So last week, it was really cold and my power steering pump started making noise when I started the car. I checked the forums and found the inlet o-ring to be the likely culprit. I drove to Riverside Acura in Little Rock, AR to get an o-ring and some fluid. I also had two safety recall notices. One for the power steering pressure hose and one for the wiper motor drain tube. So the parts guy talked me into having the racalls done since that would also fix the power steering noise. Mistake #1.

I talked to the service advisor and he agreed to give me a loaner and do the hose that afternoon. I was on my way to work (evening shift) so I took a brand new RL to work that day and home that night. Nice car. I took the RL back Wednesday morning and got my TL back. Didn't look it over, just assumed that the dealer was competenet of a simple hose change (they'd done hundreds of them, right?). Mistake #2.

Got home and parked in the garage and smelled fluid burning. Hmmm. Popped the hood and got the flashlight out. Smoke coming from behind the engine. Fluid all over the subframe near the connections on the steering rack. Figured they disconnected the hose and let it spill all over. So I took it to the car wash and hosed off as much as I could. Pulled the side engine cover and looked at the fluid level through the side of the reservoir. Looked good, right? Just a glance, right? No problem... Mistake #3.

Drove to work and home that day. No major smell. Small drip on the garage floor Thursday morning, but I figured it was just residual from the spill. Drove to work on Thursday and turned into the parking lot. Steering was kind of stiff and ratchety. Turned into a spot and, HOLY HELL! I had to muscle the wheel around to get parked. I didn't wanna look, but I popped the hood and there is PS fluid ALL OVER the place. Pulled the cover on the passenger side and found the PS reservoir lodged against the upper pulley (PS pump). Puddle started to form under the front ot the car. Walked away disgusted.

Called the service advisor and he sent a wrecker loaded with a brand new Acura Civic (aka TSX). So they took my car back to Riverside Acura in Little Rock, AR. I called Friday and the guy that did the work had strangely been stricken with a sickness and wasn't there. But they had determined that I needed a new fluid reservoir since mine had a hole in it. Ordered the reservoir.

I called Monday afternoon (from work) and learned they had my car ready. So I had lots to do on Tuesday and got up there (Riverside Acura in Little Rock, AR) around 2:30 (took the day off work to get things done.) Got my keys and started my car. Got back out and popped the hood and started my brief inpection of their work. There was still bits of fluid all around the engine bay, but the majority was cleaned up. I decided to not make a big fuss since they had been kind enough to give me a loaner and fix their screw-up (for the most part) free of charge. Mistake #4.

Got home and broke out the Simple Green and the hose and went to work. Cleaned everything really well from the top side. Drove to dinner last night, then to work and back tonight. Parked in the garage and got out. I immediately smelled oil burning. Took a look under the car from the driver side and see the entire splash gaurd and engine lower-cover coated with oil and spots all over the exhaust pipes to the back of the car. Both oil and PS fluid levels look fine. So tomorrow morning, I'll be removing the plastic under the car and doing a lot more cleaning. Hopefully it is just more residual PS fluid from the mess they made.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share my horrible first experience with a dealer service department (Riverside Acura of Little Rock, AR). Before anyone suggests that I take the car back to the dealer, it's not happenin'. I'll take some pics in the morning for proof, but they have been given plenty of time and opportunity to fix this and have done nothing but SCREW it up. I missed my car this weeknd and can't stand the thought of what else they could ruin. Not saying I'm not going to let them know how displeased I am. I have an e-mail in my in-box right now just waiting for a reply. Once I figure out how bad it is, I'll send my sentiments to their follow-up department (?).

 

Their follow-up department is ACS, but that might/might not get you anywhere. Calling Acura Client Services is a crapshoot.

 

Sorry to hear your story, but keep us posted, and I hope in the end you get taken care of to your satisfaction.

 

Dude, thats not good to hear. I'm in Little Rock too and am getting ready to take my 2005 in to Riverside for both of those recalls... Now you have me scared... Guess I might have to go to Memphis!!

 

Actually, now be the best time to take it in. By today, the dealership will be keenly aware of their screw up and won't want it to happen again. Just make sure you let the service manager know you are aware of their screw up and that you don't want it to happen to you.

 

I agree. You might even print out a copy of the TSB and leave it in the passenger seat. The steering hose is 08-016. They don't plan to do everything the SB says to do. It would take too long. Places to look are behind the engine on the driver's side. Look down at the steering rack and see if there is a bunch of fluid spilled. I'm sure they will be careful to not leave the reservoir loose, but you might look at that also.

As far as my car, It will probably be going back again to have the rear engine main seal replaced. I removed all of the covers from under the car today and cleaned the hell out of it. Took it for a drive and stopped by a friends shop. Put the car on his lift and found more oil coming from the inspection cover between the egine and trans. We pulled the cover off and cleaned it up with some brake cleaner. I drove home and parked in the driveway while I got my jack and stands out. The smell was terrible. I jacked the front of the car up and looked at the rear main seal area. Soaked with engine oil again. So I called the Client Service Facilitator at Riverside and she said she would pull my records and call me back within the hour. That was 50 min. ago. I'm not feeling too good about letting them pull my engine out to replace the seal, but I don't want to spend the time and money to do it myself. I wasn't the one who dicked it up in the first place. We'll see what happens. I'll keep this thread updated.

 

So Riverside Acura says that this problem is unrelated to anything they have worked on but they would be happy to look at it. I'm sure they would. The hours of labor alone to R&R the rear main seal would pay one of their techs for a week. I have to agree that this PS hose change should have never caused this oil leak, but the fact remains that I didn't have an oil leak before it went to them. So now I'm looking at doing the work myself or having my mechanic friend do it. I can't say that I'm too happy about this whole ordeal...

 

Rofl. They keep sending me a notice to get this done but I haven't had any problem and the car is 5 years old. Reading posts like this and knowing what sub par service they provide, I think I'll pass.

 

Well, just be aware that left as is, the unprotected PS hose is a fire hazard.

I'd encourage you to get the TSB done.

 

They may be full of it. If they improperly jacked the engine mount during the PS TSB, they could have screwed up the seal. Take a close look at the TSB, especially pg 8.

They also could have forgotten to replace some of the transmission and/or engine mount bolts that were removed (pp 5-7) and the engine/transmission could have shifted tearing/loosening the seal.

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SB/b08-016.pdf

I'd be very suspicious that this leak started immediately after the TSB. Sounds to me like they had an inexperienced tech doing the work. He not only did a sloppy job spilling fluid everywhere, but also screwed up your seal.

Might be time to get ACS on your side (with the understanding "ACS on your side" is an oxymoronic statement.)

 

I'll take my chances with a fire extinguisher.

 

Good point. I looked at that TSB again and I see how it could have happened. I'll crawl under there and check the area really closely. I guess it could be a pan gasket after looking at the pic on page 8 of that TSB. I suppose that would be a little easier to change. But I really don't think they actually DID half the steps of that TSB. The Under-cover was full of fluid so I don't think that was even removed. Much less the mounts and exhaust. I may take that TSB print out back up there and see what they say. Problem is, the car is in the garage dripping out the bottom. Don't wanna drive the thing much intil it's fixed. Plus, why should I trust the yay-hoos to fix this??? Maybe I'll bark up the ACS tree. Anyone got that ##?

 

nfnsquared... I just noticed that you had this exact leak less than a year ago. I found a thread that I actually commented on here:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ight=rear+main
What did you ever figure out on that. That is the exact leak I have after having my PS hose done. Maybe these techs are jacking our oil pans up too much when supporting the engine. Did you ever get this fixed??

 

Lots of luck. Whether you realize it or not, you are saying that you are prepared to lose your car to a fire rather than run the risk that a dealership will do a poor job of repair. I speak from experience, having lost a car to a power steering leak and fire. If you are lucky you'll be able to pull off when the fire starts; of course you won't have power assistance to turn the wheel. If you're not lucky you'll be on fire in an inside lane. In either case, by the time you have stopped, exited, opened the hood and figured out where to point an extinguisher the fire will be too advanced to be dealt with by an extinguisher, and an extinguisher large enough to deal with a hydraulic fluid fire is something you wouldn't carry around in your car anyhow. As far as I can recall, NE14RoxCJ is the first 'ziner to report a problem with the hose replacement. Get it done or do it yourself.

 

You don't worry me with your scare tactics. Maybe your are uncoordinated and don't understand how to handle those kinds of situations. If that is the case you have every right to be worried. This car is a piece of cake to handle on fire and with out PS or not.

 

OK, I don't think the hose is going to BLOW! A leak would become noticable after just a few drips on the exhaust. Anywy, I drove to work with a hole being rubbed in the bottom of my PS fluid reservoir and had fluid ALL OVER everything under the hood. Not a bit of fire. Just some nasty smelling smoke. Not sure what it would take to ignite that stuff, but if it didn't burn my car up, I'm not too worried.

Anyway, I'm planning on taking a closer look at the leak tomorrow and hope it's just a pan gasket. I know the engine had to be lifted slightly to move the rear engine mount out of the way to clear the PS hose. I'm also going to find a number for ACS and give that a shot. I'd really rather not take the car to Riverside Acura again. If Acura agrees to fix this problem, I'll request the work be done by the Honda dealership. Otherwise, I'll likely just do the job myself. If anyone who has had the recall done has had a leak develop afterwards, please let us know.

 

So I called ACS and they documented the problem and gave me a case number. He suggested that I call the service manager at Riverside Acura in Little Rock, AR. I'm kind of hesitant to make that call until I find out exactly where the leak is coming from. If he decides to help at all, I'm sure he'll just say "bring it in and we'll look at it." I don't like my car sitting in their impound lot over the weekend for them to tell me it's going to cost $100 to look at it. Then, if they determne it's the rear main and it's not their fault, another $800-1000 to change the $10 seal. Nah. Im going to head up the the Infinity dealership where my buddy has my engine hoist. I hafta gather all of my tools back up in case I have to drop that transmission. I still have to crawl back under there and look closer, but it's still kind of cold here. I may just start with the oil pan first. I'll see what I can see after while.

 

You know acuras are for the most part great cars. The problem is that we can't seem to find competent service dealers. My PS pump was making alot of noise and after some searching on the forum I found the likely culprit to be the O-ring. A quick check through my paperwork shows that my car already had that part changed. But I bought the o-ring anyway and changed it out myself only to find that the o-ring was still original or they replaced it with the wrong o-ring again. Good help is hard to find.

 

I crawled under the car today and did some cleaning. I sprayed the entire area inside the torque converter housing with brake cleaner and got all of the oil cleaned off. Started the car and let it idle. Not a bit of oil coming from anywhere. So I revved the engine a bit. Not a drip. I drove it up the road, took three right turns into and out of the neighborhood, the two lefts back into my driveway. Jacked it up and looked again. Not a spot of oil. So I took it for a 15 min drive out to the highway, up to ~80mph, then back-roads to the house. Got home and jacked it up and found oil pouring from the general area. I still can't really tell where the leak is at since it soaked everything around. But, the back of the flexplate is still pretty clean. No streams of oil like it was being slung around inside there. Just the bottom half dripping with oil and all over the exhaust. I cleaned it up again an parked it back in the garage and took the monster truck to work. I plan on taking it to the Infinity dealership where a friend of mine works and put it on the lift. We'll probably pull the oil pan and re-seal it while we got it up there. Hopefully that'll fix it. I'll probably know tomorrow.

 

Good luck with that, It sounds like a simple problem. But it is worth it to do it yourself. No one cares as much as you do.

 

Got some pics. These were Thursday morning after I drove for a day. Picked the car up on Tuesday afternoon after they replaced my PS fluid reservior. I smelled oil after work wednesday night. I found out why Thursday morning when I jacked it up and looked!

 

Dealer said it was just coincidence that it started leaking after the recall was done and I would be responsible for the repairs. That was the service advisor. I'll be talking to the service manager on Monday and see what he thinks. I'll probably just drive up there and park it in their service drive-thru for a while. Maybe the tech that did this will be the one to get to clean up the puddles.

 

definitely not a coincidence. there is something that the techs are doing wrong when working around the power steering pump. i'd be willing to vouch for you if they need a customer who is experiencing this same exact problem. the dealership should be the one taking care of this and $ shouldnt be coming out from ur pocket.

 

The odds of that coincidence happening are so small that it is ridiculous.

 

Well, the dealer is sticking to their story. They didn't do anything to cause the leak. Still hard for me to believe, but I think I'm done. They win. They fucked my car up and now they're fucking me. Sorry for the language, but I'm not happy at all. I dropped off my car this afternoon for the service manager to decide what to do. The advisor called me this evening to tell me that the rear main is leaking. NO SHIT?! Normally it's a $1483 job, but they decided to be nice and try to retain my business. They're dropping their labor rate to $23/hour. It's a 12 hour job, so that is, ummm, $276. He said the total would be $1123. I guess the seal costs another $850. I don't get it, but I'm not giving them a dime to touch my car again. By the way, this is Riverside Acura in Little Rock, AR that I'm referring to. They are terrible. I even got some inside info that they are having lots of problems with their tech right now. Wish I had known that before I let them work on my car.

Anyway, I'm going to get my car in the morning and pick up some power steering fluid and HondaBond Liquid Gasket. Looks like I'll be pulling my transmission out this weekend and changing a seal. I still don't see what they could have done to cause this and I'm still not convinced that it is the rear main seal. I may just start with the oil pan and see what happens. I don't kow how they could see anything different than I saw to determine that it was the rear main seal leaking. Have any of you techs seen a leaking rear main seal on the 3rd gen TL?? Oil pan? What is most likely?

 

Good luck. I'm interested to see how it goes.
I'm with Bender, no one cares about your stuff like you do!

 

What the hell is it with this car? Great reliable gem of a car with the worst possible service I have dealt with. I had more problems with my Jeep but had great service with it. I have yet to find a decent Acura dealership. To bad we can't go to Honda for the TSB's.

 

Sorry to hear, I bought my car from Riverside used and certified preowned. I wouldnt let them touch mine either after the crap i have heard from all the forums on here. Not just Riverside, but any stealership.

Hope u get it worked out and be sure to tell Riverside about azine and all the voices on hear to pass on how shitty their work is.

ps.... there is a placed called Glidewell Automotive here in Searcy and they work on all foreign cars. They put my UR pulley on and no probs.