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Recommendation of Jim Russell at Hopkins Acura

Joined
17 July 2002
Messages
368
Location
SF Bay Area, CA
I have found Jim Russell, service manager at Hopkins Acura in Redwood City, CA to be a wonderful find for local NSX owners like myself. He is especially good with diagnosing rattles and squeaks, which is great for me since I am very picky about noises like that and the NSX is stiffly-sprung enough to make any noises happen more than my Lexus or BMW.

My previous experience with Jim was some months ago with a squeak which I thought was coming from one of the wheels. Unfortunately, it was hard to replicate except on the bumpy road to my house (but drove me crazy driving that road several times a day). So Jim rode back home with me to hear the sound, then diagnosed that the problem was actually coming from the rear glass catch being a bit out of alignment. When I picked it up, he mentioned that he drove the NSX back to the road in Belmont just to make sure he got it.

I developed a noise under my dash recently and went back in. Jim rode with me on the local streets and determined it was actually only "transmitting" under the dash but was actually under the front hood (amazing ears). He then found several things contributing (the horn and spare tire mount were loose, and the sway bar was not fully torqued). He fixed all three while I waited, we tested, and the noise was gone.

I also mentioned that my roof unlatched warning light (which I learned through NSXprime should be warning me, to avoid a big mistake) wasn't working. On the phone setting up the appointment, he guessed that it was probably a malfunctioning sensor in the top storage area, so the car thought the top was still safely in there. When we looked today, he was absolutely right. He ordered the $7 part and will install it this week. I would have never thought to look inside the clamshell to solve a light on the dash about a roof latch!

In short, Jim seems to really knows NSXs (he has owned a couple himself in the past, in fact) and is wonderful with noise diagnosis. I was happy enough with his work to post all this, so you get the idea. I also love that as a dealership, he has loaner cars available when needed if reserved ahead. Don at Hilltop did a great job installing my Tubi (I took it to him since he had done Tubi's before), but it sure is nicer if you can just drive to service and drive away with a loaner, rather than getting rides both ways.

I always work directly with Jim, as I think he knows NSXs better than his service writers do, and he is OK with that. Best time to reach him seems to be early in the day.

Chip
 
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Update: Sadly, Jim Russell has left Hopkins Acura, and will now be working on Jaguars and other British cars in San Jose. :frown:
 
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