Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
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Check engine + VTM-4 light, followed by recurring check engine lights (sometimes alone, or in conjunction with the VTM-4 light) usually indicates a faulty EGR valve (involved with emissions). Insist to your dealership that you're bringing it in. They will check the computer diagnostic codes and if it's the EGR valve, they'll know right away. Replacement is relatively simple and is covered under warranty.
I've read some reports that your gas mileage might dip with the faulty valve.
Unfortunately this may be the most common issue on MDX's. We just had our valve replaced last week!
Norwalk CT Dealer(Devan Acura) said that there is recall on 2004 models for this as well as for poor milage. The "Malfunction Indicator Lamp" light was gone from my MDX after they applied the 2 "updates" from Acura.
Thanks.
Can anybody give me more information about software update recall? Is it even a recall and how can I get that soft. update? Thanks.
Unfortunatelly I am only getting 11-12mpg (04 Navi. MDX) but I only drove in NYC which is stop and go all the time every minute. It drives me crazy... Will try it out on the lonk highway trip this weekend.
As far as I know, the MDX does not have a black box, the black box are mostly in GM and Fords for now. Below is a nightmare of a story about black boxes in vehicles:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/automotive/2029412/detail.html
So I asked what they do if it does happen on a vehicle and he mentioned that the documented fix is to remove or replace one of the brackets (he couldn't remember exactly).
Just an FYI for people worried about the noise.
Long story short, they were stranded and had to get the car jump started and possible towed. Everything lit up inside including the lights and navigation screen, and there was no reason why in the 10 minutes they were in the store, the car would magically die.
So we took it in to the dealer today, but they told us they can't replicate the problem. This is about the 3rd time it wouldn't start, but usually you just give it 10 minutes it will start again. Not this time, as my wife and son were stranded for an hour in the parking lot in their 1 year-old $43,000 sport utility vehicle
I've heard it might be an immobalizer problem...next time it happens I'm going to check that green flashing key light in the dash. If it's flashing while I'm trying to start the car, that means their is something wrong with the immobalizer starter...which I'm thinking since the battery obviously shouldn't be faulty as it's sending power to everything else in the car.
Got my 04 MDX about 2 weeks ago. I am getting about 20.5 mpg (mostly highway) on average so far. I am happy with this average as my 96 TL was giving only about 2 miles more.
I have no sloshing issue, however the 2K RPM humming sound is there. However, I have learnt to ignore it, and doesn't bother me too much.
Other than that really loving the drive! Would have loved Acura to place some light over the coin tray! My old TL 3.2 used to have it, and many more features than the new MDX ;-)
Thanks.
Regarding your post - We have the same problem with 00' Nissan Maxima. Brend new car can't start, and when we took car to dealer - they can't reproduce the problem. Finally, after 3-d time visiting to the same dealer in 1 month they give as new keys - problem solve. Never had start engine problem again.
Cheers
I did not notice any increase in mpg after switching Mobil-1 nor did a new air filter make any difference either. My other cars also showed no mpg difference after switching (including changing to K&N) either. I've also tried to see if there is a difference running with A/C off. Maybe there is a little, but only a few tenths mpg.
Body side molding sounds good, but with the great range in vehicle door heights the molding will only protect against a few vehicles that happen to have doors that will hit the molding instead of the painted door. Better than nothing, but don't expect miracles.
If the paint is okay, a paintless dent repair can be very effective and not costly. During the last two years I have used paintless dent repair in five places. One was on the door of our no body side molding MDX and the other four were on another car with body side molding. In all five cases I can't find where the dents were. Each dent took only a few minutes to repair and the cost was very reasonable.
Acura offered to pay 50% of $5,510 replacement cost of a "re-manufactured" Acura tranny. (Normal tranny costs for many vehicles is around $2000.) They handled the whole transaction so poorly. It took almost four weeks from diagnosis to repair. (Acura is having more problems with MDX trannys than they are admitting.) I really hesitated leasing a "first year" model MDX. At the time I needed repair, my dealer had no loaner vehicles, due to a recall on TL's. I paid $2,755 plus $420 rental car costs for this repair. I am a fifteen year customer of Acura and this dealer and they chose to handle this situation VERY POORLY!!!! Beware of this problem transmission. If you haven't noticed, Acura made changes in the 2002 and 2003 model transmissions. I have just become a Lexus SUV owner instead. I hope all of you MDX owners/lessees have better luck than I did.
I'll have to ask the local dealer for a fix for this.
The wireless headsets are very easily broken by "normal" kids.
The dealer was not helpful here.
It would be nice to be able to select the backup camera manually.
The GPS is better then most, but updates are a major hassle. I can't wait for some smart person to provide real-time traffic data like they have in Japan. Any idea on how to take advantage of the flash slot on the GPS DVD player?
My friend says there is a hack to get TV onto the front display. Let me know if you find that solution as well.
Overall, the MDX has been far more reliable than my friends competing Euro solutions. That's a big high five.
Not a big problem as long as you know to do it.
Have not had any problem finding the correct engine oil for my MDX either.
However, the engine recall and now a transmission recall makes me question reliability. I had planned on keeping our MDX a log time, but now will have to seriously consider replacing it at the end of the warranty.
The Navigation update is a snap. Eject the old DVD and insert the new one, start the car and wait a couple of minutes and it is ready to go. I think what you really mean it that even the update is way out of date. I agree there should be an auto update service that works in the background much like virus updates can on computers. Maybe that will become the norm someday.
To make matters worse, the changes (a redesigned transmission) were not made until the 2003 model year. Both the 2001 and 2002 models have the same transmission that is subject to the recall.
I've been crying to!!
I infact was so pissed off with the Premium Bose system that I wrote to 'em. They tell me that my dealer has been informed and he'll get back to me!
Damn it!
I believe a lot of people use good acoustic mats and replace their bose speakers with Infinity.
You might wanna try it out....
Using lower octane fuel will not hurt the engine as long as the engine is not knocking. Full throttle performance may be a little less and as the engine accumulates miles economy may drop a bit too. Without a stop watch you probably will not notice the performance difference. You probably will not notice any economy difference between tanks either, but might if you tracked several thousand miles before and after the switch to lower octane. The dollar savings isn't much when one uses mid grade. Based on your mpg in post 446 (much better than my 02 gets BTW) and the miles you indicate you drive (about 12k per year) you will save about $65 per year.
My MDX just did back to back trips. Same destination both times. The only significant difference was the second trip has an additional 330 pounds in the car. That 7% increase in vehicle weight apparently cost about 5% in mpg. Got about 21.5 the first trip and 20.4 the second trip. All freeway driving (330 miles each way) except for about three miles on each end. It was interesting seeing the trip computer say zero miles range left for the last 20 miles. The low fuel light came on about 15 miles after the trip computer showed zero miles and a few miles before reaching destination. Each time the car took a little over 16 gallons (a little less than 3 gallons left in the tank). As usual, the trip computer showed about one mpg better than the car actually got for the tank.
Used Cruise Control and A/C all the way. The hills required lots of downshifting to fourth gear to maintain speed, with one long grade requiring third gear (4500 rpm) for several miles.
honda/acura had better fix its transmission glitches and the problems of former purchasers, else they'll lose a lot of customers.
You do have to use the belt that comes from the ceiling. I was worried about it long ago, but it turns out the belt is a thin item in your rear view mirror and you really don't notice it when you look back.
Some folks have complained that they can't use the LATCH in the center of the second row (like many vehicles, no lower anchors for LATCH attachment in the middle). However, a belted installation works fine. In fact, Consumer Reports' testing found a number of seats where a correct belted installation was actually safer than a correct LATCH installation! The key is to install it correctly, belts have a higher probability of error.
http://www.carseatdata.org/ has a database where you can look up people's experiences with installing car seats in various vehicles.
There could be one trick to getting a really great, tight install in the center position. Some people have found that the taut center belt tends to pull up on one side of the seat. Some owners have used a locking clip to keep the two sections of belt coming away from the seat together, so the "clampdown" works better.
I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing this same problem or is all in my head?!
Just did two round trips to LAS from SoCal. Lots of fourth gear on 15 going up the hills with third gear needed to get up the hill and stay with traffic on 15 South from State Line (4500 rpm).
Keep us posted if you can find some link between the service and your vehicle.
Edit - I just checked the Owner Link website and read about the recall - I should have looked there first. I guess I'll be notified sometime this summer. Now, if they could just find a permanent fix for the brake noise - I hear it at all four wheels, although not every time.
Sunnyside Acura in Nashua, NH
Lewis Acura in Burlington, VT
North Hampton Acura in North Hampton, NH
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: MFG Bulletin Number: 032604
MFG Bulletin Date: 20040326
Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:DISC:CALIPER
Details: REAR BRAKE SHIM KITS FOR THE REAR BRAKE CALIPERS WHICH MAY CLUNK THE FIRST TIME THE BRAKES ARE APPLIED AFTER CHANGING DIRECTION FROM FORWARD TO REVERSE OR VICE-VERSA. *TT
MCS Check Date: 20040419
According to the service manager at the dealer doing my warranty service the brake fix reduces the noise in most of the vehicles and has eliminated it in a few. They have been waiting a couple of weeks for more shim kits. When they come in my MDX will get the shims and the transmission recall.
There are four MDXs in my family, with mine the low miles one. So far there have been no major problems on the others.
I wish Honda/Acura would extend the transmission warranty for MDXs like they have on the majority of their vehicles with questionable transmission reliability. Based on the experiences of my neighbor and friend, who are on transmission number four and transmission number three respectively, I don't have a lot of confidence that the recall fix will prevent transmission problems in my MDX.
Also had the transmission inspected and recall fix installed. The service advisior told me they have done 15 MDX's so far and none were damaged and needed to be replaced.
Still no shim kits for the rear brakes. Dealer has ten sets ordered and has been waiting several weeks.
Dealer would not address the two rattles, so these are still there. Dealer claims he could not hear them. Maybe they had the radio too loud. Also said there is no adjustment for the glove box latch to tighten the door, implying they can't fix that rattle.
Same TSX loaner as when I had the engine modification done several months ago. At least the outside and front seats were clean. The rear seat had what appeared to be the sticky remains of a soda spill. The engine needs service light was on too.