berite100

anyone else? or is it just me and my great luck?

first post, but read thru this forum and other forums to decide which car to purchase.
after reading this site and others the major complaints it seems to be rattles. could live with that. i wanted a reliable car so i dont have to think about service blah blah.

so i went to my acura dealership and picked up a 06 tl with navi. blue or whatever the name is (wife picked out the color)

its great, all the gadgets, the navi works great i wonder how i lived without a navi before. the bluetooth kicks ass. handling is great, gas mileage could be better but it could also be me how i drive. love the audio.

so i had this car for about 6 weeks now.

about three-four weeks ago? i noticed something strange. my rear bumper was greasy, like it was sprayed with wd40. didnt think much of till my wife pointed out a big oil spot in our parking space. i was like it isnt from this car, this car is only 5 weeks old. no way in hell would acura build a car that would leak. especially a brand new car with less than 1000 miles on it. so didnt think much of it, till i was driving and i had a blinking red engine oil light on. again i was little bit annoyed, again acura with their great reputation of building reliable cars, it couldnt be something major. so i just turned off the engine and turned it back on. no engine oil light. so i moved on.
got to my parking spot and this time i went and felt the oil spot and the oil was fresh and it was definitely engine oil. so i got a big piece of paper and left it over the oil spot.
low and behold. my engine oil is leaking.

so i came to work and called up my dealer to ask is it normal for a brand new car to be leaking oil? he goes of course not and forwarded me directly to the service dept.
now i know service dept should be there to service you no? but i found out that they run on banking hours. they can wait till five for me so i can drop off the car and get a loaner, they are not open on saturdays. etc etc.

so now you tell me which part i should be more annoyed with.

1. that my brand new car is leaking engine oil? oh i had to put in 3 quarts of engine oil so my engine doesnt fry.
2 or that my acura dealership runs on banking hours and i have to reschedule my life to get something fix that shouldnt have broken in the first place.

besides that i love my TL.

DMZ

You have a potentially very serious issue at hand. The 1st thing I'd be concerned about is whether or not you have even slight engine damage from running very low on oil. In any event, I'd call Acura client services right away and report this so its officially on record. You might want to even back that call up with a letter sent certified mail so there's proof of a written record.

Don't futz around with this !
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.
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JDM5lugHatch

have you been under the car. This is hard to help you if you haven't. It could just be that the filter is leaking or the drail bolt is loose. It could also be something much more problematic.

berite100

already took it to my local shop. it was on a lift and we just checked all the obvious stuff like the plug and filter.

berite100

would acura screw me that badly? i mean i have a schedule to drop off my car tomorrow and see. or should i just call acura and make a report directly with them.

yeah i wonder if got any engine damage running so low on engine oil. my mech said long as it hold the oil pressure i wouldnt get any kinda warning. i guess this car doesnt have an oil level sensor? while we have a sensor to know if the air bag should deploy or not?

berite100

Saga continues.
after dmz's concern i realized i shouldnt really drive the car since i do not know the rate of the leak. and how long the 3 quarts of engine oil i put in will stay in my engine. so to be safe i decided to use the TLC program. they answer the phone promptly and she was nice very nice. got all my info and scheduled pick up.
so i am standing there by my car and waiting and waiting and waiting. no phone call, no wait i got my phone calls from some automated system telling me that the tow truck should be there already or something like that. press 1 if the tow truck is there press2 if not.
so i give tlc a call again and again very nice and tried to be helpful. he put me on hold and tried to contact the tow truck operator to give me a better eta. well csr cant get a hold of the tow truck operator and give him my phone number to call me directly. guess what time they called? about three hours later.
oh the other pressing issue i had to get to the dealer before they close cause you know. they have a life and all that. which i respect, i understand the need to run out of the office at a certain time.
so after checking my dip stick, had enuff oil in the engine so i just drove it to the dealership myself.
gave all the info and what not got my loaner. oh get this. they are throwing in a free car wash because he was a nice guy and the rear of the car was covered in motor oil

anyways will find out why my brand new 6 week old 1251 miles car leaks engine oil like a 15 year old oldsmobile? i should take that back i used to drive a 15 year old olds and it never leaked oil like this.

EternaLlx

every acura dealership has a car wash as a free service b4 it leaves their dept. i think.

unless you request you dont want it because of a chance that they might scratch your car.

but yeah i hope everything works out for you.

berite100

i thought it was just funny how he went out of his way to mention that he is going to throw in a car wash that is all.

he told me he would call me in morning with a diag but no call. so i called them. they said they were so busy that they didnt get to my car yet. oh well i am just waiting and waiting.

aint i lucky?

hope everything does work out. should have gotten another camry.

berite100

its been confirmed my engine is leaking. and they are going to take my engine apart to find what is leaking exactly. weeeee.
so whats the lemon law again? can i get a new car? i mean its 6 weeks old and i only drive on the weekends. and 1251 miles i have on the car is all babied miles. read somewhere that break in period was like 600 miles. so i never got a chanced even to push this baby to its fullest.

berite100

appartently it was the crankshaft that was leaking oil. so they are overniting something and i will get my car tomorrow afternoon. weeee.....
i guess that was pretty quick and painless.
oh right i have to get there before they leave. oh fun fun i tell you.

was it 1 in 120 who had problems with their cars initially?
why cant i just win the lottery?

EternaLlx

well atleast they found the problem.. hopefully the right one.

ny lemon states that if the car is in for the same repair 4 times? and the problem didnt go away the car is a lemon. I believe.

oh and you cant win the lottery cause its 1 out of 175,000,000 and cause am gonna win it!

subinf

^ yep, same repair 4 times or its out for a total of 30 days due to warranty repairs.

bhelsdon

I don't want to alarm you but, the engine in my car was replaced at 1700miles because of an oil leak. Aparantly the oil leak that My car had required a new short block. (That means they install a new block with pistons oil pan ect and they transfer the heads and accesories from the original engine. I am kind of laughing now because as we speak my transmission is being replaced. i have always told my customers " if you want a good car buy a Honda or a Toyota" . Oh well i guess I will have to go back to Saabs, I never had a moments trouble with them. My 89 9000 I drove to 300k and sold it. It is still going with almost 400k now.
P.S> I still have faith in Honda a Toyota, and I still love my TL. I hope it will go to 200K

berite100

the repairs was not over 30 days and that problem didnt happen more than three times. i dont know ... brand new car with a rebuilt engine. still leaves a bad taste in ones mouth.

berite100

oh did you lose oil pressure? did the oil light turn on your car?

bhelsdon

The engine didn't go bad. the oil was leaking thru the pores of the metal.

berite100

thru the pores of the metal. huh?

BustedJack

berite100, sorry to hear about the problem. You seem to be a very patient guy, for someone who JUST bought a new car. Props to you to be so paitent I would have filed for a LEMON law long time ago........

berite100

thanks i guess.... i mean whatelse am i going to do? scream at the guys who is fixing my car? scream at the guy who sold me the car? i mean who do you get mad at?
oh i looked into the lemon law and basically its not that easy to get a new car. it has the be exact same problem four times before you can get a new car. and think about it. you take it to them and they take it apart and look at it. it isnt like you are there with them so its there word. so you are at their mercy. so i am on this forum venting.
all i know is after this experience i have learned two things. paying more doesnt mean anything and make sure the service dept of the dealer you purchased from is open on the weekends and they dont hold banking hours.

oh this might be the last time i will buy an acura. i think i will get a lexus next time. like in two three years.

berite100

well my saga is over. it was the front crankshaft oil seal. it was askew he said, from the factory it seems. oh well i got my car back home and this is behind me. and yes i got a car wash.
asked him again and again if the engine has any damage. and of course he said no.
anywas its over and would like to thank everyone who bothered to listen/read my story.

thanks.

again two things i have learned from this.

1 amount of money you spend on a car is irrevalent when we are talking about that one guy on the assembly line who made a boo boo.
2 purchase your car from a dealership who have open their service shop on the weekends.

davenlei

Call Acura corp and tell them what happened (very low miles and engine oil leaking due to assembly defect). Tell them you are glad it is fixed but you are now unsure about the engine sustaning any damage and possibly of other assembly failures, etc. in the engine. Ask if they can extend your factory warranty to the engine to 75k-100k so that you can feel assured that Acura will back up their claim to a quality and reliable vehicle.
I did that to my old accord when I was having drivetrain leakage problems at 4k miles and they extended the factory warranty to my drivetrain to 100k miles for free. They also sent me a corporate letter stating that fact to show dealers if there was any question of extension of factory warranty.

berite100

if you remember which dept to speak to? which number to call?

davenlei

Honestly, I do not remember at all. This happened way back in 2000. I think it helped when I told them that I was a long time honda fan and that Accord was the fourth Honda I had bought since I started driving.

berite100

thanks. i will just call their customer service number.

berite100

okay their service cumstomer suck. holy shit i am pissed now.
why am i getting attitude from a csr? he was getting mad at me for complaining about their car. i am pissed. i was just tell him my story and was getting annoyed as i was telling my story. he basically said why you bitching at me.

i am livid now. he will forward my case to the regional manager to see what they can do with extended warranty.

before this call i was all okay with what has happened. now i am not.
holy shit.
talk about horrible experience. you know
this is going to be my last acura for me. i guess i am going to drive this car until i cant take no more.

i guess lexus is next.

berite100

okay my saga is officially over.
got a call from the acura rep and have offered me 8 year 100k mi warranty.

clsdave

Good for you! I hope the car will treat you much better now like most Honda's and Acura's do. May be soon you will be able to put the problems behind you and really enjoy the car like you're supposed to.

berite100

you said it.
i was looking to put in a CAI but after hearing of the risk of hydroshock(?) i will have to enjoy it as is. i think i will just get stickers instead. j/k

mrodriques

What kind of metal is porous?

bhelsdon

The aluminum that the engine is made of if casted in molds. I have also seen air leak thru aluminum wheels before.

mrodriques

I can understand the possibility of air leaking through a mold, but through metal itself? I understood him to say that the metal itself was porous. not that it was leaking through a seal, or as a result of a bad mold in the forging process.

Also, if it was leaking as a result of "porous" metal, wouldn't he also see a similar drop in pressure?

bhelsdon

I was offering a suggestion. My engine had to be replaced because there was oil leaking thru the block. The internals of the engine were still good but oil was leaking thru the block. Acura called for a new short block to be installed.