okay hey everyone..im having a situation and looking for some advice...The other day while my tl-s with 57,000 miles was idling in driveway i got a cel of p0171...i instantly researched what the light was and it was a lean condition..The next day i take my car to dealer in chantilly va to car get looked at and to have some other things done (oil change, tire rotation, seat heater repair etc). After diagnosing my car all day the dealer calls me back and says they have come to the conclusion that my car needs a valve adjustment. Now there was a service bulletin for the lean condition, which a software update was supposed to take care of but didnt..i do have the best acura extended warranty i could buy so anyway they tell me the valve adjustment is not covered under the extended warranty and its gonna cost $600 dollars to perform...So it doesnt make sense to me how a car with that low of miles needs an adjustment and that my warranty wont cover it...my rep said he was gonna call and see if he could get it covered but he said its not gonna happen...So i guess my question is if anyone else had this issue and if the adjustment fixed it and if anyone has had this service covered under extended warranty..im preparing my self to get on horn with corporate acura if i have to shell out all the money this problem...i jsut feel like it should be covered and not have to come out of my pockets...i could see if the car had 150,000 miles on it but it doesnt....

 

sounds like some bs the dealer is giving you

 

its the front OXYGEN SENSOR next to radiator I just that same code with my 08 TLS and my dealer replaced it for me.

 

hmmm...curious who the SA is/was you are/were working with.

 

Well to follow up I picked my car up yesterday and ended up paying $570 for a supposed valve adjustment.. My extended warranty wouldn't pick up the tab which really bites and I don't agree with.. But at least I got my seat heater repaired under warranty.

 

some 07 Type S is having this issue as normal and the dealer need to reprogram the ECU which should take only a hour.

 

I fear you got taken. Valve adjustment for lean code? I'm not a know-it-all when it comes to engines but I doubt a valve being slightly off is going to cause your fuel/air mixture to run lean. Sometimes the dealers are wrong. I believe this was one of those cases.

 

Im surprised you paid $570 for a valve adjustment. I understand dealers rap you with high prices but damn.

I call bs on the dealers behalf.

I paid $289 for my valve adjustment at my Acura Dealer. Had to negotiate and threatened to take it to another Acura dealer since they had better pricing, and they bought it. They wanted $350.

 

had the same issues with my 2007 tl-s 6mt, they did the software upgrade and have not had a single issue. Valve adjustment sounds way off man. Especially at your mileage. Damn Stealership

 

remind me not to use your service advisor. that seems too suspicious. thankfully i only go to one or two SA's over there that i trust.

 

What you should of done is cleared the code and if it returns maybe it could be the o2 sensor.
valves do not read fuel and oxygen mix. Thats what the o2 sensors do.

At 57k YOU DO NOT NEED A VALVE ADJUSTMENT.

 

best solution IMHO = buy a Flashpro and disable o2 codes from blowing ever again

 

not sure if he has emissions in his state. if so, that will not work.
Great idea though !

 

emissions shmissions, pfffft. It's no different than fooling the computer with o2 sensor defoulers when you run the RV6 pcd's, which passes a computer check perfectly fine.

if he's bone stock, it'll never pose a problem even if he has a sniffer test in his state. If he's modded, and no sniffer test, then fooling the computer is all you have to do

but pcd's + sniffer test would be fail, yes.

 

what is this 'reprogramming' of the ECU you guys are talking about?

 

This is an example of why it is imperative that you understand your car and have a basic knowledge of the function of the various sensors.

Your valves could possibly trigger P0171 if you have had your valve cover off of the engine and it was resealed poorly or if you have a pcv/vaccum leak. This also assumes that your valves would be totally out of whack to allow too much air or too little air causing your O2 sensor to read a rich/lean condition. Your PCM would try to compensate the fuel imbalance and trigger the code if it could not compensate to within specs.

With only 57k miles on the clock I find it to be highly unlikely that valves being out of spec was the cause. It is more likely that your dealer had no idea that the PCM needed to be re-flashed for a known issue.

But based on the limited info provided by the OP I would draw the conclusion that the dealer saw a sucker (no offense to the OP) and decided to take him for a ride to pad their production.

 

No.VA has emissions testing via OBDII plug in only with visual. no sniffer test on late model cars. what he paid for the valve adjustment paid for the seat heater fix he had done had it not been covered by warranty.

not sure who he worked with, but i have never been victim of the dealer trying to do this kind of stuff. i know there are a bunch of noob SAs over there.

 

^^ This

 

A valve being way out of adjustment and the resulting misfire would cause a false rich condition, not a lean condition.

I would go over everything to make sure the manifold and valve covers have been off. Look for tool marks on the bolts, new valvecover gaskets, dirt missing, etc.

 

Valves too tight cause the p0172 too rich condition. If loose you get the p0171 code. The manual has fuel pressure check and valve adjustment as the first steps in trouble shooting these codes.

 

That's after doing any applicable software updates to the ECM.

 

The manual is wrong.

 

sometimes. But I have done a lot of valve adjustments on J series motors to fix a lots of lean/rich codes and cold start misfires. No guarantees but I have seen this too many times when a software update doesn't cure it.

 

the dealer was aware of the pcm update...i reminded them of the service bulletin when i got there...i was told that they did the update of the pcm but the cel light came back on soon after...i definately am not a push over by any means when i definately reminded them to check the basics..( sensors, leaks, etc)...but i was told that after the tech diaagnosed my car for quite and bit and they referred to the acura tech line ..that a valve adjustment was necassary..but either way its fixed now so its whatever...im just pissed my extended warranty wouldnt suck it up since its way early for valve adjustment but i guess its not that uncommon in these motors.

 

That's wack. I had that code also Also and the PCM update fixed it.


PM me if you need anything else done. I have a friend at Radley in Falls church who is a master tech and does good work on the side. He just did my alignment today for me and I had him do the PCM update a couple months back. He also did my timing belt and water pump.

As far as I can tell Pohanka is usually more expensive (especially when it comes to parts) Radley Acura will price match if you bring a printed list too.

I just bought bumper plugs and a brake light cover for the same price as acuraoemparts but without shipping and handling.

 

^^depends on who you know and your service history coupons are also your friend as well.

 

its quite common issue with the Type S, but here its lol.

1. open this link http://estore.honda.com/acura/access...L&modelName=TL(don't close it)

2. https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/3g-tl-technical-service-bulletins-tsbs-3g-garage-j-016-a-613659/ locate under 2008 TSB under P0171 or P0174


the dealer basically reflash the ECU just like Hondata pro works.

 

I think it basically changes the parameters or thresholds for throwing a CEL with that code. At least that's what I was told lol

 

i got the same code too and local mechanic said its o2 sensor by catalytic coverter...got 04 tl

 

Which SA would you recommand? incase I need to go there again. I had a very bad experience with one of the asian guy over there. Thx a lot

 

Just got this code again after almost exactly a year. Could it be caused by change in the weather?

Seems the start of winter causes this issue for me. Last year a PCM update fixed it. This time I might replace the front oxygen sensor.

 

Literally the exact same thing happened to me as OP AFTER I already got the PCM update (fixes P0171 and P0174 thrown at the same time). They gave me an identical diagnosis and an identical price. I said, F U guys, I'll do it myself. Even though most people here seem to think that this isn't the right answer, the reason I followed through with it is because I have a warranty on my car and they wouldn't perform additional troubleshooting until the valves were adjusted. So I suspected that after I did the job, the code would come back and I'll take it in again. Dude, the code never came back. Same O2 sensor, haven't gotten the P0171 since then (over a year by now). So either of these possibilities:
1) The valve adjustment fixed the problem (most of you disagree).
2) There is a highly intermittent problem somewhere else/freak occurrence like a bad tank of gas?.

If you don't work on your own car, you're kind of stuck on this because your dealer won't do any more work until the valves are adjusted. At least negotiate the price. If you do work on your own car, then adjust the damn things and see what happens (worked for me?). And start using better motor oil. Give yourself an entire weekend if you're inexperienced and make sure to do it with a cold engine.

 

The only way a valve adjustment fixes a rich condition is if you had at least one valve so tight it was causing misfires.

 

I thought this was a lean code?

 

Mine came on right when it got cold outside here in North Carolina as well. I tightened the gas cap and erased the code from the system (diagnostic mode and clear messages from XM unit) and it hasn't come back since. Could give that a shot.

 

It is, I meant to quote one of the older posts.