My 2009 Acura TSX Engine Problem

Disclaimer: My family and I follow the schedule to service all the cars that I mention below.  Although some of the cars do not being service at the Honda/Acura dealership, we do use qualified technicians.

My whole family is royal Honda/Acura customer.  My first new car was a 1997 Acura 2.2CL 5-Speed.  For over 150,000 miles in 5 years, it has zero issue.  My mother has the 2001 Acura TL and it is still on the road.  My father sold his 1999 Honda Civic when it was 210,000 miles.  He is currently driving a 2005 Honda Accord LX (nearly 120,000 miles on it).  My wife used to have an very old (forget about the year) Honda Accord and we sold it when it was 150,000 miles.

However, the quality of Honda production is getting downhill recent years.  I bought a 2006 Honda Accord V6 Automatic (my first 4-door automatic car!!!) for my commute.  It has transmission problem and air conditioning problem when it was just 80,000 miles.  At that time, I thought it may be related to the very bad stop-and-go Los Angeles traffic and it was made in North America.  In order to save gas and the load on the drivetrain, I switched to a 4-cylinder Acura TSX Automatic (I believe it is being called Honda Accord Euro Edition outside North America).  I believe the TSX is JDM so it should have no quality control problem anymore.  For the past 3 years, it has small issues but everything is doing fine.  I am happy with the maintenance cost and the gas mileage with the TSX.  However, the nightmare starts a week ago…

Sunday:

It is the night of 2012 Chinese New Year Eve.  After having dinner with family and friends at my parents’ place, my wife and I drove home separately.  Our dog, Charco, was with me in my TSX.  Since it was Sunday night @ 9pm, there was not much cars on the road.  I was cruising with legal speed on the freeway while I had the iPod music on (love TSX’s iPod integration!!!).  Without any noticible noise, I felt the TSX was losing power.  It has no power when I stepped on the gas pedal but the engine light was on.  However, the engine light turned off when I released from the gas pedal.  I pulled the TSX to the right hand shoulder slowly (again, glad that there was not much cars on the freeway during that time) and stepped on the brake to try to stop the TSX.  However, there is no more power assistant with the brake and I finally realized the engine was stalled.

I turned the TSX off once I managed to stop the car.  Turned the car key clockwise, the engine tried to start but couldn’t hold it.  At first, I thought may be the TSX ran out of gas.  However, the gas tank indicator showed the tank was full.  Hmmm… fuel injection problem? battery problem? I had no clue at all.  I called my wife to drive back to the freeway to pick up Charco and I called AAA to arrange a tow trunk to tow the TSX back home.

Monday:

I contacted my mechanic (it is a local shop that is in business for at least 17 years) regarding the TSX’s problem.  Since it is still being covered by drivetrain warranty (below 70,000 miles), he highly recommended me to tow the TSX back to the dealership.

Tuesday:

I towed the TSX back to the dealership near my home in the morning.  The service person was very nice and he got me a loaner car (a 2012 TSX!!!) to drive while they tried to figure out what’s wrong with the TSX.  In the afternoon, the serviceman called me and told me there was metal in cylinder#2 (a.k.a. engine is “dead”).  The cause of it could be lacking of maintenance.  The dealership needs me to provide them all the service records to proof the car was being serviced properly.  Awesome, I don’t have the habit to keep car service records!!!

I called my mechanic again and he was able to pull me records until sometime last year immediately (thank GOD!).  I drove back to the shop to pick up the records and delivered them back to the dealership immediately.  I thought that’s enough proofs to show them I did take good care of my TSX and Acura would take my claim and gives me a new/used engine.

I am wrong again…

Friday:

The director of service department contacted me today and told me that Acura believes I didn’t change oil before 45,000 miles (that’s the earliest records I delivered to them on Monday).  I told him it is not the case because it is difficult to get records earlier than that.  The director of service department suggested I should get all the records for my best interest because Acura will make decisions based on the records (Lesson Learn: We should always keep car service records if we are doing car service outside of the dealership).  Luckily, my mechanic is able to get all the records for me since year 2008.  Thanks Mr. Mechanic!!!!

That’s how the story is developed so far.  Will update with a separated post once I learn more from the dealership.  I have been studying the Acura TSX warranty terms and agreement the whole night.  The following are some of the highlight:

“Maintenance Minder function should never be exceeded; they are essential to trouble-free operation. Parts that fail because they did not get proper, timely maintenance are not covered by warranty. However, a warranty claim will not be denied if a part fails due to a defect in material or workmanship for reasons unrelated to the improper maintenance or operation.”

In order to proof the Acura is being serviced properly, we need one or more of the followings:

“The Acura Maintenance Journal showing the odometer mileage and date for each service. Each entry in this journal should be embossed and signed by a person who is qualified to service automobiles.”

“Copies of repair orders or other receipts that include the odometer mileage and date that the vehicle was serviced. Each receipt should be signed by a qualified automotive service technician.”

“A statement that you completed the maintenance yourself, showing the odometer mileage and date you did the work. Receipts for the replacement parts (fluids, filters, etc.) should accompany this statement.”

(Updates)

Saturday:

Picked up the service records from the mechanic shop in the morning and delivered them back to the Acura dealership.  After the director of service department examined the records, he told me Acura has authorized the fixes under warranty and they are just waiting for the service records.  He also walked through the engine damage with me.  However, they still have no clue what causes the damage because the engine oil looks like never been replaced and they found no water in the engine oil at all.  Since I have provided them the proof of service, they can’t deny the drivetrain warranty and they will start the work next week.  The cost of the fixes is more than $10k and all being covered under the warranty!!!

The bad news is the warranty will not be extended so it will be expired after the other 100 miles.  The good news is I can always contact the dealership and they will try to make exemption with Acura about the engine if there is more problem in the future.

The pistol in cylinder#2 is damaged badly.

The spring of the valve in cylinder#2 is also broken

Metals are inside the cylinder#2

The engine head unit is also damanged