Well, that's just more money I spent on my 07' TLS, $1,200 to be exact for radiator & bad drive axle. I've replaced an axle before on the car plus ball joints & now the dealer says the ball joint is going bad again. The repairs this car received under warranty was extensive, including the rear main seal done at 90,000 miles and guess what? It's leaking again, but this time will be on my dime. I've never owned a car that literally eats ball joints & drive axles. Radiator going at 111,000 miles? No doubt these cars are engineered to start breaking after 100,000 miles right after extended warranty expires, Acura doesn't make money doing repairs under warranty. Well, up next I'm sure will be the alternator.

 

Sounds like bad luck? My TL is going on 152k miles and it has been super reliable.

 

Sorry to hear.

I usually hear this about BMW, Mercedes, Audi.

First time I've heard someone say it about Acuras.

 

Monday car?



Obviously I hope nothing else goes wrong with your ride! That rear main seal (I assume) isn't cheap! Was that past the 12K warranty on that part alone?



Edit: I assume so, being it's leAking now at 111K.

 

Ive got all my replacement parts sitting on my garage shelves waiting for stuff to break.
130k and rolling...

I think you may have just got a TL that was maybe neglected or just rotten luck.

 

There is something odd going on with the ball joints. You should be reaching out to acrdr - https://acurazine.com/forums/ny-nj-3...y-gang-918681/
https://acurazine.com/forums/ny-nj-3...rth-nj-883797/

After talking with Paul - you might start feeling the love.

 

^^^ Automatically thought the same exact thing......... I think i've been hanging too long on Bimmerpost.

 

Oh I have, had a 1992 legend LS that ate drive axels to no end, went through IIRC 7 axles in 3 years. Granted I kept buying the cheaper refurbished ones but they were actual Honda axles. Thankfully though that car didn't have any ball joint problems or any other problem really.

 

STOP GOING TO THE DEALERSHIP!

Dealerships love to rack up "needed" repairs.

 

Well, out of the hundreds of thousands of cars acura sells, I'm sure a couple do have defects. Sounds like you just got unlucky and got a bad one, because most people dont experience the problems you did.

 

I would start by changing dealer. The rear main seal should not leak. Unless it was installed wrong or was cracked before installing it. Either way id blame the dealer. My rear main seal on my Cl is bone dry has been take apArt twice for rebuilds and never leaked ati so is have to put the blame on the dealer

 

Corrected.

Find a different dealer. My dealer gives a few suggestions, but never anything crazy and never tells me it "needs" to be done.

 

I'm assuming this is a manual if it's going through axles?

On any car with CV joints, you want to take it easy when the wheels are turned, especially when they're turned near full lock and you're pulling out from a dead stop. I try to baby mine under these conditions because when turning sharp, the axles are at their weakest. The added shock of a manual doesn't help things. If the car is lowered its the same to the joints as having the steering wheel slightly turned all the time.


If the rear main keeps leaking you might want to make sure the PCV system is fully functional. Does it have a CAI? The fresh air side isn't plugged off?

Mine has been trouble free so far at 127,000 miles but I don't follow most of the factory service recommendations.

 

Acura must have some damn good engineers to be able to dial in the failures so precisely.

"Hey Jim, when do we want this radiator to fail?"

"Well, extended warranty goes up to 90k miles, so set the self destruct sequence to begin at 110k miles, just to be safe "

 

moving wearing parts do go out....

its not like the car left you stranded.


Also, about your axle question...its a moderately powered FWD vehicle.
the front suspension takes a beating being the drive wheels and the steering wheels....

if your radiator is going, that means you DID NOT KEEP UP WITH MAINTENANCE.
have you drained and filled the radiator on a regular basis?

 

My thoughts exactly. Im at 181k Stock axles, and stock ball joints. Been on lowered suspensions for two years. Only thing I ever had to change was the starter other than routine maintenance.

 

What do you define as regular basis? I do mine maybe once a year if even that, and Im running Honda blue.

 

I mean the whole point of changing the coolant is to keep the radiator healthy and rust free, so that no debris gets lodged into cooling passages or cooling jackets.

I dont know what the OP meant by; radiator is going?
what does that mean?
does that mean the radiator is still working?
does it mean its rusty?
what does that mean?

 

105K and I have had 2 trans under warranty. other than that its been 1 starter, 1 battery and 1 side motor mount. Thats it. super reliable in my book. just had 105 K service done should be fine for awhile.

 

After putting over 20K miles on my 07 6MT TLS, I'd be hard pressed to say anything bad about its reliability. I'm just shy of 110K, and the only major maintenance that was done was the 105K. I'm in it 6 days a week, and it starts every time with no issue. Most reliable car I've owned thus far.

 

Dang, OP, sorry to hear the troubles.

For what it's worth, my recently bought 06 TL has had PS pump, starter, and a couple of motor mounts replaced. Other than that regular services and the 105k service. It's sitting at 160k now.

Sometimes just bad luck with cars since Honda did make a ton of these. Also, maybe check out local, trusted independent shops so you're not getting screwed from the stealership.

Check out to see if your town/city has a local car forum/culture.

Also baby the car when pulling out to a 90-degree turn froma stop as has been mentioned. I guess these are the down fall of higher-powered FWD cars.

 

I agree with the OP & feel his pain because I'm in the same boat. Don't get me wrong I love my TL-S. We have a love/hate relationship it starts and runs beautiful but I've never owned an American or Japanese car that required so much in a short amount of time. I'm at 125k.

My oil pump seals are starting to "sweat" and I have a minor coolant leak somewhere.

 

Didn't want to come across as ragging on the TL. I still believe it to be a fine car.....even after all the $$ I've spent on it, it still keeps me coming back.

 

I think these lower ball joints are sealed. they shouldn't be going bad that fast. I would get a 2nd opinion. If you are experiencing noise, the upper control arm ball joint goes bad too. I'm about to do mine. I've heard of others replacing that ball joint too and it fixed their noise.

 

Do you have any suspension mods causing your balljoints to prematurely wear?

 

Im sorry that this happened to you man.