Wow, blown away at Acura dealership service price
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
I am flying to Vegas on Saturday and taking a 2004 Pilot from my in-laws with 220k and the third transmission on it to go to San Diego, than LA than back to Vegas. Transmission is what is on my mind when I think about driving there.
The outgoing Pilot had first programming issues with 9speed ZF, which was resolved. But what was never resolved is their 6-speed, and they apparently need to change fluid every 20k to keep it going.
VCM issues on Honda are galore.
Toyota in 2017 had an absolute disaster with 8-speed, and they never issued a recall. My buddy sold his Highlander for Chrysler Pacifica bcs. they could not resolve the issue on transmission after 36 visits. They offered to buy a vehicle at market price minus bad transmission!!!
Asian manufacturers do not issue recalls unless NHTSA is involved. It is bad for the image.
Not really.
Small town=high prices.
This x100. A J-Series timing belt is a cake walk compared to a timing chain setup that isn't built to be replaced.
No they're not. I'd wager most anything built these days is an interference engine. The type of cam drive has nothing to do with it.
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I've owned a ton of American vehicles without issue. OP buys "needy" vehicles from Copart so he has had some colorful experiences.
This is exactly my point to my other response.
Without numerous publicly reported incidents....it just...."doesn't happen".
Two prime examples of reliability, and it goes much farther than this...but the Ford Panther and the GM Suburban/Tahoe GMT 800/900. How many of these are used for fleet vehicles, timing chains and all? Too many to count. They don't use Odysseys and Siennas, or Land Cruisers.
A Land Cruiser or Camry that sees 250K miles is deemed normal, what about 400K Crown Vics or Suburbans before all these direct injection and 10 speed trannys hit the market.
I agree, American vehicles have taken a small hit with the new regs, but many others have also...alot of uncharted territory.
Let EV supplement other vehicles, and stop with the 35 MPG mandates and EV mandates until we get this figured out.
On topic, I really like Acura/Honda and Toyota, but the service costs are crazy high and I don't feel they are any more cost effective to own than many American vehicles....splitting hairs.
Unclear. I work nightshift where today is tomorrow, tomorrow is yesterday, and I don’t even know what day of the week it is!
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I am 100% done with dealers. even under warranty they seem to be crooks, quoting things you don’t need, claiming they did work they didn’t, etc. Of course in the last 15 years I think I’ve taken my car to a garage outside of Warranty twice. Both times were a independent shop down the street. The guy behind the counter’s name is Phil and he owns the place. At least if Phil screws me the money stays local.
no one said the “type of cam drive” had anything to do with it. Timing belts break exponentially more than timing chains do. Learn to read the context of the conversation before butting in.
Always look up the p/n, then Google search it. If you use a site like "www . lexusparts . com", it might have a function like "where used" and it will list other vehicles that part is also used on, but they'll restrict it to Lexus. They won't show you Toyotas or others that it might work on. Rockauto will list others though and I'm sure other sites do as well.
I agree, but what is a fair price? Most businesses base their prices on current market rates and their overhead costs. After all, if they just tried to charge as much as possible, they wouldn't be competitive and they would have zero customers.
Hopefully you never had to replace the starter.
Yup exactly. Considering the general reliability of these engines, a planned timing belt and water pump service every 100k is nothing in the grand scheme of things. My Jeep Wrangler with the 4.0L has a timing chain, at 157k miles I pulled the oil pan to replace the gasket and leaking rear main seal (two-piece design, no need to remove trans). The engine runs excellent, but the timing chain definitely had more slack than spec. These engines are known for running to 250k+, but I'm sure the loose chain is hurting efficiency, so I have a new one waiting to go in when I have the time this winter.
Why ? Is the job difficult on the labor side 'cause the starter is pretty cheap (given what's available).
Pretty sure on those engines the intake manifold and a bunch of other stuff has to be removed to access it.
Local, small-town auto repair shop charged $60/hour a few years ago (I really don't know how they made it at those low rates) and now (post-Covid) charge $80/hour. They are very "fair" too as not long ago I replaced a brake caliper and my son I could just not get the system bled, whether using a vacuum or the pedal-pumping method. Got it to them and they charged me $40.
You can always find small shop etc. everywhere.
But dealerships? Oh boy.
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
I drove my 2004 Lincoln navigator to the airport this morning. Super tight, love the air ride suspension, pretty nice seats, great drivability. But issues that are never ending onany USA design vehicles.
For this week on the Navigator, the sunroof broke in the open position. The rear actuator failed on the blend door. On my Daughter's edge I also had to service the failed sunroof. I love America, and also know owning a American designed vehicle very typically means a lot of repairs that are not frequent in Japan designed cars.
I have had to transition my wife and youngest son off american designed cars that Japanese designed cars, so I could have confidence in what they drove as I work out of the USA and not around to address the issues if USA designed cars.
I have learned about the huge difference between American designed and Japanese designed cars. And it is significant. I enjoy fixing cars, and that is partly why I have four American designed vehicles in my name and in my driveway right now. But if I was not mechanically inclined and on a tight budget, no way would I buy an American designed car. It would be a honda or Toyota.
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