Dealer treatment - what do you think?

[Swift1113]

Hey everyone...

I'm completely new here but I have this potentially scary situation on my hands and was wondering if I could please get some feedback from you all. I'll try to be as brief as possible and I would really appreciate anyone's attention in this matter.

I purchased an Acura Certified 2005 RSX Type-S last August with 38,000 miles on it. It now has 49,000 miles on it. During that time, it has been in for 2 oils changes (every 5000 miles) which were both performed at an Acura dealership every 5000 miles. It has received nothing but 100% synthetic Mobil 1 oil and 93 octane fuel since I have owned it. I do drive it aggressively at times, but nothing too unreasonable.

On Friday on the way home from work I downshifted into 2nd to turn a corner slowly and when I applied the gas again, the car jerked around violently and the acceleration cut in and out randomly. I found that it happened most between 2k-3k RPM. Then CEL started flashing and stayed on immediately after. The car also idled very hard and felt like it was going to stall. I had exactly 1\4 tank of gas left when this occurred. I drove the car home which was about 16 miles and didn't drive it for the rest of the weekend.

On Monday I took it directly to the dealership where the tech threw out the possibility of it being bad gas before ever checking for ECU codes. He then diagnosed it and said there were misfires on all cylinders and that it had to be bad gas. By this point the tank was close to E because I didn't want to fill up again in the event that it was bad gas so that the dealership would be able to determine that. The tech put 1\2 tank in and let the car run. He told me to leave it there for the day and so they gave me a ride to work.

Eventually he called me and said that they did a compression test and all cylinders came back clean. But then somehow they found that one of them wasn't and that it had coolant inside of it. He described it as 'coolant on top of the cylinder'. So right then I am thinking it's a blown head gasket but the tech wouldn't acknowledge that at all.

He then said that they'd have to keep the car for at least a week just in order to determine what's going on AND if they'll cover the expenses at all! Now, the car is still under it's original powertrain warranty. It also has a 100,000 certified powertrain warranty as well as the additional 100,000 extended comprehensive warranty that I purchased.

The tech keeps claiming this is definitely bad gas that caused coolant in my cylinder and says that if they find anything foreign or any signs of premature wear in the cylinder, that they won't cover any of the expenses. Not even the rental car that I have in the interim.

Does this sound like bad gas to anyone? Why would there be debris in the cylinder from bad gas? Wouldn't the fuel filter pick that up?

Premature wear? How am I do know how the previous owner drove this car or if they properly maintained it?

I have so many questions about all of this. Anyone's input would be so highly appreciated as this obviously has me pretty bummed out!

Thanks so much for reading....

[duckdog]

First of all, the only way that coolant can get into a cylinder is a bad head gasket.

Two, make them prove to you that there was coolant in the cylinder. Bad gas won't magically make coolant appear.

This whole thing sounds incredibly fishy.

[Nikon1]

I'm with the Duckdog - Coolant in a cylinder isn't bad gas! Who's the dealer, so we can avoid them like the plague? If it is a blown head gasket, unless you have made some aftermarket changes, it should be covered under the original powertrain warranty. You may want to get in touch with Acura headquarters and if that doesn't work, look to the great Father company, American Honda for help.

Good luck and keep us posted!


Oh, and to AW.

[Swift1113]

Nikon1 and duckdog, thank you so much for reading my lengthy tale!

My car is 100% stock. People make all sorts of modifications to these cars and still they don't see the issue that I am seeing. Could bad gas ever cause a head gasket to blow? I am sure I will have to fight that battle with them since they seem hell-bent on blaming it on that.

By the way, this all occured at Lehigh Valley Acura in Allentown, PA.

[Swift1113]

Btw Nikon1, nice ride! She looks a lot like mine with the exception of the body kit mods. Same color, love the magnesium metallic!

[Nikon1]

Originally Posted by Swift1113

Nikon1 and duckdog, thank you so much for reading my lengthy tale!

My car is 100% stock. People make all sorts of modifications to these cars and still they don't see the issue that I am seeing. Could bad gas ever cause a head gasket to blow? I am sure I will have to fight that battle with them since they seem hell-bent on blaming it on that.

By the way, this all occured at Lehigh Valley Acura in Allentown, PA.

I guess there's a first time for everything -- but I cannot imagine bad gas causing a blown head gasket! This just stinks like a "let's see how much bull this customer will believe."

If you've tried all the nice things, then I'd get Corporate Acura involved - and add that you will be talking to the BBB in the Lehigh Valley - and seeing if the County DA is interested in looking into this.

I always try to start off nice (More flies with honey than vinegar theory) but then I'll drop any hammer I can to save my $$$ - when I feel I'm right and someone is trying to take my $$$!

Good luck and let us know what happens.

And, Thanks for the kind word about my ride - Yeah, I do love the color!

[Swift1113]

Hey all,

OK I just spoke to the service manager and he claims that the head gasket is fine. He said that the problematic cylinder has been removed, it is being diagnosed, and that it is most likely a cracked cylinder!

A cracked cylinder??? How would that even happen? He is still not ruling out bad gas causing this...

Your thoughts?

[duckdog]

How would I react?

What he is saying is that the block cracked. That is a faulty engine block.

[Nikon1]

Originally Posted by duckdog

How would I react?

What he is saying is that the block cracked. That is a faulty engine block.

And bad gas isn't going to do that - unless someone mixed some gunpowder in with your gas (note likely - and more than one cylinder would crack!).

[hondacuraworld]

Originally Posted by Swift1113

Hey all,

OK I just spoke to the service manager and he claims that the head gasket is fine. He said that the problematic cylinder has been removed, it is being diagnosed, and that it is most likely a cracked cylinder!

A cracked cylinder??? How would that even happen? He is still not ruling out bad gas causing this...

Your thoughts?

If memory serves, the RSX uses an aluminum block with lined cylinder bores.

I can't think of any way bad gas could cause something like this. If it had some kind of wild explosive property, it wouldn't be isolated to one cylinder, and it would launch the spark plug with it. If the gas had water in it, it would lose it's ability to be combustable.

Ask to see and take photographs of the offending cylinder, as I'm sure that by this time they have the engine ripped half apart. If you feel as if they aren't going to cover the car because of bad gas, get a sample of the fuel and hold on to it. Even in a diluted form with the other new gas whatever they claim to be causing this would still be present in the fuel to some extent.

Give us updates on progress as things occur.