Should Acura be held accountable for $10,000 of damage per RSX in 2000-3000 RSX's.

[mabcrash]

Boy am I glad I found this forum (I should say my son is glad). His VIN ends in the mid 20000's. He was driving down the street and during acceleration was shifting from 3rd to 4th when he thinks it instead shifted into 2nd (which should be a crime that the tranny is made for this to even be possible). Engine is now kaput. There are no new holes in the engine and it didn't loose any oil. He's a very experienced 23 year old driver that has never made a mistake like this before. Yes he had his foot into it a little, but let's face it... you don't get an RSX-S to drive it like a granny.

The dealership towed his car in and that's when things started to get interesting. The tech that he first talked to told him "this is the 4th '02 RSX we've gotten in with a blown engine". After that the Service Dept. Manager took over; all of a sudden there has been no other RSX's with blown engines and the only thing that's being mentioned is what "the cost will be to replace the engine". Cost... cost... COST!?! You gotta be joking! What ever happened to a little word called "warranty"???

To GST2RSX-S: Any info or documentation regarding the policy mentioned by the Regional Mfg Rep regarding the engine replacement for original owners would be greatly appreciated. Something that he can show to the morons over at Crown Acura in Clearwater, FL maybe?

"...Although, we will warranty an engine to be replaced once and once only no matter if it is our fault or the users in a car bought new, but that's it, no more."

If not any other info/help would be more than welcome. There is no way he has $10k to replace the engine and it doesn't look as if Acura wants anything to do with honoring their warranty.

Please help!

[ABCBuckU]

I dunno if I'm in trouble. My VIN ends in 019826. But I just bought it last week!!! It's a 2003 and so far no probs w/ 650 miles on it.

It is a little notchy going into 2nd, but I thought that's just cause it's a manual. Also, it's a little jerky when I let my foot off the gas at low speeds in 1st/2nd/3rd gear - I also thought that it's because it's a standard. Lemme know if I should talk to my dealer. Why did I get such a low VIN number if it's brand new 2003 and I just bought it last week?

P.S. It's a Type-S 6 speed

[pterribilis]

Mis-shifting is a prob, but even when I have mis-shifted once or twice in my 03' EBP RSX Type S, I haven't blown anything or caused any damage.

I found this information to be usefull for the newer RSX Type S's.


"Based on information from TODA Japan, the Type-S and Type-R have the same exhaust valve springs. However the intake side uses F20C (S2000) intake springs for the outer spring and a Type-R for the inner spring. TODA also mentioned that Honda is now using single springs of a higher class material for the newer Type-R's."

This means to me that a 10k mis shift won't hurt as bad.

[mabcrash]

So does this person actually exist? Or was he perhaps created from a vivid imagination. Prove it's not B.S. and PLEASE pass on this guy's name and number if it is indeed true


Here's a direct quote from an Acura (Regional Manufacturer) Representative:

"We will NOT warranty an engine to be replaced no matter what the reason if the car is bought used at any mileage even 10 miles on it. Although, we will warranty an engine to be replaced once and once only no matter if it is our fault or the users in a car bought new, but that's it, no more."


Still waiting for any kind of response. The dealership says they aren't gonna pay a dime.

[Austin519]

Hey guys I could use all of your help in something I have been getting together for months to publicize our problems. I've posted a thread here to try to unify everything...and if everyone is interested in helping and it's okay with the moderators I'll post the link to AcuraWorld.com where I have this all together. Please go here if you guys are interested in helping...thanks:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...hreadid=112262

Austin519

[GST2RSX-S]

Originally posted by mabcrash
So does this person actually exist? Or was he perhaps created from a vivid imagination. Prove it's not B.S. and PLEASE pass on this guy's name and number if it is indeed true


Here's a direct quote from an Acura (Regional Manufacturer) Representative:

"We will NOT warranty an engine to be replaced no matter what the reason if the car is bought used at any mileage even 10 miles on it. Although, we will warranty an engine to be replaced once and once only no matter if it is our fault or the users in a car bought new, but that's it, no more."


Still waiting for any kind of response. The dealership says they aren't gonna pay a dime.

Sorry about not responding sooner. I have been working 80 hrs/week trying to make ends meet with the current economic situation we are all in (or at least most of the nation/world). Also, for some reason I stopped receiving updates to this thread. Maybe I need to post more often to stay on the updates emailing?

Anyway, I don't have any documentation for what I quoted my Regional Acura Rep for saying (nor did I tape record it, wish I did). If I gave you the Reps number, and you called him, he'd ask you where you got his number, and then he sure wouldn't help you at that point.

If you must have it, email me. But, basically, that's Acura's policy, and therefore their Reps go by that. If you have had a Regional Acura Rep (Acura, the manufacturer, not the dealership) look at your car and talk with you about it, then he should have already told you this. If you haven't you need to get a meeting setup with one, don't worry about the rest, it will work out. Just tell him you didn't do it intentionally, explain to him that it was during normal every day driving, and whatever you do make sure you put an impression on him that you don't use the car for any kind of racing (illegal or legal, drag racing, autocross, or any other).

[crazy_canuck]

Wow, who just voted on this?


And I know this is old, but being an owner of a pre-1000 RSX, I have to say that there's no way this'd ever fly.
The problems aren't because of the K20A2, and even still that has been changed now for 05 to the K20Z1. 20-30 per dealer my eye. Probably that amount for idiots who blew their engine not knowing how to shift, not because of mechanical problems (and before someone misinterprets this, there are legit cases in which Acura should at least pay half, but no way pay for every effected tranny). Hell, this'd probably cost more than Ford's killer tires and GM's bad gas tank placements. Lastly to say the car is less reliable then an Eclipse is stupid, regardless of who says it. A company that lies and covers-up cases in which people were killed because of their faulty products vs. a company that didn't make a very good transmission yet has a great track record and still put together a good car is ridiculous. Have you been near an Eclipse? No wonder it was chosen for 2F2F. Plus many cars have bad trannys *cough* WRX *cough* yet their reliability isn't plunged because of that, and the RSX is a much more reliable car than the WRX.

[RSX-S777]

Alarmist bullshit. Moral is: don't drive like a retard.

[crazy_canuck]

Jeez can people stop voting on this 19+ month old thread?

Or at least post and vote?

[CivicSpoon]

Yeah year old thread here. But might as well throw in my 2 cents I guess... There are things called diagnostic computers (scan tools), for newer cars. And when a car comes in to a shop, they scan it and can see what the last thing to happen to the computer that wen't bad. So if you're beating on your car and accelerating quickly or high reving it beyond regular driving; and something goes wrong then it's not covered on warentee and you pay for the new motor. My buddy works for a Mitsubishi dealership as a mechanic (technician), and he was telling me about this teenager with a 3000GT VR4. Well the kid starting complaining that his car was suddenly sluggish and not shifting properly. He put up a big stink about how it was under warentee and wasn't going to pay a dime to get it fixed. So my buddy scanned the computer and found out that the kid was beating the shit out of his motor and shifted in a lower gear (instead of upshifting) when he was racing, I can't remember exactly what he said was wrong with it. But basically the dealership told him where to stick it and the kid had to pay to get his motor fixed and buy a whole new tranny and completely voided his warentee for it's remainder. So basically what I'm trying to say is if you beat the shit out of your motor and something breaks; it's your own damn fault and the mechanic will know it was your fault. Don't try to cheat a cheater, if you know what I mean.

[mmont0]

Well, I have #18,790 and I have over 10k miles on it. No problems yet.

I really believe that this is due to people mis-shifting. I myself have taken shifts incorrectly but I notice way before I release the clutch all the way. I can see how quite a number of people have blown engines by mis-shifting at redline. Also, the related problems are surely due to people driving their RSX like a dragster. If you take care of the car it will last a bit longer. The redline is there for a reason, so you don't go near it every time you step on the accelerator.

Acura is rated one of the top makers in the car industry and if they put something out there that was crap, their reputation would be at stake. I really think that they'd recall the autos if engines were blowing up while driving it normally.

Oh, and like CivicSpoon has said, your ECU DOES record the highest RPM reached, so if you take it to the dealer and they see a 12,000 rpm max reached, then they will know it was your fault.

[whtteg]

This is done! Do not vote or post in old threads!
Thankyou