yffreh1

Listen to this crap! The day I pulled off the lot, the oil light went on in my 05 TL. I went around the blck and went back in and told the salesman. He came out, and of course, turned the car off and on, and presto! the light was gone.

A few weeks later, the light came on again, but it wasn't consistent. It would come on at low RPM, then go off as soon as you hit the gas. Other times it would come, be solid at low RPM, and flash when you hit the gas. I took it into the dealer, and explained what was going on. The service guy thougth I was driving the car hard and that was the problem. After two days, he called and said he couldn't replicate the problem and that nothing was wrong.

The next day, the light came on again. I didn't have time to go in again, but I assumed that a sensor or something was bad. Doesn't matter though, they said nothing was wrong. So I wasn't concerned. After a month of this light being on, I finally took it in again. This time to another dealer because the guy at the other one was an a$$! By the afternoon of the day I dropped it off, they found that the oil pump was faulty and that there hasn't been a good supply of oil to the engine since day 1!!. Basically, he said, the engine is toast.

He said it would be a week or two before they would be able to get an engine in from Acura so I would have to drive a loaner. Not a big deal.

Has anyone else heard of this hapenning??

Ron A

As I said in another thread with another rare problem, god I hope not. But parts sometimes go bad and unfortunately for you this happened to cause a major problem.

Maybe it's all for the best that your first dealer was an asshole and didn't correctly diagnose the problem, because now you will be getting a new engine, whereas if the problem was found right away they might just have replaced the oil pump and you would never know what kind of damage was done to the engine.

Are you getting a NEW engine or a rebuilt? I hope it is a new one, and it should be, but I would definitely make sure it is new, and if not fight like hell for a new one.

Russdaddy

!!BEWARE!!

If they are putting a new engine in your car, you need to be on top of that like a fly on s**t.

I personally would fight to get the entire car replaced. You really don't know what little problems could start popping up after the engine is replaced in it, not to mention that although any dealership will tell you that they have the best mechanics, my experience has told me otherwise. Good luck to you regardless and hope that this all works in your favor!

steevr

Have them replace the car!!!! The problem happened as soon as you were driving the car off the lot. You have proof that you had a defective car from the factory. Let them deal with the hassle of replacing the engine and then they can use it as a demo.

Take it from experience, insist you want the car replaced and if they come up with any other solution, use the words "This is unacceptable".

ndx2

Wow, that's just horrible. I hope you can get them to replace the car... I have yet to see a competent mechanic working for a dealership.

If your loaner is an RL, or at least a TL, then just don't pick up your car and open a case with Acura and drag it out.

Good luck.

Phillyboi

holy crap! Sorry to hear your engine is toast. You better file a complaint with that dealer. Have you gone back since and told them what happend? If so what was there response? Make sure you get a brand new engine. See if you can get a whole new car instead. LEMON? Good luck!

ayethetiense

you NEED to be really careful that they give you a new engine and not a refurb one from the factory. they have been known to do that. Make sure there are no miles on it what so ever. ask them straight up if its a brand new engine and not one that was fixed.

JetJock

Push like hell for a new car. Tell the manager to ask himself the question...If I purchased a brand new car, would I want the engine replaced from day one? It's a new car dude, you shouldn't have to have the engine replaced so soon. That's not a new car, it's a "repaired" car and not new. Besides, the resale value will be hurt. When a new car doesn't have the original engine, that's going to be a clue to a buyer that the car could be a potential lemon. I'd sue if I had to, but there is no way I'd accept a new car with a replacement engine this soon. THAT SUCKS!!! Don't give up....be a pain in their butt that won't go away until you get what you want. I'd camp out in the showroom if I had to, but I just wouldn't go away until they gave me a new car.

Tom Champagne

I bought a TBird SC new in '93 and the engine went out at 175miles. I didn't even have the car 2 weeks. The Ford rep said that I couldn't get a new car because the engine was replaceable and that would fix my problem and basically shut up and deal with it. The engine that was put in was a new one..I made sure of that. I didn't get an answer from the dealer as to why the engine went(overheated and blew the radiator and head gaskets,while they were testing to find the problem). I feel your frustration...I wanted a new car bad after that,but that engine got me thru until I sold the car in 2002.

SouthernBoy

I agree with the people who hve advised you to demand a replacement new car. However, as soon as you saw the light come on, you should have checked the oil level (after waiting several minutes for it to settle) on the dealer's lot with your saleman and preferrably the manager present. If that engine was that low on oil at delivery, not telling what has happened in the first few miles of its life.

Yep, I agree with the others. You should never expect, nor be expected to take delivery of a new car that is not good to go.

nick04tl

it will be a new engine. we dont use reman engines.

nick04tl

thats because you havent brought your car to my dealer. but since you lump all dealership techs into a incompetent group i would never help you out. you may have had a bad experince with a young tech but that doesnt reflect on how every other tech is in the shop. i am one of the highest factory trained techs at my dealer and i never get complaints from customers about the quality of work i turn out. in fact we are on of the precision dealers every year which is a small percent of dealers who excell in customer satisfaction.

Greg-ster

Wow, you totally just made me pee on myself laughing.

Thanks for making my day, since dealers are so well trained, how come the tech at my dealer said that he doens't know how to fix my freaking nav system?


And of course, the dealer monkeys LOVE to use the clutch to stop the car

ndx2

Hmm... I apologize if I offended you. Glad to hear you're highly trained. It's too bad I haven't seen many techs like you in my area.

Maybe it's because you're a service tech, and not a customer service rep, but part of the business is dealing with rude, angry, and/or ignorant customers - just because I, or anyone else, made a negative comment (based on my personal experience) does not give you the right to "not help me out," when it's your job to do so.

Also, regardless of the training, I don't think many dealership techs are capable of flawlessly doing an engine swap. Afterall, how much experience do they have with that?

RedSoxGuy

F**k that... Demand a NEW car!!!

Hybrid

The warranty says they'll fix the car, not REPLACE the car. How does a person "make" a dealer give them a new car? Bring a weapon?

Tha99

There are seem to be problems everywhere (acura, honda, infiniti, even bmw, etc)...

I am thinking about riding my lovely bike instead of driving the car......

Tha99

I mean bicycle.... by the way.......

nick04tl

probably you had a poorly trained tech. my dealer sends us to american honda school all the time. that dealer probably doesnt. all dealers are not created equal. some just plain suck.

nick04tl

if your dealer isnt satisfing(sp.) you try a different one. i beg to differ that an engine swap can not be done flawlessly. i just did an rsx last month after a customer over reved it and put a hole in the block. i have yet to hear any complaints on an engine i did. i have even done the horrible slx motors with no complaints.

Russdaddy

Assholes like you only make it worse......


Because of your response, I'm convinced that nine outta ten times you're one of these incompetent morons.

Ron A

Play nice so the thread can stay open.

yffreh1 posted with a problem and only wants some answers, not to get in the middle of a pissing contest, so let's get back on topic and quit sniping at each other.

Russdaddy

My apologies, but that response bothered me in the fact that I've been burned by more than one mechanic/service rep that gave me that kind of statement at a dealership and couldn't get the problem that I had resolved. I ended up having to take my car to a independent mechanic who got my problem resolved in a timely fashion.

crazymjb

If your engine wasn't acting any different, even without a good supply of oil, chances are its not toast, my bet is it is cheaper for them to replace the engine and send the other one back to acura to be refurbished than to take it out and go through the hole thing themselves. You are not guaranteed problems after an engine swap, if they do a good job you should be fine.

gregory28_RENAMED

Demand a new car. Check the lemon laws in your state. Consult a lemon law attorney if the dealer doesn't give you satisfaction.

If you don't want to do this, trade the car back to the dealer. Cut your losses immediately.

I had a Volvo S-80- total nightmare. Unfortunately, it was a "LIME"- I had a slow an excruciating experience. One of their service guys confidentially suggested I get rid of it while it was still under warranty. I made the mistake of hanging onto it for 3 years- it cost me a bundle of money in a trade and loss of my time.

MR1

Don't accept a replacement engine. Why should you? New car built at the factory just like you paid for is the ONLY answer period.

mickey3c

Lots of people need to read their warranty... You cannot just demand a new car when something goes wrong. Once you sign all the paperwork and take delivery, it is yours. The dealer has the opportunity to correct the problem. Once that avenue has been unsuccessful, then you can move to the next step.

jdb8805

I don't know what the warranty says, but I can bet on one thing for sure:

The engine is not just a plug and play swap. Unless they send the tranny and everything else with it (like they put it in at the factory), then its a fairly involved process. Most likely it will be a new short block (possibly long block) leaving the techs to transfer parts from one to the other.

If you've ever seen the white glove facilities that the engines are assembled in, then you'll know that the dealer garage is nothing close to that.

There will be opportunities for missed bolts, mis-torqued bolts and other human errors. There won't be the kind of quality control you get at the engine factories.

Gadgets

First, let me say I feel bad for you that this happened.


This is a perfect example of why you should test drive the exact car you are going to buy before you sign. In this case, you might have seen the oil light come on.

Good luck on getting your car fixed/replaced.

mickey3c

I agree with the previous post... The thing is that you can do the swap and never have a problem again. It does not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling whenever they have to replace anything major. But the warranty does not state that if anything major goes wrong in the first 30 days (e.g., engine/ tranny), acura will replace the car.

It is a risk we all take when we buy some iron.

MR1

You are correct about what the warranty says but this car was delivered new with a major problem. There is such a thing as fair play and good business practices. The right thing is to replace the car, not do the most major mechanical repair possible in the field at this point. Assuming the information presented is correct, ACH should replace the car. This is one of the reasons that we have Lemon Laws.

Formula 350

What you think is fair play and good business practices is not what almost any company would think... they will say that there is no difference between the two. He OWNS the car and need warranty work, which they are providing. I doubt any car maker would give you a new car.

Also, most lemon laws are if they can not fix the problem. If his 'new' engine has the same problem (maybe twice more) then it will be a lemon. But, they are replacing the engine and not just 'fixing' the one he has in the car which they could have tried to do.

Yes, he got screwed on this.. but he also might get many good years out of his new engine and will not care after 170K miles or so....

AznBalla

uhhhh yeah.. on his first post seems like during the test drive nothing went on(if he went on one which im sure he did.. and when something DID go on, he brought it in right away and ACURA Tech said it was fine after resetting the light..

MR1

I'll call your attention to the highlighted information. This excrept is from the California Lemon Law page. I'm not an attorney or mechanic. I think new engine is major enough for a fight.

The law applies for the entire period of your warranty. For example, if your vehicle is covered by a three-year warranty and you discover a defect after two years, the manufacturer will have to replace the vehicle or reimburse you as outlined above if the manufacturer or its representative is unable to conform the vehicle to the express warranty after a reasonable number of attempts to do so.

Song-Beverly does not apply if the problem was caused by abuse after the vehicle was delivered. Be sure you follow the terms of the warranty for maintenance and proper use of the vehicle.

Although there is a four-year statute of limitations to bring a law suit for breach of warranty or for violations of Song-Beverly, you should act promptly to try to resolve the problem fairly and quickly without legal action if possible.



B. THE "LEMON LAW" AND WHAT IS A REASONABLE NUMBER OF REPAIR ATTEMPTS

What is considered a reasonable number of repair attempts will depend on the circumstances including the seriousness of the defect. For example, one or two repair attempts may be considered reasonable for serious safety defects such as brake failure, depending on the exact situation.

yffreh1

I test drove the car, and nothing was wrong. The light came on for the first time when i went to pull away for good. I turned around, went back in and told brought the salesman out to the car to check it out. After restarting the car and driving around for a bit, nothing came up. He said it would be fine. It was a little under two weeks before the light came on again, at which point brought it in and they told me nothing was wrong.

Formula 350

I am not an attorney either, but I did work with many on legal documents.... but just a plain reading of what you put in bold does not change what I said. A replacement engine is not a safety defect (in my opinion) since it took 4,000 miles to go 'bad' and I am sure he still could drive with it some more...

BUT, if they fix it on the FIRST attempt (new engine) then the lemon law does not come into effect anyhow and he STILL has to live with not getting a new car, which was my point.

You then decide if you want to deal with the manufacturer again... for me, I will never buy another Ford because of the problems I had with my Cougar and Ford would never fix it...

MR1

Exactly why Acura sholud just replace the car. There is generally wiggle room around what is written. It becomes a good will issue if it doesn't meet the letter of the warranty. I was sold on Honda way back in 1978 when they did a goodwill transmission replacement without me asking on a car 3-4,000 miles out of warranty.

It never hurts to ask for consideration. If they say no considering the possible hit financially, why not try to LL the car? You did put in that word OPINION!

If it looks like I'm going to get screwed out of a few thousand dollars, I might make that much money in noise and try to rattle a few cages.

mickey3c

well a good will tranny replacement 3000 out of warranty is much different than this. They are replacing the engine. I have not reread the entire thread, but was the engine toast or was the oil pump. If they replace the entire engine, that to acura is doing goodwill.

The entire car is another thing... Yeah it all depends on the squeaky wheel getting the grease. Maybe they could say look I do not want to own the product if this is how I get treated in the first month, and just get their money back and buy something else.

wilsel

I too would ask for a new one. Otherwise your getting a car with numbers that don't match. Having an engine with a different VIN# than the car hurts resale value a lot. Not to mention with all the steps required to pull the engine, transfer parts, and put the new one in leaves room for a lot of errors.

Think about it, at the factory each person has a few tasks that they repeat everyday. The person that installs the engine/tranny, does it everyday. Do you want a car he/she worked on, or one from a dealer tech that has replaced less than a dozen? Repeating the factory's assembly quality is hard to do.

MR1

To each his own. A few years ago I returned a new Jetta after 24 hours because the air conditioner did not work and the clutch felt funny. Decided that I didn't want a new, dealer rebuilt car. That was my last German car. Bought a Honda that I still have.

It was quite a battle but I got my money and trade-in back after fiting with VWoA. They will feed you what you will swallow.