My NSX is in the shop for some [potentially major] service and I'd appreciate any advice you have.
Here's what happened...
I attended the Driver's Edge event Oct 12-13 at TWS in College Station, TX. The previous week, I spent $2200 the previous week at Gunn Acura in San Antonio, TX. I had them completely inspect the car, perform the full 60K service and fix a defective speed sensor. They also replaced the speed sensor as well as several hoses, boot, oil pan gasket, spool valve gaskets, etc. I did not need timing belt/water pump as it had recently been changed.
When I picked it up, the car would not idle... just died... when it was running I heard a faint tapping sound (propotional to the speed of the engine). It was after service dept hours, so I had to leave the car and pick it up a few days later (after they made some adjustments). There was still a very faint tapping sound, but I figured it was the valvetrain (since it had just been adjusted).
Anyway, after the last session on the frist day of Driver's Edge, I heard a very odd sound from the engine. I can only decribe it as a loud tapping or "clanking". It was definately metal-metal contact and occured pretty much through-out the rpm range, but was more noticable at about 1000 rpm and 2200 rpm.
I did not want to drive the car with that sound, so I left it at TWS overnight. To make a long story short, several nice folks at D.E. looked at my car (much thanks John H., Chris C., Eric R., and JC) but we were not able to really do anything, so I had the car towed back to Gunn Acura. A few weeks ago they called and told me that the engine had spun a rod bearing (ouch!).
I spoke to the tech (Agi) and he tells me 1) The spun bearing damaged the block and I need a new block, I asked what in the world would have cause this since it had been less than 300 miles between leaving the shop and the failure... Of course, he could not say, but did mention there was some odd white/green-ish fluid in the oil. <font color="blue">I have no idea what that could be other than coolant</font>. 2) He mentioned at least one bearing spun, but did not inspect the others. 3) He said the markings on the rods do not look like the markings on a stock rod and that "someone" had been in the engine before <font color="blue">Again, this is odd because I am not aware of any internal engine work on the car</font>.
I'm sure the service rep heard me collapse when he told me the price of a new block. He said they had located some used blocks (engines), but those prices were truely laughable, considering they were USED!
And the sucky part was I was not able to attend NSXPO because of the problems with my car.
Some notes
FYI: I live in Austin, but the reason I took it to Gunn in San Antonio, is because I've heard good things about Agi's knowledge of NSXs and because the local Acura shop (McDavid) "misdiagnosed" several things on my car (including telling me I "definately need a new timing belt and water pump", without bothering to look at the nearly-new belt).
FYI: Although I know my car has high miles, I do not know the actual milage as a previous owner (or dealer) rolled back the background. I knew this when I purchased the car and based on what the previous owner said, the service records I have, and the CarFax reports, the actual miles appears to be 140K-150K.
My questions
I've looked thru some past posts, but still have some questions:
1) What are the chances that the initial work performed by the dealer cause the spun bearing? I've heard several explainations including the long banked turn at TWS, and I also understand that this sort of failure it far from unheard-of. But it's the mysterious fluid in the oil that concerns me. Couldn't the contaiminate cause this sort of failure? It just seems so odd that the failure occured right after the car was serviced and what started as a faint tapping, turned into a loud clanking, and that of coursed, turned out to be a spun bearing.
2) What would be the best way to convince the dealer that they were the ones that screwed-up and they should be the ones that pay for the repairs?
3) At this point I have very little faith in the local Acura dealers. I was given the name of an independant (I think) shop with an NSX tech in San Antonio, but no longer have this information. Anyone know of a good NSX tech in San Antonio that could give me a second opinion?
4) I've looked into several used engines, would need to have it installed. Again, at this point, I would feel uncomfortable trusting either of the two dealers. I've also briefly talked to Mark Basch about shipping the NSX to him for him to diagnosis and repair. Other than having it shipped on a flatbed or pulling it behind a U-Haul, is there another cost-effective way to ship the car ~1000mi?
Sorry of the long post. Thanks all!
------------------
ojaspatel.com/nsx
[This message has been edited by Ojas (edited 19 November 2002).]
Here's what happened...
I attended the Driver's Edge event Oct 12-13 at TWS in College Station, TX. The previous week, I spent $2200 the previous week at Gunn Acura in San Antonio, TX. I had them completely inspect the car, perform the full 60K service and fix a defective speed sensor. They also replaced the speed sensor as well as several hoses, boot, oil pan gasket, spool valve gaskets, etc. I did not need timing belt/water pump as it had recently been changed.
When I picked it up, the car would not idle... just died... when it was running I heard a faint tapping sound (propotional to the speed of the engine). It was after service dept hours, so I had to leave the car and pick it up a few days later (after they made some adjustments). There was still a very faint tapping sound, but I figured it was the valvetrain (since it had just been adjusted).
Anyway, after the last session on the frist day of Driver's Edge, I heard a very odd sound from the engine. I can only decribe it as a loud tapping or "clanking". It was definately metal-metal contact and occured pretty much through-out the rpm range, but was more noticable at about 1000 rpm and 2200 rpm.
I did not want to drive the car with that sound, so I left it at TWS overnight. To make a long story short, several nice folks at D.E. looked at my car (much thanks John H., Chris C., Eric R., and JC) but we were not able to really do anything, so I had the car towed back to Gunn Acura. A few weeks ago they called and told me that the engine had spun a rod bearing (ouch!).
I spoke to the tech (Agi) and he tells me 1) The spun bearing damaged the block and I need a new block, I asked what in the world would have cause this since it had been less than 300 miles between leaving the shop and the failure... Of course, he could not say, but did mention there was some odd white/green-ish fluid in the oil. <font color="blue">I have no idea what that could be other than coolant</font>. 2) He mentioned at least one bearing spun, but did not inspect the others. 3) He said the markings on the rods do not look like the markings on a stock rod and that "someone" had been in the engine before <font color="blue">Again, this is odd because I am not aware of any internal engine work on the car</font>.
I'm sure the service rep heard me collapse when he told me the price of a new block. He said they had located some used blocks (engines), but those prices were truely laughable, considering they were USED!
And the sucky part was I was not able to attend NSXPO because of the problems with my car.
Some notes
FYI: I live in Austin, but the reason I took it to Gunn in San Antonio, is because I've heard good things about Agi's knowledge of NSXs and because the local Acura shop (McDavid) "misdiagnosed" several things on my car (including telling me I "definately need a new timing belt and water pump", without bothering to look at the nearly-new belt).
FYI: Although I know my car has high miles, I do not know the actual milage as a previous owner (or dealer) rolled back the background. I knew this when I purchased the car and based on what the previous owner said, the service records I have, and the CarFax reports, the actual miles appears to be 140K-150K.
My questions
I've looked thru some past posts, but still have some questions:
1) What are the chances that the initial work performed by the dealer cause the spun bearing? I've heard several explainations including the long banked turn at TWS, and I also understand that this sort of failure it far from unheard-of. But it's the mysterious fluid in the oil that concerns me. Couldn't the contaiminate cause this sort of failure? It just seems so odd that the failure occured right after the car was serviced and what started as a faint tapping, turned into a loud clanking, and that of coursed, turned out to be a spun bearing.
2) What would be the best way to convince the dealer that they were the ones that screwed-up and they should be the ones that pay for the repairs?
3) At this point I have very little faith in the local Acura dealers. I was given the name of an independant (I think) shop with an NSX tech in San Antonio, but no longer have this information. Anyone know of a good NSX tech in San Antonio that could give me a second opinion?
4) I've looked into several used engines, would need to have it installed. Again, at this point, I would feel uncomfortable trusting either of the two dealers. I've also briefly talked to Mark Basch about shipping the NSX to him for him to diagnosis and repair. Other than having it shipped on a flatbed or pulling it behind a U-Haul, is there another cost-effective way to ship the car ~1000mi?
Sorry of the long post. Thanks all!
------------------
ojaspatel.com/nsx
[This message has been edited by Ojas (edited 19 November 2002).]
