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I have the full story in my own blog. However, I don't want to use this forum to advertise my blog so I copy and paste my story here. Just want to share my frustration with the other TSX owners.

In 2008, gas was way expensive and I had an Accord V6. In order to save gas, I switched to a 2009 4-cylinder Acura TSX Automatic. 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. :mecry:

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 :confused:. 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 pieces in cylinder#2 (forgot the term he was using). 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!!! :shock:

I called my mechanic again and he was able to pull me records until sometime last year immediately (thank GOD!) :woowoo:. I drove 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… :bawling:

Friday:
The director of service department (Mr. Y) 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. Mr. Y 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!!!! :woowoo:

That’s how the story is developed so far.

I had studied the warranty terms and conditions the whole night. It seems as long as I can prove my TSX was being serviced properly, there is no way Acura can deny my claim. Is there anyone had similar experience? :confused::confused::confused:
 

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wow that's crazy. acura just wants to get away with helping you under warranty....
 

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I'm glad to hear that the dealer is going to help you.

Also, the argument that you didn't change your oil for the previous 45,000 miles is just insane! Seems to me like they were grasping at straws to keep from paying for the warranty work. I would imagine that an engine would fail far earlier than 45k without an oil change!
 

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I'm glad to hear that the dealer is going to help you.

Also, the argument that you didn't change your oil for the previous 45,000 miles is just insane! Seems to me like they were grasping at straws to keep from paying for the warranty work. I would imagine that an engine would fail far earlier than 45k without an oil change!
No. The dealership needs complete records so that they will be reimbursed by Honda.
 

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damn...so if i go to an independent auto shop to do oil change and what not, i have to keep a record huh. im pretty sure the shop i go to doesn't keep records...
 

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It could have been a one off engine failure but going by the OP's technical skill, I suspect he ran it dry on engine oil.

There are several threads on here where the 2009+ TSX's are using engine oil & it's evident that the owners do not regularily check their engine oil level.


To the OP, make sure you keep a close eye on the engine oil level on your new engine. :thumbsup:
 

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So if I'm to do my own oil change and maintenance vs. having them rip a hole in my pocket and some shit happens I'm screwed becuase I have no records other than the receipts of the parts I bought? ... That's dumb ... I guess it depends on the dealer... Glad they are fixing it... Goodluck
 

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Hmmm, I wonder why the that happened. JDM has nothing to do with quality control. Acura and Honda build cars in America, but the motors are still mainly assembled in Japan.
The TSX and the RL are still built in Japan and shipped stateside. The rest of the Acura models are built in America or Canada and some of the transmissions in Japan.
 
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