It's in snap ring range!

N

NSXinKS

New Member
Joined
14 February 2007
Messages
3
Location
Wichita KS
I am in the process of buying my first NSX. I can only afford to be shopping for earlier 91-92 models. I was lucky to find a black on black original owner car with 40k on it. The car is everything I could want it to be except for the fact I discoverd it's in the dreaded snap ring range. I have read the section on NSXP about this.

Does anyone know what your chances are of getting it good willed repaired if it decides to go? My friend and auto appraiser are friends with the owner of the only Acura dealer in town so he would pull for me. I know there is a chance the tranny is OK even though it's in range but it's still scary.

I would normally just look for another car. This one however, is like brand new in and out. Every service with reciepts and a new cluch as well. It's so hard to turn down, Any advice is appreciated.
 
There are too many out there that are not "SRR" cars. Keep looking.
 
The chance of goodwill is "0" IMO. This has ended long ago, and a 15 year old car, not being the original owner, I would not even consider this as an option. For your budget purposes, you should understand this will be about a $2000-2500 repair. If the car is very nice, consider this risk when you make your offer.

HTH,
LarryB
 
Good Will are you serious? The car is 16 years old. I had hoped 4 years ago that I could have some luck with that, but I was about 5 years too late on that one back then.

There is NOTHING tainted about a snap ring car. Getting the upper tranny fixed is not that expensive and I would leverage it as part of the sale as others have suggested. Get it fixed and you will never have to worry about it. Leave it as is and you may not have to worry about it, but if it breaks then you are out a huge amount of money. If you went halves with the owner it could cost you all of about $600 right? Not much for a car that I wanted and trusted the owner.
 
jlindy said:
If you went halves with the owner it could cost you all of about $600 right?
Click to expand...

I agree with your logic, however your pricing is a too low, IMO. The case half and other associated parts are well over $600 alone these days, even from a 25% discount vendor. If you said $1000-$1250 if you split it with the seller, this is more in line with today's pricing. Remember you do need to R&R the trans and disassemble/repair it:).

HTH,
LarryB
 
Re: With 40k on the odo...

NSXinKS said:
I am in the process of buying my first NSX. I can only afford to be shopping for earlier 91-92 models. I was lucky to find a black on black original owner car with 40k on it. The car is everything I could want it to be except for the fact I discoverd it's in the dreaded snap ring range. I have read the section on NSXP about this.

Does anyone know what your chances are of getting it good willed repaired if it decides to go? My friend and auto appraiser are friends with the owner of the only Acura dealer in town so he would pull for me. I know there is a chance the tranny is OK even though it's in range but it's still scary.

I would normally just look for another car. This one however, is like brand new in and out. Every service with reciepts and a new cluch as well. It's so hard to turn down, Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't snap ring issue have manifested itself by now???
 
Re: With 40k on the odo...

No, previous owner of my car had it let go at 96k than he had a local shop replace it with a wrecking yard trans.

Checked the numbers before the sale "guess what" SRR again :tongue: He said "I just want out of this piece of shit" so I got a GOOD deal on it :wink:

TomCat said:
Wouldn't snap ring issue have manifested itself by now???
Click to expand...
 
Mine went at 37k miles and in 2005:wink: I went with the 4.23 and short gears. Much better:biggrin:
 
We've had lots of discussion on the snap ring repair on Prime. If the car is what you want, then negotiate for $1500 less and get the car. This is a reasonable discount to ask for. Then, when you get a new clutch put in, have the snap ring tranny case replaced.
 
NSXinKS said:
I am in the process of buying my first NSX. I can only afford to be shopping for earlier 91-92 models. I was lucky to find a black on black original owner car with 40k on it. The car is everything I could want it to be except for the fact I discoverd it's in the dreaded snap ring range. I have read the section on NSXP about this.

Does anyone know what your chances are of getting it good willed repaired if it decides to go? My friend and auto appraiser are friends with the owner of the only Acura dealer in town so he would pull for me. I know there is a chance the tranny is OK even though it's in range but it's still scary.

I would normally just look for another car. This one however, is like brand new in and out. Every service with reciepts and a new cluch as well. It's so hard to turn down, Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...


Just ask the seller to reduce the price by 800 to 1000.

It is really not a big deal with the snap ring. The car will not blow up into pieces. It will probably cost you about the same to replace the timing belt, WP etc....

There is also a chance that it will not break, then you can pocket the $800.
 
just cause its in the snap ring range does not mean it will snap. :smile:

i would offer what you feel right for the car. If you in LA, we can change out the snap ring for you on the cheap if you want a piece of mind.

much like the dreaded 355 95-97 valve train issues, it does not mean its going to manifest in the car. just a few car has the problem, its an expensive fix and lots of screaming and hollering. its not even the valves damaging the car, the valve guides leak and the owners do not check the oil. eventurally the oil runs low and they still drive the car. i would say its user error.

rotten news travels fast. :wink:
 
RON98 said:
If you in LA, we can change out the snap ring for you on the cheap if you want a piece of mind.
Click to expand...

It's not the snap ring itself that has the issue, rather its the groove in the casing...makes it a lot more expensive than just replacing the snap ring, you have to purchase a new upper tranny case.
 
Take the 2500 bucks you would spend on the repair and buy an extended warranty that covers more than just the snap ring.
That is what I did for my SRR car and although the SR never snapped in my car plenty of other items did break.
 
im sure we can find a machinest in our complex to do cnc or alter the tranny case.

any one went this route?
 
RON98 said:
im sure we can find a machinest in our complex to do cnc or alter the tranny case.

any one went this route?
Click to expand...


I would buy the upper tranny case from Acura to save yourself some trouble. I just fixed mine in 2005 with 43k miles on the clock. Cost me $1,850 parts and labor. While I'm there, I replaced my clutch at the same time with no extra labor.
 
Re: With 40k on the odo...

JeffShoots said:
No, previous owner of my car had it let go at 96k than he had a local shop replace it with a wrecking yard trans.

Checked the numbers before the sale "guess what" SRR again :tongue: He said "I just want out of this piece of shit" so I got a GOOD deal on it :wink:
Click to expand...
Did it "break" at 96k or did he just finally correct thew issue...as a precaution.
My point is that (as I understand it) there is a potential "window" of concern but not 100% of the transmissions in the window will fail...
 
i love tackling problems. I perfer to face it head on than ran around it.

what trouble anyways? Im getting someone else do the machining job.... also its the customer's money. With that said tho, i rather save the customer some money and have a little extra trouble than waste $ on a new transfer case. you can weld a bead and machine it to specs. That way the guy who does the machining in my complex gets $ money to pay the bills, the customer saves money and leaves happy instead of honda ripping us off for an arm and a leg for a defective product which they should have recalled in the first place.:smile:

knocking 2G's off a car just cause it might have a problem is rediculous in my eyes. You dont have to buy it, thats the bottom line but if a car is 40K miles in great shape and does not have any problems and is in reasonable price, low balling the seller because something could brake is not very cool.

Tell him the car will also need a timing belt and brake pads too in about 20K miles. Low ball him for another $2000 right there. :rolleyes:
 
RON98 said:
what trouble?

Im getting someone else do the job.... also its the customer's money. With that said tho, i rather save the customer some money and have a little extra trouble than than waste $ on a new transfer case when you can weld a bead and machine it to specs. That way the guy machines in the complex gets $ money, the customer saves money and leaves happy instead of honda ripping us off for an arm and a leg for a defective product which they should have recalled in the first place.:smile:
Click to expand...

If you weld in a bead, are you sure the case won't distort any of the other final machine dimensions? Typically not good to weld on finished machined parts, depends on material, size of part, amount of weld, and skill of welder.

I agree with you on the second part, but I am guessing there was a commercial risk assesment done for this.

What were the chances it would fail(just because you are in range does not mean it will fail), if it did fail what is the cost to repair under warranty? is there a statute of limitations on goodwill fixes (answer is an unresounding yes) versus what is the cost to repair all tranny's in snap ring range under warranty?

Some bean counter and sales/commercial person did the math and made the risk assesment to not repair under warranty thinking in the end the damage both physical(cost to repair broken trannys) and collataral (damage to namesake) will be somewhat minor as it was limited to a limited production car.
 
wont be giving it to some kid. a machine shop makes a living off being good at what they do. you can repair a camshaft, make your racing cams and repair crankshaft journals by welding a bead and machineing it down to spec. if they can do it to 0.001, it wont be rocket science to machine a transfer case.

you rather buy a new camshaft/crankshaft for a kidney or have it repair to oem spec for 150-200$?

thinking about that, i should make my own racing cams off the original nsx camshaft :D

we are getting off topic here. bottom line is this buyer does not have the money for a later year nsx, so with the funds avalaible, he has found this car.

If he is not comfertable with the car, he does not have to buy it. No one is putting a gun to his head. The seller also does not have the sell the car for 1-2G's lower than what it already is. also there have been snap rings that went out when the car was not in snap ring range... should be all drop 2g's off our car's value cause it could happen?

if the car is priced well, it will sell regardless of if this person wants to purchase it or not.
 
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