my car is driving me crazy. first off to begin, my car had to get a new engine head gasket so my uncle who is a mechanic replaced it. before he touched the car only the check engine light was on. now the check engine, VSA, and ! light are all on. On top of that, the car won't let me accelerate pass 2500 RPM and just switches to a higher gear when it reaches it. My uncle said that I need to take the car back to Acura and have them fix the computer on the car. Is he right? What could it be? Please Help.

 

Why would the car need a new gasket? Shouldn't work like this be under warranty and why didn't you have the dealer perform this kind of work?

 

well i got into a car accident a while back and got everything fixed but then after 2 weeks of having the car, there were some problems so i brought the car into the dealer and they said i needed a new gasket. however, they weren't going to cover it under warranty due to the accident and the insurance is still investigating the accident and has not given us any money. so therefore we brought it to my uncle who did it for wayyy cheaper. The dealer was charging us $3200

 

What kind of an accident requires replacing the head gasket but no other engine parts (at least you didn't mention anything else)??

Your car is in safety mode. That's why it's not revving above 2500 RPM. There's something seriously wrong with your car, something the computer cannot compensate for. Keep it running like that and you risk ruining your engine. I don't know the whole story here, but I suggest taking it to the dealership right away.

And from what I've read so far... your uncle should be ashamed of himself.

 

there was 9000 dollars in damage including engine and body work due to the accident.

 

check that your vsa is connected in your engine. On your throttle body.

 

how much other work was done on the engine? was there a problem with the head gasket and it was missed or did it develop after the other work was done?

 

well nothing was wrong with the engine. there was a lot of body work that had to be done and i know that a new radiator was placed in also. besides that, i dont know what else but i know for sure nothing was wrong with the engine or tranny or anything. i believe the problem with the head gasket was either overlooked or developed after the work was done.

 

If the radiator and head gaskets have to be replaced, I bet the motor overheated after the accident. If this is the case, did your uncle check the heads if they are warped? If the heads are warped, the gaskets will be blown again and it might explain why the computer is running in safe mode.

 

Who the heck is your lousy insurance company ? Are you in a no fault state ? Why would the insurance company be investigating....they should be able to assign a percentage of fault based on the accident report. And no matter who's fault it is, your insurance company settles with you to get your car repaired COMPLETELY. Once they determine fault, they will either raise your rate through a surcharge if you were at fault or they will collect from the other driver's insurance company if he/she were determined to be at fault. I find it hard to believe that you had 9000.00 of repairs done and have not collected anything from insurance.

And why the hell would you ever have a do it yourself-er work on the engine when the insurance would cover the cost of repairs ???? Let Acura do work like that, dude.

 

were you able to drive the car after the accident? how do you know there was nothing wrong with the engine? maybe you were leaking a lot of coolant and you cracked a head or something.

 

I agree. It sounds like the poor car went from mint->crashed->incomplete repair->hasty relative's "repair"->total loss.

It probably still has a clean CarFax report though!

I wish you good luck getting this sorted out.