Rumor .....RSX going BANG

[GST2RSX-S]

Acura needs to learn to own up to their mistakes, and learn to STOP blaming every flaw on customer driving habits. I am a Professional Engineer, I have driven many cars many times over, manual and automatic, and I have never seen a car with so many engine faults that cause the engine to go bad.

It has happened to me twice. Each time I almost got killed trying to get off the freeway, in busy traffic, after my car stalled due to the engine going bad.

I will never buy a New Acura AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TakimotoRacing]

I have an 02 Type S and have never had a problem with it. No stalls, mishifts, blown cylinders or anything else described here. whats more is that all the RSX (base and type S) owners i have spoken to have had no major engine problems, and Reading Acura, Lancaster Acura, and Rahal Acura (in PA) have had absolutely no blown motor repair issues although they did do one tranny swap in an S. initially i thought this was a serious matter, but other than the 1st to 2nd notchiness (of which i feel dash rattle is as big a problem as mine has only ground twice) i see no real evidence of a secret coverup or horribly malfunctioning tranny's, only idiots who need to take it easy learning stick or 6 speed (6th and missing 4th instead going into 2nd? how many of you would admit to that, and if so, how often does it occur then? why dont all celica GT-S's have blown engines then? their shift gates are even closer). plus, i also noticed that with all these purported blown engines no one has a single verifyable name or even dealership to go with them. 'i know this guy' or 'theres this one type S' doesnt cut it in my book.

Oh yeah, and BTW, i think integra JDM front end conversions are ugly!

[TakimotoRacing]

just a quick add-on...there have been blown RSX's (1 base, 2 type S) out here, but only three of them, all from overrevving or mishift-overreving, not 20 to 30 per dealership. and the one tranny swap in a Type S. BTW, for those of you who have had problems or whatever, what mods pray tell have you done to your cars so i can avoid them?

[GST2RSX-S]

Originally posted by TakimotoRacing
...plus, i also noticed that with all these purported blown engines no one has a single verifyable name or even dealership to go with them. 'i know this guy' or 'theres this one type S' doesnt cut it in my book.

My name is Daniel Sanchez, and I bought my car at David McDavid Acura in Austin, TX. The shop foreman at the Service Department told me (himself) in August 2002 that they have seen 20 cars go through the shop with engines replaced do to problems. That's 20 in the first year, at one dealership. 20 times 100 (roughly 200 dealerships) is 2000 vehicles in the first year. It's now been over 2 years that the car has been out, can we easily make the assumption that if twice the amount of cars have been sold, then twice the amount of cars have had engine problems? So, an easy estimation says 4000 vehicles exist with engines going bad (out of the ones sold to this day, being 2 years from when the car first came out). As to my understanding nothing has been done to remedy the situation (AKA design fix).

I have a big listing of people with vehicles that have gone bad. Here's one that I have personally talked to in person, in your area (when I was up there in April):

Josh Aldrich, Forest City, PA (odie3283@hotmail.com). I didn't get permission to post this, so please be courteous, although he's a very easy going good guy.

[rsxer45]

Originally posted by TakimotoRacing
I have an 02 Type S and have never had a problem with it. No stalls, mishifts, blown cylinders or anything else described here. whats more is that all the RSX (base and type S) owners i have spoken to have had no major engine problems, and Reading Acura, Lancaster Acura, and Rahal Acura (in PA) have had absolutely no blown motor repair issues although they did do one tranny swap in an S. initially i thought this was a serious matter, but other than the 1st to 2nd notchiness (of which i feel dash rattle is as big a problem as mine has only ground twice) i see no real evidence of a secret coverup or horribly malfunctioning tranny's, only idiots who need to take it easy learning stick or 6 speed (6th and missing 4th instead going into 2nd? how many of you would admit to that, and if so, how often does it occur then? why dont all celica GT-S's have blown engines then? their shift gates are even closer). plus, i also noticed that with all these purported blown engines no one has a single verifyable name or even dealership to go with them. 'i know this guy' or 'theres this one type S' doesnt cut it in my book.

Oh yeah, and BTW, i think integra JDM front end conversions are ugly!

Aren't you the same person who said this on page 3 of this thread?

Originally posted by TakimotoRacing
My apologies
lately i have asked around at the three closest Acura dealerships and many type S engines are going bang. however, they insist that it is bcs of overrevving etc...
i dont know if i believe it. i am thinking of trading mine in for an 03 WRX as soon as the 04 redesign comes out...

Why the discrepancy???...........Nonetheless, I agree that it is faulty to assume that just because a dealership in Texas has had 20-30 blown engines, the same condition exists in all other dealerships around the country. I have driven my type s for over a year now and have noticied virtually no problems with the engine or transmission. The dealership near me also reported that they have no knowledge of such a large quantity of blown engines. have Maybe I have just been lucky . Or maybe its just exaggerated .

BTW, GST2RSX-S how many other dealerships have you been that also have reported 20-30 blown rsx engines?

[GST2RSX-S]

Originally posted by rsxer45


Why the discrepancy???...........Nonetheless, I agree that it is faulty to assume that just because a dealership in Texas has had 20-30 blown engines, the same condition exists in all other dealerships around the country. I have driven my type s for over a year now and have noticied virtually no problems with the engine or transmission. The dealership near me also reported that they have no knowledge of such a large quantity of blown engines. have Maybe I have just been lucky . Or maybe its just exaggerated .

BTW, GST2RSX-S how many other dealerships have you been that also have reported 20-30 blown rsx engines?

My car is currently at Gunn Acura in San Antonio, TX, and yes they have very similar numbers.

Here's a good story to read:
http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?threadid=63926

[GST2RSX-S]

Originally posted by rsxer45


Why the discrepancy???...........Nonetheless, I agree that it is faulty to assume that just because a dealership in Texas has had 20-30 blown engines, the same condition exists in all other dealerships around the country. I have driven my type s for over a year now and have noticied virtually no problems with the engine or transmission. The dealership near me also reported that they have no knowledge of such a large quantity of blown engines. have Maybe I have just been lucky . Or maybe its just exaggerated .

BTW, GST2RSX-S how many other dealerships have you been that also have reported 20-30 blown rsx engines?

My car is currenlty at Gunn Acura in San Antonio, TX and they also have similar numbers.

Here's a good story to read:
http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?threadid=63926

[GST2RSX-S]

Originally posted by GST2RSX-S
Here's a good story to read:
http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?threadid=63926

HERE:
this is new info and something potential buyers should know about how HoA is handling the problem with valve damage.
(Save your breath on flames about stupid drivers not deserving a such a great car - yadayada)
I bought an 02 RSX (not S) for my 17 yr old daughter. Less than 7 mos old, she doesn't race, and is in fact a novice manual driver. Brought to dealer because of driver side window jammed completely down (defective rack) and a random 'ticking' noise under the hood. Without any diagnosis other than listening to the noise, the technician immediately started accusing her of racing the car, and implied repair would not be covered under warranty. 3 days later they report 20% less compression in Cyl 1. 1 wk later I get a call telling me how lucky I am cause HoA will cover the repairs. Here is the rub. They interrogated the on-board Computer and recovered info that indicates that the car had an over-rev of 8300 rpm while traveling at 73mph. Apparently any over-rev of more than redlie (6500 rpm) means you are suddenly branded and the "one-time good will repair" is all you get. Also, no other data is recorded so you can't identify when the problem occured. I bought this car off the lot with 150 miles, it could of occured before I got it. Also, duration of the overrev is not recorded. -Anyone think 8300 should bend a valve on any engine?

It gets better. after 13 days I hear that they have inspected the head and cannot detect any visible bending of the valvels but one of the exhasut valves looks slightly irregular when spun in a chuck so they will replace both valves. They can't find any signs of impact with piston (ever hear of a bent valve that presumably was caused by hitting the piston yet didn't leave a mark?) After 19 days they finally get the engine back in anf running and guess what, it still makes the same noise.

At this point I call Acura cust svc line cause its obvious this dealer sucks (not the one I bought the car from). They are nice and agree to get invovled, and ask for time to resolve problems. on day 21 the dist svc mgr looks car over and proclaims its a bad valve guide (maybe). Day 26 and tech discovers a split rocker arm roller ON CYL 2!!! (where there are no bent valves or impact signs or loss of compression) By the way they have so far refused to retest compression on cyl 1 (ever see a new car fail to seat rings properly?) There are no signs of impact caused by overrev but the dealer and Acura continue to blame the overrev for my problem. After almost 6 weeks I might get my RSX back but they are not even sure if this will correct the noise.


So today (day 27) I want everyone to know that based on my experience, you need to WATCH OUT.

First, any overrev (>6500) is captured by the OBC and dealers and Acura will try to blame it for any feasibly related problem. They don't record enough info to help you the consumer, such as date/time (in case your mechanic is running time trials in your car or the problem occured sometime is the distant past and is unrelated to the symptoms) They also don't light up any dash lights to let you know they have captured this data. Also, it doesn't matter to Acura when the overrev occurred or if they can show evidence of any correlation to your problem. I asked, "what happens if at some point in the future I have a bearing failure that appears to be caused by a sliver of metal plugging an oil galley?" They answered that this is a one-time good will repair and any problem caused by an overrev will be repaired at their discretion. In other words, this overrev is now on your "ermanent record" and we can decide not to honor the warranty.

Second, 8300 rpm is too low an rpm to expect valve damage. I have owned 6 Honda products and besides the RSX, I drive an 01 MDX. I love the cars, but this is indicative of a serious design flaw that HoA should own up to. I also have a Porsche 928S4 w/5 speed. It has a redline of 6500 just like the RSX and I have run it to 9000 without blowing valves, and that engine is notorious for its being one of the 'tightest' interference designs ever.

The sad thing is this could be corrected with better valve springs. Amazingly, I have not yet been offered that remedy. (thanks to poster of note about improve '03 springs)

I could have bought an S, but didn't thinking that the non-S would be more reliable and safer for my novice daughter. Sadly it appears that even though Acura is trying to market to a youth driver market they are apparently not building their engines sturdily enough for a novice. Combine that with how stupid they have gotten about handling the problems in this design and you have a real problem. I was in negotiations for an 03 MDX as this occurred - no way now. When I bought the RSX, my daughter and I stood on the lot for a long time debating manual vs auto. If any of the many people I talked to, including the service mgr, had said that these cars are performance cars and not suitable for novice drivers, we would have bought the auto and been happy customers.

Anyway, if youve read this far, you must be interested in my problem so I am aksing you to post any similar stories so we can accumulate enough data to try to convince Acura to change their ways. I think a valve spring upgrade for all std xmission RSXs before '03 should be offered. If you are racing and slamming 10000 rpm on a regular basis, shame on you. But normal drivers who make a mistake shifting should not have to worry about lunching their engines. Additionally, I would reccommend a gear lockout be considered. The OBC knows speed and can drop a lockout for any gear that could damage the engine with an improper shift. What do ya think?

AND THAT'S THE END OF IT, GOTO http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?threadid=63926 TO READ ANY POSTS THAT FOLLOWED.

[rsxer45]

Thats an unfortunate story but who is to say that is not only an isoloated incident. You have not submitted proof of the 4000 blown engines through your "easy estimation." Im not trying to call you a liar, it is just that I find "20-30 blown engines per dealership" hard to believe and I think it is less of a problem than you think (i guess because I and several others I know are not in the same boat as these "4000" others) . Sure, there probably a few people out there (including yourself) who have blew their engines but it seems to me that these are isolated incidents.....nothing even near 4000. Submit some proof of these large quantities of blown engines ( ie numbers and statistics or something) and maybe I will lend some credence to these accusations.

[GST2RSX-S]

By the way, my Lemon Law Court hearing went well. It was on Tuesday, July 29. I disproved everything the Acura Manufacturer Rep had against me to say it was my fault, and deny warranty. All that is left is for the Judge to get back to me on his decision. The only thing that is going against me is whether or not my case is a "safety hazard" by the letter of the law. My car left me stranded on the freeway twice, leaving me to push it to safety, putting me in harms way. I could have been killed. The only problem is the time frame. It has to be once in the first year, and once in the second year. The first incident was at 12 and a half months, while the second was at 18 months. So, it's up to judge to give the final call.

Important points that the Rep had, that I disproved:

ECU information for over-rev (on the two occasions): None, the Rep quoted 9400RPM for the first incident, and then he corrected himself (after I asked him to be certain since I was told there was none) and said "I'm not sure now?" Oops, big mistake Mr. "I know what I am talking about." ECU has no evidence, ruled out.

Engine Damage (for second engine, first engine not present): Not severe enough to tell whether over-rev or just a plain bad engine due to manufacturing. Rep was quoted saying that he's seen engines in the past that had similar damage and was not user related. Engine has no evidence, possibly ruled out.

Dealership Sponsored event where 1/4mile testing was performed (I attended this, with 30 other RSX's, and half a dozen dealer cars): I had a witness state nothing out of the ordinary occurred, and all my 1/4mile times correlated with Magazine tested numbers. No strange results on paper, nothing strange seen by a witness who attended event and appeared at court. She was my guest at the event, solely for the purpose of enjoying herself with me. She rode with me twice, and she observed four times. Event not relevant due to witness testimony and results on paper. Event ruled out.

Other tell tale signs from wear on Tires or clutch that might indicate abuse: Clutch is worn but not out of the ordinary. Tires have been replaced, but the original set was sold at less than 5K miles (tires and wheels were upgraded asthetically to 17" which are heavier, and not
done specifically for performance).

Manufacturer Reps expert opinion: Engine was over-reved. Although, there is no proof. No proof, no denying of warranty.

And there you have it folks. All the details, but in a quick summary. I'll let you know what the judges results are, when I get them.

I'm not saying it's a lemon until it is, and I'm not saying it's going to be warrantied until it is.

Later.

[TakimotoRacing]

Ok, first of all, THIS THREAD IS DEAD. ITS OVER. LET IT GO.
NO ONE has provided any substantiated evidence that in fact there are ppl driving around innocently one day in his/her shiny Type S's and suddenly BOOM! BLOWN ENGINE! all that i have read in here is either hearsay or unverified stories of ppl that claim their engines have blown up on them.

HOW ABOUT PUTTING UP A PIC OF THE RECIEPT ON THE REPAIR JOB? YOU KNOW, THE YELLOW THING THEY GIVE YOU WHEN YOU GET SOMETHING FIXED, like, oh, i dont know, A BLOW ENGINE!?! Or a copy of a report of the fact that said engine has blown? HOW ABOUT PIC OF LAST 6 VIN# DIGITS TO SEE IF THEY FALL IN THE TRANNY RECALL?

WHY IS THERE NO PROOF?


RUMOR...WRX going BANG
HEY! GUESS WHAT I HEARD THE OTHER DAY! You know those WRX's? the Turbo subies? Well guess what! The turbonetics turbocharger in them has an inherent flaw in its ball bearing turbine so that when it spools up the turbine begins to gyrate and blows up! Now i have no proof of this whatsoever, but a friend of a friend of mine says he heard this guy who got his leg blown off by it! Yeah, and there are supposed to be at least 5,000 cases already but theres this big international coverup by Subaru!!
...No, Really! Im serious!

Honestly, this is how absurd this thread sounds. When i see some REAL, VERIFYABLE PROOF of MULTIPLE CASES NOT INVOLVING MIS-SHIFTS, then i will believe it.

As for tha man who bought the RSX for his daughter, were you with her when it happened? Because kids dont always drive 55 if you know what i mean, and a misshift is possible.

Oh yeah, and unless its an S2000 or a rotary, 9000 RPM is bad news for any conventional reciprocating engine. Lets see some proof first.

[GST2RSX-S]

I understand your point of view.. you bought a car that people talk badly about. Not just people that bought other cars, but people that bought the car themselves. Don't feel bad, it's just a car. Atleast not you or I died, unlike the poor guy that killed himself in a race in his RSX. Maybe if it wasn't for those darn commercials we wouldn't have people driving the cars to their limits, as it's advertised. After all everyone knows that an american car driven to it's limits will sure die, as it's made to. We all just need to realize that no car is safe from manufacturer flaws, and not all cars work as advertised.

[TakimotoRacing]

As i said before, i have had the first to second grind, and also had a problem with the ignition system (it stalled on me for no reason right after start up around 2k mi.) but i see no evidence that over 4000 engines have just blown for practically no reason, and i do agree about ppl pushing their cars too far too often. i just think that if there was such a problem SOMEONE wouldve gone public by now, and by that i mean the better buisness beareau (forgot how to spell beareau ) , a formal inquiry , or have verifiable proof. All i have read in here is either hearsay or lacks evidence, and im a scientific theory kind of guy.
if somebody has a document abt this, please scan it and upload it as well as dealership etc.
if this does turn out to be fact, then i will indeed replace this vehicle. make no mistake, i do not absolutely love this car to the point o forsaking all others and 'the RSX Type S is the ultimate car blah blah blah' cause 5k and i got me an Evo, 350Z, or, better yet, a Renesis RX-8.
oh yeah, and btw, about the American cars being more dangerous, while i agree, remember that Acura is an American based car company, despite the RSX's being built in Japan, so thats why it might be a more dangerous car to begin with! j/k (i know acura's also exist in canada)

[Neck_Slicer]

not used to it.. wtf man... i am 16 and this type s is my first car.... and i learned on this car and i have had np... and yea i do get that 1st - 2nd grind ever once in a while..... wtf is ^ w/ that??????

[Doodler 7]

Just reading up on you guys' talk on blown up engines. I bought one of the first Type-S 2002 and had plenty of stalls and 3 gear grinding experience (2nd to 3rd), but all on low rpm...didn't know how to drive manual. It took me two days to learn the gears...picked up the car Friday and drove it to work the following Monday.

The car is almost 2 years old, 30 days to go at 36,500 miles. I sometime hear of whinning noises inside the engine. The only other problem is my driver-side power window, tugs on the door; sluggish compared to the passesnger window.

But anyway, along with my rambling nonsense...do you guys have tips on how to shift from 1st to 2nd a little smoother within 3500 rpm range? I think 1st to 2nd has the longest throw.

I was passing a truck and redlined at 8300 rpm on 2nd, the car buckled a little bit...is this bad? I've only taken the car at 135 mph thrice with each session around 30 seconds long from 4th gear, 5th gear and 6th gear. Is this bad for the engine?...still trying to read top speed.

Uh...yeah...break over, back to work...