pry diagnostic fee money from you to find out whats really wrong
NEVER should the car leave in the condition yours did!!!
thats a major safety hazard to you and others
something any good attorney would find the dealership liable for,, after a crash

speak in person with the SERVICE MANAGER not the service writer
managers are responsible

and those survey cards you get when paying,,those get read at corp- data mined and sent back to the dealer for weekly meetings,
Anything less than all 10s is considered a FAIL by corp!
service writer and manager are supposed to make sure you are 100% happy before you walk out that door
Survey results = bonus pay or not!

mention to the service manager that you have a thread on acurazine.com about the prob.
they might pretend they dont know about us,,but they do

A HAPPY customer tells 2 friends
an UNhappy customer goes online and tells 11 million

 

@01tl4tl

I had them do a service package on my car where they changed fluids, worked on my brakes, as well as adjusted the valves. I got back home and the car stalled twice while idling, I took it back right away and they checked their work and reset the computers and what not. They said to come back if it does not remedy itself by tuesday.

 

what total BS!! go see the Service Manager right away !!!
tell them what the sales person (service writer) told you
the car doesnt get better all by itself
resetting the ecu wont fix it either!!

something is wrong!!--the car left not running correct after a service!
Tech is supposed to note any needed repairs, and should have noticed the car wasnt running right after they got done with it~

I was in the biz =
go talk to the SM right now,,no waiting to see if its better
they put you off till Tues because weekly shop meetings are monday morning and the corp warranty rep might be there~...how uncool for you to show up right then!

 

The car will not get better itself, like we do from a bad cold. There is no break-in period for valve adjustment. Either they were adjusted to spec or they weren't. This is an ON or OFF issue.
If they can confirm that the valves are adjusted to spec, then perhaps there is a gasket leak somewhere in their work. Or maybe they put that intake gasket upside down (very common mistake since it fits both ways) which will definitely cause stalling.....like others have pointed out.

 

I agree with both. Something is wrong. Bring it back and have them fix it properly!

 

good call victus1-- the flipped upper gasket--has been the bane on many a ziner during egr port cleaning diy!

 

As fas as I am concerned, no shop will admit faulty works and will not fix anything for free. They will come up with some bogus things and charge you for that, then re-do the valve adjustments. I got burnt many times, and Azine is the BEST place for self-maintainance.

Paying for repairs is not my concern, getting it done right is. That's what makes you their milking cow.

 

Totally agreed.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will be going to Phoenix later this week and will be dropping my car off at Acura North Scottsdale, when I told them about the problem, they told me that this should not be happening and will take a look at it and get it fixed for me. This is the last time I will be taking my car to the Flagstaff Honda dealer for anything more than a simple service. Thanks again for the help!

 

have them document whats wrong so you can bill the original place for the repairs

some honda dealer techs know acuras,, but most dont
example: they think our temp guage is supposed to move around --like other cars!!!
told a ziner `thats normal` when he actually needed a new thermostat!!