I agree with your analysis, but why cut losses? Shouldn't a BHG or cracked head be covered under warranty?

 

AHA! A breakthrough!

Insurance readjusted the claim to reflect Acura's $109/hr rate. This means everything will be done at the Acura dealer for only my deductible. The best option I have received yet. Insurance will technically "own" the parts they have taken out of the car, but will be giving them to me, perhaps as a nice decoration for my mantle, or a center piece for the dining room table!

 

Wow i am impressed your insurance covered it! Congrats, are they replacing the head or what are they doing? What insurance company do you have, I would like to get a quote!

 

The parts list on my insurance claim seems way too simplistic for the stature of this alleged water damage.

Basically, the parts on the list are:
-The valve (What you guys said the dealer had to have broken off)
-The head gasket (What I believe was faulty and cracked and should have been covered)

This is getting more comical each day!

 

Unbelievable. It was a headgasket failure after all.

This is a open and shut case. Either your warranty covers a blown headgasket or it doesn't.

 

Here's another update on my story...

My insurance company is now doing a forensic investigation on my engine. When they went back to rewrite the claim, someone spoke up and said the situation didn't seem right at all. Basically, the insurance company wants to make sure they aren't being taken advantage of.

Friday will be day 21, 3 weeks, without my car.

 

This should make for some interesting back and forth between your insurance co. and the idiots at the dealership. Can't wait to hear the findings of the forensic investigation....

 

I really hope this get resolved completly in you favor.

 

im glad this is getting resolved to an extent. I hate dealerships and it is laughable they sell CPO cars and dont want to pay to fix them when the time comes.

 

Your insurance adjuster need his head examined and adjusted for not disputing the dealer in the first place. I hope you get it resolved OP.

 

Its not up to the insurance adjuster to fight the shop, it is their job to look at the damage and det if there is a valid claim or not, which it sounds like they are doing. I wouldnt cover it at all, its a mechanical failure and your dont pay your insurance to cover mechanical failure. Then it would be up to you to fight the dealer to cover it... which it clearly is a warrenty issue!

 

He might have mechanical failure as part of his insurance but it's doubtful with the extended warranty also. At least the insurance guy can hopefully straighten this out and straighten the crooked dealer out.

 

I agree, me being a claims adjuster would take that extra step and fight the dealer. Its not our job to do so but if this came across my desk and i saw you (op) getting bent over like this i would fight it with you!

 

Thanks again for the support guys. Insurance made the decision today not to take the matter up any further and pay the claim and me pay my deductible.

My head is getting remachined within the next couple days and the repairs will begin after that.

Wish me luck! (Once again!)

 

What a nightmare. Hope things work out for you.

I would have told the dealer to stick it long ago and worked on it myself or found someone else to do it. After all this, I wouldn't let them add washer fluid to my tank.

 

I agree with KN! What insurance company do you have?!

 

Just thought I would update you guys that I am picking up my car tomorrow night from the dealer. It's finally coming to an end.

I would like to personally thank all of you for your help and support through this last month. As you can see I am a new member and feel there is a great vibe on this site.

Thank you again!

 

Dont drive off unitl you test driven it.

 

Picked my car up Friday. It feels as good as it did when I bought it. The dealership tech that worked on my car and the service adviser were very nice, we did have a 30 minute talk about all that happened.

Frankly, I'm glad my car is back in my garage.

However, as most of you know my dad has been a tremendous help through all of this and he is not yet satisfied. I'm posting pictures of the invoice for you guys to read and diagnose.

I'm hoping a few of you can offer even more support and give me a case that once and for all proves I was not at fault.

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

Can't see shit.

 

Same.


You have to host the pics at a 3rd party. Photobucket (my preference) or ImageShack or Flickr.

Then copy and paste the Link with [IMG] tags into your post.

 

I even searched the page source, ctrl-f: C:

I think OP did a copy pasta picture instead of the URL.

 

man, this for sure shouldve been covered. but cant blame the man for just wanting his car back. good luck and i hope this doesnt damage your views on acuras.

 

 

Customer service people called today from both corporate Acura and the dealer I was working with.. They were wondering how my experience was!

I was at work all day so my dad was the one talking to them, and at the end of it, I am being sent a voucher for a complimentary 50,000 mile routine service done by the dealer of my choice.

 

I also forgot to add that stapled to my outrageous bill for the repairs, was a recommended list of things I have done to the car (1 new tire, and resurface the brakes, a mere $950 job) I really hope they aren't expecting my business for those repairs or any future repairs.

I would also like to point out that during this whole dramatic event, and 111 posts later, I have not once named the dealer that has been giving me issues. I'm a nice guy like that!

 

Looks pretty standard. I'd like to know how their oil analysis came back

 

Can you PLEASE let me write a brief summary of what really happened mechanically. I can tell you they are lying on the invoice and can prove it beyond a doubt. I know its all over now but they got out of covering it under warranty when it was a blown HG that should have been covered. Corporate needs to know...

 

IHC, your help has been great thus far, any additional information you can give my father and I from those invoice pictures, or a synopsis what really happened would be amazing. My dad persists "this is far from over..." Insurance is actually still investigating to bring the dealer to a legal court situation as well as my dad doing the same. It's not so much about the $1,000 deductible I paid, but more so the time, effort, headache, frustration, and most of all being taken advantage of.

Thank you again, you really have no idea how much you have helped us. Please keep your expertise coming our way!

 

im glad you finally got you car back and I applaud your persistance, however please keep us updated on the potenial lawsuit/settlement/aftermath.

 

Do it. Personally, I'd like to know just for the knowledge. Never know when it'll come in handy.

 

Disagree on the blown headgasket theory. I have done countless engines on these cars for hydrolock and its always been due to a short rod. My guess is something foreign did end up between the valve and the seat which bent the valve and thats whole story. I would have been interested in a LEAKDOWN test to go along with the compression test. Would have been able to better provide insight the problem before the writer started babbling. I think more than anything the dealer put the carriage before the horse and in doing that did not accurately explain what was wrong with the car from the get go.

 

The problem with that theory is that the head of the valve would have done massive damage to the combustion chamber if it broke while the engine was running.

The part that ties it together to me is that the car was running ok when he shut it off and running terrible when he started it. This sounds like a typical engine with a blown headgasket that is shut down and with the cooling system still pressurized, the cylinder is filled with water. I doubt the starter is strong enough alone to hurt anything but if that piston stopped somewhere during the intake stroke, filled with water and then the engine had 3/4 of a turn before that piston got to TDC, the engine could have began to fire off by then. So it's possible it had a slight hydrolock situation but it can easily be caused from the headgasket.

It also looked like carbon tracking on the picture of the head on that cylinder.

There are so many things the dealer could have done differently before it was torn down. Sniff the radiator with a smog sniffer, monitor valvetrain operation, etc. This is one rare case where the compression test might be more valuable than the leakdown. If the rod is bent making it too short, it would not show up on a leakdown but it would show up on a compression test. If the engine showed no compression on that cylinder which I think it did, can't remember for sure, the leakdown would be pointless.

There are a few major things wrong with the dealer's story. The air filter was not examined and shown to the customer which brings up another point, air or water, the filter would have removed any debris from the inlet tract. The results of the oil test were not revealed. The combustion chamber had no damage when they claimed the valve broke. The carbon tracks on the head indicating a blown headgasket. The deck height was never measured which would prove beyond a doubt that a rod was bent. And to top it off, the big one..... They replaced a valve (and heagakets) to fix the problem even though the original claim was that it ingested water and hydrolocked the engine. That's an undeniable admission of guilt, they would be laughed out of court. They misdiagnosed it and they fixed a totally different issue that should have been covered under warranty.

 

So you're saying that in a "normal" hydrolock situation (and with damage we can see based on this thread), that they should NOT have needed to replace head gaskets?

And since they DID replace head gaskets, that was the under-lying cause in the first place?

 

I'm on my phone but I promise to get into more detail later.

I've been avoiding saying it but I guess its time, I think the dealer broke the valve. There is no other explanation. There is no chance it broke when the engine was running based on the zero damage to the combustion chamber and valves do not break in a non running engine. Whether it was intentional or not, that valve was broken after the head was pulled by the dealer.

The headgaskets must be replaced any time the heads are pulled whether they were originally bad or not so that's included in the job. All they did is replace a suspiciously broken valve and in the process replaced the headgaskets. No new shortblock like is the usual failure for a hydrolock situation. There is so much info missing from the dealer.