Design flaw or latent defects with Acura MDX?
Not everybody knows the story,perhaps you provide both general and specific details.
I recently took my 2005 Acura MDX to my dealer for routine service. The mileage is 63,000. I was informed that the front engine mount needed replacement at a cost of $599 ! I declined and went home and did a web search of this problem, and it appears that there are hundreds of complaints from MDX owners about having to replace engine mounts at outrageous costs at anywhere from 40K-80k miles. I have owned many vehicles for over 40 years and have never encountered an issue with engine mounts, and this seems to be the prevailing opinion when I did my web search. I wrote a letter to Acura and my dealer. The dealer never responded, and Acura wrote me to basically say they got my letter, and when I called them back they never returned my call. You guys gave glowing marks for the MDX in one of your articles, and I generally agree it is a great SUV. But, if you google “Acura MDX engine mount issues” you will find that this has been a problem for many years and does not seem to get any traction. Are there other MDX owners out there with similar problems? Can “Car Talk” do some research and get Acura to admit a design flaw (or at least using cheap engine mounts! ) ??
You already know there are other MDX owners with the same problem and I will leave it up to CarTalk to respond to the request for them (is there a “them”) to get involved in reasearch or motivational actions.
Best for you is a MDX specific forum,the old “power in numbers” idea.
RandyG, you do know that Tom and Ray don’t respond to these posts, right?
Writing Acura would be most effective.
Acura in reality owes you nothing but can always good will a repair. Yes early but all makes no matter how golden or not have issues. Just part of car ownership. $600 is not really terrible in the grand scheme of auto repair prices.
Good luck.
Interesting. I just brought my car in at 67.5K and got the Engine Mount story, but my cost was MUCH less. They said I needed a frond and side engine mount, I believe the total cost for both was about $600. They told me the rear engine mount very rarely sees wear. I asked if it would be ok to drive this until my 75K checkup and they said sure. So in the meantime I’ll do some research and see what the real story is. This Acura dealer has been very good for service, they give me discounts all the time and in general they seem to be above board
I’m also an MDX owner and recently had a broken engine mount. That happens all the time to cars. Engine mounts are made of rubber and wear out due to vibrations in the engine and environmental conditions.
The outrageous part of this is the price. The mount through the dealer sells for $168. Installation is $450 ($149.99/hr x 3 hours). They install it, I get 10% off the part price. Total price = $599.
Which brings me to another point. The acura dealers are pleasant and nice and all that but they are ridiculously expensive. And they don’t charge you time spent. They charge you for book time. If the book says “3 hours” That’s what they charge. If the job takes longer, expect to be billed for the extra time.
So the way I see it you have 4 options…1) you can pay the dealer that outrageous fee, 2) you can find another shop (basically any shop anywhere can replace an engine mount. most shops charge actual time at $75/hr. And it should take about 1 hour), 3) You can keep driving with this problem. but that is NOT advised. I’ll explain in a second, 4) you can fix it yourself.
If you are mechanically inclined, with a socket wrench and a floor jack, do it yourself. I did. The parts were $103 on the internet. Labor… 1.5 hours of my time (and I’m slow). it’s a relatively easy job if you’ve ever worked on cars before.
As to why you shouldn’t drive with this problem… the engine is attached to the car by the mounts. If the mount fails, when you step on the gas, the torque of the engine causes it to rotate excessively. That can break wires and vacuum hoses. Which could cause the car to run very rough and it may cause mechanical damage to the drivetrain.
We have a conflict “they charge by book time” and “if the job takes longer expect to be billed for the extra time” as for now your post must be delivered to the “rant” file.
If you want do you self here the web show you how to do
http://www.autocarepronews.com/Article/41428/acura_tech_tip_clunky_mdx_disturbs_the_peace.aspx