feeenux

I had a weird one yesterday that y'all should be aware of...

My steering wheel in my 05 wasn't returning to preset position upon startup. Took it to dealer. Service "advisor" had no idea what the problem was. I suggested a battery problem (based on info from this forum...which I printed out and took with me, by the way) and he said he "had never seen a battery problem in an RL before"

I asked to speak to the actual mechanic and for him to bring his battery tester with him. Sure enough, the battery was operating at about 25% cranking amperage. So the tech says to the advisor, "looks like this guy needs a new battery."

We go in to do the paperwork and the advisor tells me that since I'm past the two year point on the warranty, the cost will be prorated. I (luckily) had my owners manual that says batteries are covered for four years on a new RL purchase with all costs covered by Acura. When the service advisor showed this to the service manager, the manager came out and asked me where I got this information. When I showed him my purchase contract, owners manuals, etc. He told me that he had been at Acura for 16 years and had never seen a battery contract worded the way that it is in the owners manual. My eyes rolling back in my head probably gave him an indication that this was probably not going to go his way.

I got a bit pissed and asked him if he thought I had printed it myself or what? He acquiesced and said they would take care of it.

Well, to sum up, the new battery fixed the original problem and I learned a valuable lesson. Namely, believe almost nothing that the service guys tell you unless you can see it in writing and keep copies of warranties, receipts, etc.

Good luck...it's a battle out there. ha...by the way, the Dealer was Thomas Acura in Covina, CA

Mark

kirbyflorida

Find a better dealer, they are out there.

VOdoc

Scratch one L.A.-area dealer from the "OK to service my RL" list. Thanks for the post.

lumpulus

An informed customer is a dealership's worst nightmare....Good job feeenux!!

backfire

I bought my car at Thomas , never took car to service there was warned earlier. I dont know where you live but metro Acura in Montclair has given me excellent service on all my acuras

sleepinxlionhart

yeah..thomas acura isn't that great. they had screws all over the asphalt in front of the service area. and then they told me i couldn't go back there to see how my car was doing. and i see then i see them using the horizontal floor sweepers to wash the cars..ouch.

kirbyflorida

Please report these bad dealers to Acura HQ. They have an 800 number.

Rob144

I never let anyone else wash my car. Maybe in a few years.

My Acura service center is co-located with Jaguar, which might bring their level of service up a little bit.

Rob144

Eoanou

Well is it the one that's like a brush or it the one that's like a duster. The duster type ones are actually pretty good to use on cars and they're availible in smaller sizes for private use on an automobile. But the ones with the brushes, like those of a toothbrush, that's just going to scratch the paint.

sleepinxlionhart

it was the brush kind... it looked clean, but still. good thing i didn't let them wash my car.

when the service guy took my car out for a spin(which wasn't needed AT ALL) he didn't even put the plastic/paper covers on the floor, or the seat(i don't think they have them for the seats, but there were clearly covers for the floor next to the service entrance) my car came back with his nasty sweat smell on the seats. gross

never going back there again. i thought that they were gonna be better than sierra acura of alhambra, but i was wrong.

miner

Did you check your interior with an ultra-violet light?

TampaRLX-SH

I see a new series for Dateline NBC in the works. "To catch an Acura Violator".

sleepinxlionhart

that's a good idea! heh, but i did wipe it down with leather cleaner

konst_ms

I had exactly the same problem on my 05 RL a few weeks ago. At first dealer refused to admit the problem. Then I did another trip there and demoed the problem to the mechanic. He agreed that something is wrong, but said that he does not know what to do with it. In a couple days I called them and to my surprize they said the car is ready. Mechanic was not available, but from he paperwork I understood that he did a routine test, found low voltage on the battery and replaced the battery. Problem appeared to be fixed indeed.

I wonder if we should do anything to make Acura to release a service bulletin for this.

konst_ms

I had exactly the same problem on my 05 RL a few weeks ago. At first dealer refused to admit the problem. Then I did another trip there and demoed the problem to the mechanic. He agreed that something is wrong, but said that he does not know what to do with it. In a couple days I called them and to my surprize they said the car is ready. Mechanic was not available, but from he paperwork I understood that he did a routine test, found low voltage on the battery and replaced the battery. Problem appeared to be fixed indeed.

I wonder if we should do anything to make Acura to release a service bulletin for this.

konst_ms

I had exactly the same problem on my 05 RL a few weeks ago. At first dealer refused to admit the problem. Then I did another trip there and demoed the problem to the mechanic. He agreed that something is wrong, but said that he does not know what to do with it. In a couple days I called them and to my surprize they said the car is ready. Mechanic was not available, but from the paperwork I understood that he did a routine test, found low voltage on the battery and replaced the battery. Problem appeared to be fixed indeed.

I wonder if we should do anything to make Acura to release a service bulletin for this.