I will try and make the story as short as possible. The wife has always driven foreign cars, A few years ago we had a 2001 rl with 110k on it. Always maintained the car and she decided she wanted a sport utility with a 3rd seat.

So we bought a Volvo xc90 (04-05) t6... then all hell broke loose, found out that of all the xc90's made the t6 had the most issues. I wouldve went with the mdx, but wife didnt like it.

Now we have a 2005 tl i picked up out of Topeka, everysince we had the car it has used oil, I worked a kit of years at the local Honda dealer and still have friends at Honda and Acura stores. I called my service manager buddy about the problem, he told me to check compression.

When i got to cylinder 5, when pulling out the plug...a helicoil came with it. Shining a light down into the cylinder i saw a beat up piston. In the summer the car runs hot and uses antifreeze, replaced a bad fan. Now winter time the car misses on a cold start and will give a cylinder 5 missfire code occasionally.

With the engine troubles aside, we had a noise in the front like a banging strut, so i replace the front struts only to find out its the motor mount!
After dealing with that the navigation went out, sent it to Alpine for the 360.00 to refurbish it, but didnt work until sending it back twice.

Now upon replacing the burnt bulbs around the navi unit, when i was finished with the last bulb...I smell burnt electrical coming from the back of the screen and now none of the lights work.

Sorry ill wrap it up, Now i found the navi panel for 250.00, the bluetooth unit needs replaced for 100.00, the car needs a motor which will be 1500.00 plus labor.

So its either fix this pos or trade it in on a 2006 rl with 60k on it that the wife has spotted.

Suggestions?

 

trade it.
it seems as if the previous owner didnt take care of the car, and you are now feeling the residual effects.

get rid of it.

MAKE SURE YOUR RL IS IN BETTER CONDITION.
if you need to spend money on a pre-purchase inspection, I would do that. then you wouldnt be in the same boat as the TL.

if a PPI was done on the TL, I bet the spark plug problem would have been found

 

Motor mounts and button lights will go out on the RL too.

Nav unit and blue tooth issues are scarce but do happen.

 

I understand cars have issues.... but the engine issue isnt common. I guess i remember the old school days while working at the Honda dealer seeing granny getting her oil changed in her accord with 350k miles on it and running like a top.

 

sucks to hear....but misdiagnosing the problem and changing the struts instead of the motor mount can't really be blamed on the car, it should have been an easy thing to see ripped rubber. also with the navigation screen that's also not the car's fault, I have changed many bulbs around the navigation and I can do them all with confidence.

the navigation unit, there are a couple fixes if it's simply having the disc read error message.

this is why instead of dropping money on things you're not sure needs fixing, you post here first so you dont make mistakes

 

actually.
its quite common.
the threads are aluminum.
the spark plugs eject quite often. Honda Oddessy's and TL's are the most common Honda product that does this

thats why the need for the helicoil kit.
some one re-tapped it.

PLEASE PLEASE get your next car inspected before purchasing.


ALL THESE ISSUES would have been caught if you had it inspected.

 

Right on, I was just trying to help.

I had a civic that went 300K, but when I got to that mileage she was in rough shape... you also have to remember that some TL owners drive em like race cars... you would have the same problem shopping for any popular "sports car"

I believe we have an RL on the board at 300k, and most are in the mid to upper 100K with few issues.

 

I would have never thought the car needed a motor mount at 110k... plus the engine compartment has so much plastic in the damn thing.lol This problem was my mistake, ill defiinitely own up to that.

The rear navi went completely dead and froze, i tried everything before i sent it in believe me.

As far as the dash bulbs, there was no repair error here... i understand bulbs burn out, but for the whole thing to burn up after replacing oem bulbs with oem bulbs is crazy.

 

give me 4 hours, I can change your front,rear, and side mounts. not that hard. plus the mounts are only $100 each at dealer.

and the dash bulbs...if there was not repair error why did it burn out? something shorted. I guarantee if you bring me your car I can change your bulbs without burning up anything, I've done it many times before alrdy.

 

a buddy of mine has an 88 or 87 accord ( the one with the flip up headlights ) and still runs like the champ. Has over 300k miles on it and from what he last told me. He changed the oil 30k miles ago.

Cars now a days are not built like they used to be.

 

Sounds to me like you're buying high mileage used cars and are unreasonably surprised when things start going wrong.

 

What problems did you have with the Volvo XC90?

Did you buy the TL privately or at a dealer?

What is the trade-in offer?

 

The xc90 was all minor stuff... we replaced a few coil packs, wheel bearings, tie rods etc... we sold it when it had around 60k on it. We sold it because it needed a rack put in, the steering was loose and the dealer said that was a common problem with them, then they went on to tell me to get rid of it because the transmission has like a 90% fail rate.
After all that was said, the salesman told us they wouldnt take any xc90 t6's in on trade because of the issues people have with them.

The Tl came from a small car lot out of Topeka.

 

Gee, your story sounds like the one about the Siamese twins joined at the lips and all the merry mix-ups that happen when one gets married and the other has root canal the same day.

Guess you didn't get the Carfax on that TL or have it checked out by an independent mechanic first, huh?
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how the fck can someone strip the sparkplug hole on a tl when it is sooo easy to access. only easy fix unless you buy a bank 1 head. gl.

 

Guess you didn't get the Carfax on that TL or have it checked out by an independent mechanic first, huh?
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Believe it or not i did get a carfax on the car.... A car fax only shows what has been reported. So i guess if the plug rattled out and beat the piston and head up and took out the threads, The neighbor that works at jiffylube came over with a helicoil kit and fixed it good as new and ready to trade in!

Sometimes humor helps me with this mess.

Its definitely not the poor cars fault, just my bad luck on getting this particular one in my driveway.
I am starting the process on getting the navi lights back on and looking for a low mile engine to put in it. The car is far too clean to just give up on it.

 

Keep it, then burn it to the ground, scatter the ashes at a local Acura dealership.

 

My 04 TL is a POS compare to my wife 04 accord v6- it is the same car- 100k and only had the radio light went out and was replaced under warranty

My TL on the other hand -- shame

 

But did you have it checked out by an independent mechanic?
Noooooo........
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Would have been tough considering i bought the car out of town.