Krayzie Jackson

I proudly bought my first Acura in May of 2011; A used 05 TL. It had fairly high miles (96k) but i figured vehicles these days are meant to last upwards of 200k. Anyways, about a month ago I notice the CEL starts flashing while I am sitting at a stop light, i was a little worried and and continued to drive another mile or so and it goes away. Another week goes by and the CEL is constantly flashing and I notice a very rough idle and some stuttering while pressing the accelerator. I take it down to auto zone to read the codes and it shows that 4 out of 6 cylinders are misfiring. I know for a fact that 4 coils/plugs didnt go bad at once so I take it to a mechanically competent friend of mine and see what he says. He finds nothing but really doesnt dig too deep. At this point the vehicle will not start, it will turn over but wont fire. I break down and have it towed to an Acura Dealership. After a day or two they tell me that the PCM is bad and that they will need to replace it before they can find out what else is wrong. They made No mention of water being in it or anything else that i have seen in other posts on this board explaining why the PCM would have gone bad. Anyways, they quote me at $1160 to replace the PCM and tell me i need a new battery for $160. Whatever, $1320, fix my car. Well, two days later they call me back and tell me that 2 of the coil packs have melted and this was caused by the PCM malfunction or whatever happened to it. They will need to replace the 2 coil packs and all 6 spark plugs. Sounds ok to me, until they quote me $790 for that portion of the job. I grin and bare it as i really have no other choice and somehow make myself accept the fact that it is going to cost about $2200 to get my vehicle back on the road. This morning, I get a call from the dealership. They decided to make the rest of my week terrible by telling me that the coil packs were melted so bad that they were unable to extract them and that the cylinder heads will need to go to a machine shop to accomplish this and that I am now looking at $3,800! That doesnt include the oil change and transmission service that I need to have done. So after all is said and done, over $4K to fix this vehicle that I have only driven for ~7 months. WTF?!?!? Is the dealership just totally ripping me off or what? What can I do? I have seen other members talking about the Acura Customer Care line or whatever it is. But how can i be $4K deep into repairs while I am still making monthly payments on this vehicle? I was so proud to be a part of the Acura community, but now im wishing I would have just went with the Audi like I wanted to. =/ Any guidance or information would be greatly appreciated.

wojo1988

did you check it out before you bought it? did it have its maintenence done? did you buy from a dealer?? certified warranty?

That sounds a little crazy

renedcruz

iTrader: (8)

Dude, you're getting ripped!! They notice you're just saying yes to whatever service they say your car "needs" so they're probably thinking, let's milk this cow's tits dry. Granted some of that service may be needed, but $4k? That seems to be a bit much.

cokorote

iTrader: (1)

Wow, I think you are victim of ass rape. Bill of $4k of repair? Definitely there is something wrong going on at the dealer.

wojo1988

question? do you have any mechanical knowledge??

Ken1997TL

Get another opinion!

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Stop down and take a look at the car/parts to verify what they say, but you're not the first that has a coil pack melt then solidify into the head/spark plug. As far as cost, with the labor rate at the dealership you're looking at big bucks removing the heads, in addition to all the parts.

MASK

Be advised ... opinions from commisioned service advisers are often based on keepin their deep pockets deep.
A college tech auto shop are non commisioned.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

BaucE

Sorry to hear, but the truth is in about 7k your going to need your timing belt and water pump serviced.....

Personally I would have baught a used motor with lower miles and had the timing belt and water pump replaced aswell... probably would have set you back about 2k

BaucE

9k****

Guiltyox

First, I have to say that your first post is to complain about how you are having problems with your car.....then I notice you're a member since January 2012. Now I asked the obvious, did you research before you bought this car?

There are many factors to buying a car, one of them being proper investigation of its well being, service records, carfax report, etc. Lets back up a bit; the 3G TL's are very reliable, as long as they are properly cared for. This is where your investigation comes into play. Its your job to ensure that it was, in fact, taken care of instead of beaten to hell.

With that said, it is unfortunate that you are experiencing these issues. I, personally, would get a second opinion on repair and price. I hope that you get them all addressed and change your mind about "why you didnt buy a german car".

Keep us posted!

07tl-s6spd

iTrader: (1)

my pcm got fried as well...but only one of my coil packs were melted..they also told me they were gonna have to replace the head as well...but they didnt replace it because a guy came from another acura dealership that knew how to get it out...and my car was under warranty then..so the cost was all on them....so what they are telling you is indeed true

ParaSurfer1979

I was thinking the same thing. Just because a car is pretty on the outside and its a must have doesn't mean one should overlook doing deeper research on the car. I wish you the best but had you had the care taken to a mechanic before purchasing, a lot of problems are brought up so you can then decide if its worth buying. Now you find yourself 2nd day quarterbacking on your purchase. Whats done is done. Buying used usually means you're buying "AS IS" unless it's Certified Pre-owned which is the only way i purchase used.

gwiffer

iTrader: (7)

Sometimes, a nice previous owner/private seller will offer to split the repair cost with you...

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

sucks to hear about your situation but my TL has caused quite a bit in repair bills too.

i have had the transmission rebuilt due flaring issues which was most likely caused by the redline type f fluid which everyone on the forum told me to use. that cost me $2200. my purge control valve went out which kept causing my "tighten gas cap" light to come on, that cost me $180 at the dealership. my bluetooth module is dead, its going to be $200+ for a new module, and my navigation dvd drive has showed a few signs of failing too, which will be $157+ shipping to fix at alpine. not to mention i have a power steering leak, very miniscule like couple drops every few weeks. and maybe another engine oil leak but not sure yet, it might just be the power steering fluid.

also, i have a lot of maintenance items i need to take care of soon. need new front and rear motor mount, and side transmission mount, and i have my timing belt due in about 6k miles. im not blaming the maintenance items on the car though, thats just maintenance that every car needs to do, but still adds to more bills.

gwiffer

iTrader: (7)

@paperboy42190: Did you try replacing some of the type F ATF w/ D4 to see if it would reduce/eliminate the flaring before the rebuild?

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Not everyone!

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

unfortunately i did not find out about mixing the d4 to solve the flaring until AFTER i had the transmission rebuilt :/

gwiffer

iTrader: (7)

What was all replaced/repaired in your rebuilt tranny?

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

Don't mind paperboy, he raced his car even when he had shifting issues. Dough

leedogg

Hell no. I tell everyone to stick with DW1 unless they're willing to experiment with fluids that are theoretically better.

GivatiTL

790 $ for 2 coil packs and spark plugs !?
The spark plugs for 50 bucks...