Driving back from lunch a few days ago, I noticed a burning plastic/rubber smell coming through the vents. I was not sure if it was from outside (I was passing over the expressway) or if it was from my 2005 TL. After I pulled in my parking lot and parked I popped the hood to take a quick look and noticed that the engine seemed pretty hot for a cool day in the low 60s after a short drive. I did not spot anything burnt nor did I find the source of the odor. When I started the car a few hours later, the engine was hesitating and sputtering, and the check engine light turn on. I continued to drive, hoping that it would work itself through. After a few minutes of driving, the check engine light started flashing, and the engine sputtering worsened. The engine was struggling to provide power when i pressed the excelerator, so I exited the expressway and called Acura roadside assistance. They towed my car to the dealership where they assured me they would take a look and fix everything without problems (it is still under warranty).

I spoke to the service tech the next day and he told me that the problem was due to an ignition coil melting. I asked what would cause this but he would not go into details, only saying that they would make sure that nothing else was damaged and that everything would be working as good as new once it was fixed. He continued to tell me that the work would take about a week, as Acura would have to approve the warranty work before they could really dig into the problem on a deeper level.

My question is what could cause this to happen? Will just replacing the coil fix the underlying problem? Could any other parts have been damaged as well? And why would this take a week to fix? That seems a little excessive to me, but I am not a mechanic so what do I know. Should I be asking the service tech any questions to make sure the underlying problem is addressed and everything is fixed properly?

Any feedback is appreciated. I have been reading the board postings for awhile but this is the first time I have posted. Sorry if this post is a novel, I just wanted to include all info.

I

 

I've never heard of a ignition coil melting. I guess it went bad. Glad it's under warranty. Keep us posted and welcome to AZ

 

I spoke to the service tech today, and they have diagnosed the problem as being started by water coming in contact with the ECU, which caused some electrical shorting which fried out and literally melted one of the coils. They were not able to remove the coil, so they would like to replace the rear cylinder head, gasket, the ECU, the coil and a spark plug. I might have missed something as I only had a few seconds to glance at the repair sheet before he grabbed it away for whatever reason. He said the repairs would end up being around $5k, and that either the CPO warranty would cover it or my insurance would cover it. I was puzzled to why my insurance would cover it (makes absolutely no sense whatsoever) but he said that it is up to Acura to determine. The Acura warranty claim agent was out last night taking pictures and documenting everything to determine if the CPO warranty should pay or the dealer should pay. See, I bought the car from this dealer less than 5 weeks ago, and there is some question if the dealer should have caught this in the inspection process. My fear is if the dealer has to pay that they might not be as thorough if they would be if the warranty paid for it. In addition to that, I worry that whatever caused the problem will not be addressed. The ECU was wet from something, maybe condensation from the air compressor? If this in close proximity to the ECU? If so, that seems like a pretty risky design.

 

Are you sure it wasn't a flood car? Did you run a CarFax on it? There is no way your insurance should pay for anything. I'd start a file with Acura support just to be the dealer is not pulling any funny stuff.

 

water + ecu = melted coil... doesn't add up.

air compressor?... ... uh.. beam me up scotty!

 

Wow, water on the ECU?? That is located below and forward of the radio/HVAC, right?? Yeah, sounds like a flood car to me too. If they can't get the coil out, then they will not be able to remove the valve cover, therefore, they will have a hell of a time removing the cylinder head without some creative cutting. Good luck on that one.

 

 

Excellent photo! Maybe the tech was acting that way because he was concerned that you might ask him how water could get to the ecu? Maybe he knows more than he wants to? You should print out that picture and take it in with you. Keep in in your pocket and act like you really don't know where the ECU is. Ask the tech to explain where the ECU is. See what his reaction is and if he tries to BS you on it's location. If he starts to BS, then whip out the picture and lay it on him....and watch him squirm. Heck, I'd got to your salesman and the GM and ask them how a car they sold you could have water get into the ECU.

Again, if you haven't already, run a CarFax on your vin.

OK, thread drift: Inaccurate, what the heck were you working on?

 

^^that's inaccurate trying to change his cabin air filter......

 

I was installing racing seats with racing seatbelts (harness)

Here is an excerpt from the TL Diet thread -

One of the bigger obstacles in this project was removing the car's dependency to the oem seats. This reminds me of having to do surgery to separate siamese twins "connected at the wiring harness". Without the proper connections to the oem seats, annoying warning lights on the dash will be seen (including SRS) and chiming reminders will be heard to fasten your seat belt. Suffice it to say, removing the car's dependency to the seats was challenging as this picture below illustrates. However, the results are rewarding to not having to see any warning lights nor hear any reminders.

 

I've seen this before. In fact, I just has an 04 TL about two months ago with the problem. I've got about 15 pics of everything, from the melted coil pack, to the totally trashed ECU (I dumped out enough water to fill a dixie cup). What actually happened was the customer took it to a quick lube place (I won't say the name), and the "tech" (I use that term lightly) decided he was annoyed that the A/C drain tube was dripping water on him.

So, he decided to stick a bolt up it. And then never took it out... So water built up in the tube, then the HVAC housing, and finally poured out ontop of the ECU. Which caused multiple shorts, not just to the coil pack, but to some other sensors.

And while we're talking about it, this is the SECOND time in two years this same place has caused this. And let me tell you, it's not fun to remove a totally melted coil pack from the rear bank...

All in all, the customer was quoted $1800 to fix everything (ECU, coil pack, diag, labor for coil pack removal, etc). Needless to say, because of all the pics I took, and detailed write up I did, the quick lube place ended up footing the bill, no questions asked. Trust me, it was pretty obvious!

So yes, the above is a very true scenario of what could have happened. To the OP: I bet they can get the coil pack out, it'll just take a few hours. I was able to, and trust me, this thing was literally melted solid into the spark plug tube. On the flip side, maybe they truly can't get it out, in which case the head would need to be replaced.

If I get around to it, I'll post of the pics from the car I was talking about.

 

[QUOTE=Inaccurate;11004004]

Christ, you are the man, my first time seeing a bucket seat in a TL!!!
Are you an ex-mechanic or something, i saw your other thread you were able to take apart mant odd things without breaking it.
You have balls man.

 

Well, it appears that the Acura CPO warranty has denied coverage. It appears that the problem was indeed caused by the AC drain tube being clogged. The only problem is that the dealership where I purchased the car (less than 5 weeks ago) was also the one who changed the oil as well as checked everything as part of the 150 point inspection. I called to make an appointment with the General Manager as advised by Acura Client Services. If I do not hear from hear I will then push it on up the line from there.

BTW, I ran a carfax and it came up clean. I am still not happy and I do not think that I should have to pay for this so soon after the car was checked out and certified by the same dealer/service center. Thanks for everyone's helpful advice, I really appreciate it. I can go into the dealership with some ammo now and hopefully get this resolved sooner rather than later.

 

how many miles does ur car have???

 

When you say plugged, do you know how? I mean was it by a human action or something else?

 

89,600 lol.... jk

 

The mileage on the car is about 35k and change. It had 33,900 when I purchased it April 30th.

I asked the service manager if he knew what the drainage tube and he replied that he did not see anything, and when they blew it out only a little bit of water came out. This indicated to him that it was not a clogged drainage tube that caused the problem. He speculated that is was possible that the wiring harness became wet through condensation from the compressor, and maybe that shorted the PCU. If that was the case then the CPO warranty should cover the car, as the compressor is covered under the warranty and any failures caused by it would be covered as well.

 

This just happened to me with my 05' TL at 110,000 miles. can you please explain in detail how you went about removing the coil pack? This would be greatly appreciated as i do not want to spend $2200 for a head assembly. Thank you

 

This same problem just happened to me on my 2006 TL w/93K Miles on it.

It's at the shop now, tomorrow should be an interesting day. This is very clearly a design flaw. The PCM should never be exposed to water in the event the A/C Drain tube is blocked.

Are you pretty much on your own once your Warranty period has been exceeded?

-mike-

 

He's bullshitting you. For God's sake - don't let them start the warranty work until Acura has "approved" paying for it. If the warranty claim is denied, your insurance will most certainly not pay for it - try another dealer, then have it towed to an independent shop who can fix it much cheaper.

 

anyone got a pic of that drain tube location???

 

the many times ive had melted coils was severe overheat, or loose spark plugs.WAIT WHAT? yes, ive come across with more than five cars that number 5spark plug was either loose or broken off. not to mention fellow techs who have had same problem with same cylinder.
as to why the spark plug backs out is beyond me. i do know when the spark plug is loose the way ive seen them, the coil is either melted or semi-melted. i guess it melts due to arcing.(poor connection due to loose spark plug)

 

Any way i can get this crap of 6 days already chipping away

 

Oh lord, the snapchat camera...

Can you use just your regular phone's camera, and rather than screenshot snapchat, just upload the photo from there? we need some better shots because right now i can't see shit

 

This just happened to my 93k 08 Acura TL. I took it to a independent shop, the top of the coil just popped off and left the bottom. What they did was remove the antifreeze holder drilled a hole directly down the coil pack and used pliers to pull it out. They had to twist and turn the coil and it finally came out. Took maybe 30 mins to get it out.

It was the 5th cylinder as well, how can I go about checking my ecu and seeing if there's water in it?

 

Remove your center console and you will see a silver box locate behind the radio that is your PCM.

 

Why it gotta be so difficult to get to? I don't trust myself removing that center console. I tried to feel around the back by removing the carpet from the passenger side and didn't feel anything.