Help I'm getting the run around with my 2002 3.2TL
 

Here's the skinny... I am the only owner of this car and am now on the 3rd transmission with this recall nonsense going on. Up until last week I was very happy with the car despite the tranny issues because the dealership really went above and beyond.

About a month ago I got a notice that the transmission was formally recalled so I called my dealership and was told that this did not apply to me now because I had already had the recall work done. So I went on my merry way. On Tuesday I am haulin' ass down Interstate 95 in Philadelphia when Bam - the tranny locks up. I hit my head on the steering wheel it was so violent. Lost control of the car and basically am lucky to be alive right now. So I drive the car in second gear to a dealership in Philly where I have been given nothing but a hard time ever since. They are telling me that they don't have to fix it, there is no recall and that I have two broken motor mounts that can not be attributed to the transmission going. So I contacted Acura corporate - the tranny is covered but they won't fix the motor mounts because they could have been broken for a long time. Now I am not stupid and drive my car for a living putting nearly 50,000 miles a year on it. I know those mounts were not broken. They broke from the bucking bronco act that the car went into when it went from 80mph to 20mph when the stupid car locked up. The dealership then tells me that they will give me the "employee discount rate" of $375 to fix the mounts too. The dealership is also telling me that there is no warranty on the replacement parts because my car has 127,000 miles on it. Can anyone offer me some advise?

Hey. You do need some help. I'll see if I can find you some. Hang in there.

And welcome to HAN.

Well I got a couple of questions... 375 sounds high to put new mounts on and am I off my rocker with thinking these mounts would have broke from the tranny going?

That is an insane story. I'm not sure what you can do about the mounts, but if Acura wants to play "hardball", you can too. As soon as you can, start the documentation process.

1. sales and transaction recipts from the Acura dealer
2. medical bills, if any, associated to the accident
3. police reports, if any, associated to the accident

You're not crazy, the motor mounts broke because the transmission locked up. With any Honda warranty, the parts and service is guaranteed for 1 year. If the transmission broke under 1 year, then it should be fixed again, no brainer. Since the transmission is bolted to the engine, the mounts broke under the heavy force ... once again a no brainer. Why Acura won't admit that, it's beyond me.

For $375, I think a lawyer would be more than interested hearing your case.

Yep. e3NiNe knows his stuff IMO. You should be able to do a lot better than having to haggle with some A-hole. Unfortunately every dealership has at least one.

I knew I wasn't crazy. Thanks! I wasn't hurt thank god just scared the crap out of me though. Now does it really cost $375 to replace mounts? I looked the parts up on the internet and they seem to be running on average of 150 bucks max for two of them. How much stinkin labor is required to switch these things out? They already have the engine dropped to replace the tranny right? What I don't understand is that under this recall why wouldn't the factory authorize a complete fix for everything that could be broke due to the tranny? What are the parameters of a recall - just fix the broken part and leave the car damaged?

Ya know when I called Acura corporate they told me if I didn't like their answer to go call a lawyer or the better business bureua whatever I wanted but they weren't paying for anything else! I asked to speak to his manager and he said he was the manager and he reported to no one. So I called the NHTSA instead and logged a complaint. The more I think about this the more ticked I get. Since I have been sitting here tonight I found a class action lawsuit that is forming with this transmission recall stuff and signed up for it.