oil leaking on new NSX :( HELP!!!! PICS

[Daedalus]

I'm very sorry to hear of the setback, but think how great it'll be when you get it back and the peace of mind you'll have.

1. Was the boss shaved off? I just cannot believe it would shear off before breaking the belt or the tensioner arm. Simple impossible.

2. Zahntech, please spill the beans on how you'll fix this. Drill a hole and press-fit a pin in there?

 

[tosugrad]

Any word from Flexer???

 

[NSXknight]

Any word from Flexer???

Hi OSU. As of yet no. I was just hoping he would step up and take ownership and responsibility of his install and help out even with a few bucks due to his error on the timing belt install.

This morning it didn't seem like it as the new stance from him was that the wear and tear ("due to the NSX being at 100k miles") from a bolt head shearing caused this whole timing belt issue.

He said this whole issue was silly and started to discount Zahntech. That is where I drew the line and figured all my efforts to work together with him were not going to work.

As my earlier post indicated, Zahntech said this was very incorrect and the picture JR was using as a defense wasn't even related to a bolt shearing. I also sent him this message.

My mechanical knowledge isn't that great but at this point I don't trust JR's anymore.

 

[Big_D]

Glad to hear that you found the problem before it was too late. That photo makes me cringe. It makes me want to pull my timing cover and look inside.

 

[RON98]

Hey Buddy

when you first PM me about the car my first response was to watch out for installs that where not professionally and during our phone conversations i conveyed the same information.

guess my gut feeling was correct.

the TB is not rocket science but it is very tricky esp. with the cam timing and TB install.

Your motor by the looks of the photo was ready to go at any moment.

thank your lucky stars that you found this issue in time and the previous owner should definitely step up and help out since his install is a direct cause of these problems. I could not believe the pictures when I saw them. just blew my mind.

you paid for a mint car with TB job done at a professional level. what you got was worse than amateurish. looks like the previous owner got tired of the job, threw it back together and put it up for sale.

right now its in the very capable hands of Zahntech and she will be returned to health.

good luck

Rob

 

[NSXknight]

Hey Rob.

It was good talking to you also. Its awesome to have knowledgable folks like you on this board. I really do appreciate it

If your in California go to his shop!! Def a cool guy.

I get her back tommorow after all the maint by Zahntech. Has been the slowest week ever waiting for Friday to come!!

Hey Buddy

when you first PM me about the car my first response was to watch out for installs that where not professionally and during our phone conversations i conveyed the same information.

guess my gut feeling was correct.

the TB is not rocket science but it is very tricky esp. with the cam timing and TB install.

Your motor by the looks of the photo was ready to go at any moment.

thank your lucky stars that you found this issue in time and the previous owner should definitely step up and help out since his install is a direct cause of these problems. I could not believe the pictures when I saw them. just blew my mind.

you paid for a mint car with TB job done at a professional level. what you got was worse than amateurish. looks like the previous owner got tired of the job, threw it back together and put it up for sale.

right now its in the very capable hands of Zahntech and she will be returned to health.

good luck

Rob

 

[enkrypt3d]

Hey Rob.

It was good talking to you also. Its awesome to have knowledgable folks like you on this board. I really do appreciate it

If your in California go to his shop!! Def a cool guy.

+1!

 

[NSX GT]

I'm really disappointed to hear that another Prime member would not know about this major F.U. and try to sell the car to another member. Thats a shame. Also how in the hell did an Acura Dealership not see these signs? That's B.S.

I would definitely be PISSED OFF

 

[enkrypt3d]

I'm really disappointed to hear that another Prime member would not know about this major F.U. and try to sell the car to another member. Thats a shame. Also how in the hell did an Acura Dealership not see these signs? That's B.S.

I would definitely be PISSED OFF

I agree I'd be pissed but a PPI does not include removing the timing belt covers (which is what you have to do to even see the timing belt)... :wink:

 

[nsx24]

Hey Rob.

It was good talking to you also. Its awesome to have knowledgable folks like you on this board. I really do appreciate it

If your in California go to his shop!! Def a cool guy.

I get her back tommorow after all the maint by Zahntech. Has been the slowest week ever waiting for Friday to come!!

Way to keep a cool head, as you will now know the car is ready to roll for a really long time!! Let us know how she drives once you get it back. On a side note, did the t/b jump a tooth or anything? looking at the logo and name of the belt, does it look like it was changed by Flexer at all??

 

[RON98]

just to clear things up a bit, usually a ppi does not included TB inspection since just getting the valve covers off to get a glimpse of the tb takes about 1.5 hours and to take off the upper and lower Water pump covers your looking at dropping the engine mounts and all that jazz. might as well as change the water pump and tb while your at it.

however, what the ppi should have seen was the oil leaks.

oil has probably been leaking for a while so after seeing that, the customer should have been notified and advised of a possible more in-depth inspection. even a most basic inspection would have seen the oil... unless Acura didnt even bother putting it up on the lift and just did a "visual walk around"

regardless... this tb job is Mickey mouse at best and personally, im just happy that it was caught before the belt broke.

 

[RON98]

Way to keep a cool head, as you will now know the car is ready to roll for a really long time!! Let us know how she drives once you get it back. On a side note, did the t/b jump a tooth or anything? looking at the logo and name of the belt, does it look like it was changed by Flexer at all??

the pivoting point on the TB tensioner looks as if it was not aligned right and did not seat into the pivoting point.

Honda would definitely not have let the car leave the factory like that. someone tinkered with the tb tensioner and didn't put it back on properly.

a diy timing belt adventure will quickly turn into a diy nightmare for someone with out the patience, ability and meticulous tenacity to follow the manual step by step, double check, triple check and to ask questions when they get stuck. the mind set of ... "I cant wait to a good job" will mutate quickly in to "just get this damn thing back together" in the blink of an eye.

not saying this is the case/mind set, but from the ill install, the car was obliviously not pampered by professional hands.

 

[RON98]

just took a double take on that picture with the tb tensioner pulley.

maybe someone can chime in here.

it looks like the idler pulley pivoting anchor broke off.

zahntech, is it just the picture being perfectly square with the pivoting point? or did it break off?

 

[Flexer]

Any word from Flexer???

What response are you looking for? Two weeks before the inspection by the Acura dealership another potential buyer had the car inspected at Ken Garff porsche. Passed with perfects on everything. Three out of the four Porsche techs were all over the car. They thought it was so neat and had tons of questions for me about it. Then Mike Hale Acura two weeks later does an inspection and passes on everything with flying colors. They also did a compression test and found it to be above avg. on all cylinders.
SO AS A SELLER THIS IS WHAT PROFESSIONALS TOLD ME.

Now lets talk about the TB and WP. Jerry makes it sound like I just replaced those items then sold the car. I did the TB and WP over a year ago. Since then the vehicle has had over 8,000 miles put on it. The car never leaked ONCE on my garage floor, and was great to own. I LOVED THAT CAR!

So on with the story: It goes to the new buyer after two professional inspections and over a year of wonderful ownership that I enjoyed. Then I get a call after his 1000 mile trip back to Washington that all hell has broken loose. Multiple leaks, and the timing belt has tried to grenade itself. The pivot point on the belt tensioner sheared off. That had to make quit a noise rubbing on the motor like that. If I sold the car that way don't you think one of the tech's would have caught it or someone would hear it scraping away? I mean look at the pictures.....its rubbing on the lower cog.

So what can I say. I sold the car knowing what two professionals told me that the car was mint. Also it drove great and didn't leak a drop.

One of two things is what happened:
1. Its a freak accident that all hell broke lose just after I sell the car. (chances of that 1 in who knows how much)
2. The new owner did something. Mechanical over-rev who knows.

Whatever happened to the car I feel I owe Jerry nothing but my sincere apologizes for his misfortune.

I have nothing else to say about this. Jerry constantly wants to bicker about this but I refuse to do so. PM me if you want more details but other than that I am done with the whole thing.

BOTTOM LINE: BE CAREFUL WHEN JERRY GOES TO SELL THE CAR. It might be a mechanical nightmare by then for the next buyers. JUST A WORD TO FUTURE OWNERS! Lets hope they find this thread before they purchase the car because I can't imagine that a car gives me no problems for a year and 8,000 miles and then exactly one week after I sell it the car just amazingly decides to tank itself. After the TB and WP install I drove the car down to Vegas for the Vegas meet. Also went to two Utah meets. Everyone thought the car was specular and everyone who rode in it said it pulled HARD. What can I say.....I have nothing else to talk about. NOW for Jerry's sake I could be wrong about his ownership, BUT BUYERS BEWARE.

My last post on this thread
J. R.

 

[johnboy]

From the pictures, I can not tell exactly where is the leak.
It may be a the valve cover gasket or the cam plug or V-tec solenoid gasket.

Check your oil filter and around the oil pan and see if you see any drip.

Keep in mind, oil leak is normal with our nsx, it is just a matter of replacing the new gasket and you should be ok.

Oil leaks are not normal. 91', 120,000mi. dry as a bone.,not to say it has not had leaks, but they have always been taken care of. Fix it , it's not a PORSCHE.

 

[NSXknight]

What response are you looking for? Two weeks before the inspection by the Acura dealership another potential buyer had the car inspected at Ken Garff porsche. Passed with perfects on everything. Three out of the four Porsche techs were all over the car. They thought it was so neat and had tons of questions for me about it. Then Mike Hale Acura two weeks later does an inspection and passes on everything with flying colors. They also did a compression test and found it to be above avg. on all cylinders.
SO AS A SELLER THIS IS WHAT PROFESSIONALS TOLD ME.

Now lets talk about the TB and WP. Jerry makes it sound like I just replaced those items then sold the car. I did the TB and WP over a year ago. Since then the vehicle has had over 8,000 miles put on it. The car never leaked ONCE on my garage floor, and was great to own. I LOVED THAT CAR!

So on with the story: It goes to the new buyer after two professional inspections and over a year of wonderful ownership that I enjoyed. Then I get a call after his 1000 mile trip back to Washington that all hell has broken loose. Multiple leaks, and the timing belt has tried to grenade itself. The pivot point on the belt tensioner sheared off. That had to make quit a noise rubbing on the motor like that. If I sold the car that way don't you think one of the tech's would have caught it or someone would hear it scraping away? I mean look at the pictures.....its rubbing on the lower cog.

So what can I say. I sold the car knowing what two professionals told me that the car was mint. Also it drove great and didn't leak a drop.

One of two things is what happened:
1. Its a freak accident that all hell broke lose just after I sell the car. (chances of that 1 in who knows how much)
2. The new owner did something. Mechanical over-rev who knows.

Whatever happened to the car I feel I owe Jerry nothing but my sincere apologizes for his misfortune.

I have nothing else to say about this. Jerry constantly wants to bicker about this but I refuse to do so. PM me if you want more details but other than that I am done with the whole thing.

BOTTOM LINE: BE CAREFUL WHEN JERRY GOES TO SELL THE CAR. It might be a mechanical nightmare by then for the next buyers. JUST A WORD TO FUTURE OWNERS! Lets hope they find this thread before they purchase the car because I can't imagine that a car gives me no problems for a year and 8,000 miles and then exactly one week after I sell it the car just amazingly decides to tank itself. After the TB and WP install I drove the car down to Vegas for the Vegas meet. Also went to two Utah meets. Everyone thought the car was specular and everyone who rode in it said it pulled HARD. What can I say.....I have nothing else to talk about. NOW for Jerry's sake I could be wrong about his ownership, BUT BUYERS BEWARE.

My last post on this thread
J. R.

Again Jr, your stating the facts wrong. your TB and WP was installed at around 104k miles and you don't even have receipts when you told me you could get them after I bought the car. I bought her at 107XXX miles. I took her in to Zahntech at 108,xxx miles. Where did 8k miles come from? Please be truthful. The car could have lost its engine at anytime due to the timing belt install issues. It was a time bomb waiting to happen. I like how you blamed it on me now. Is that your latest excuse?

Your last one was wear and tear due to the car being over 100k miles thus the bolt snapped and messed the timing belt up......

Porsche dealer? I have no idea when you took it in and why would you take it to them?

The car was actually losing power due to being on wrong timing tooth as I explained to you, so I don't you can use your butt dyno on this.

Just back your work up JR, thats all I ask. I don't know why you won't admit you did the timing belt wrong which should have been done perfectly at the price I paid.

She just got back from Zahntech with a clean bill of health and all leaks and timing belt replaced fixed. Car will be babied and owned for many miles. Just drove her back home and she drives perfect now and sounds perfect With the new header/exhaust/intake combo, I actually get pushed back into the seat when I WOT!

In the future, she is only going to be babied in Zahntech's hands

 

[slamstrom]

I'm glad your baby is back home. I have to admired your maturity inspite of the frustrations that you were going through for the last couple of weeks. Enjoy and drive safely.:smile:

 

[NSXknight]

Thank you Slamstrom! I have the happiest grin on my face still. I can't wait to go out and drive her again!!

It really has been tough the past few weeks and I've lost many nights of sleep but all the encouragement I got from NSX prime members and mechanics really helped me not to give up and in the end we did save an NSX's life :biggrin:

Parts and leaks can always be fixed/repaired which Zahntech did perfectly!

She has 100k miles on her but I plan to keep her for another 100kmiles! Best car ever Thank you all!

I'm glad your baby is back home. I have to admired your maturity inspite of the frustrations that you were going through for the last couple of weeks. Enjoy and drive safely.:smile:

 

[XperiMental]

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[XperiMental]

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[Daedalus]

I'm not taking sides, but I think some misunderstandings need to be cleared up. Under normal driving conditions the tensioner boss should not be under any load at all, as the tensioner bearing should be locked down via the adjusting screw at its axis. Note the very wimpy spring attached to the tensioner that Honda expected would be used to take out the slack in the belt during the timing belt job. Adjust the belt, push the slack to the tensioner and get it positioned correctly, and then lock down the bearing. Furthermore, for the boss to be sheared off, I estimate it would take over 3000 lbs to shear off a cast aluminum boss, assuming a 10mm diameter (just a guess). I would think other things would fail first.

 

[NSXAMG996TT]

wow ...I found this thread late, but recently had to spend a ton of money in maintence costs (ie. fix oil leak) from my previous purchase from another Prime member.

When it's time for a new clutch, I'll insist on replacing the TB, WP, etc...simply because I know it's been done under my ownership. You will definitely enjoy the car now with peace of mind ! ! !

 

[RON98]

I'm not taking sides, but I think some misunderstandings need to be cleared up. Under normal driving conditions the tensioner boss should not be under any load at all, as the tensioner bearing should be locked down via the adjusting screw at its axis. Note the very wimpy spring attached to the tensioner that Honda expected would be used to take out the slack in the belt during the timing belt job. Adjust the belt, push the slack to the tensioner and get it positioned correctly, and then lock down the bearing. Furthermore, for the boss to be sheared off, I estimate it would take over 3000 lbs to shear off a cast aluminum boss, assuming a 10mm diameter (just a guess). I would think other things would fail first.

+1

the anchor point should not have seen any load at all if the 10mm bolt was locked down properly.

 

[Big_D]

Wow, This is a bizarre story. I think Flexer was lucky that it didn't grenade on him. As RON98 said that a PPI doesn't cover an inspection of the TB, but depending on who does it they may miss alot of things. Some dealers may not pay too close at the body panel gaps either. There is nothing in it for them besides some labor. Even with a PPI, you had better poke your head in and under the car.

It sounds like the seller was just as much unaware of the problem as the buyer. But I do disagree that an over rev would result in this...It looks like the install was done incorrectly to me. I would steer clear of whoever did that work. Good NSX techs are hard to find.

I don't think its fair to say that this car has been adversely affected by what happened. As long as it has good compression then no worries. Maybe a Dyno would help put your mind at ease.

NSXKnight, Congrats on getting your car back together.:smile:

 

[nis350]

Then Mike Hale Acura two weeks later does an inspection and passes on everything with flying colors. They also did a compression test and found it to be above avg. on all cylinders.

Just curious with the TB off by a tooth and the condition it was in, wouldn't that show up in the compression test? Was the car running OK during the inspection?

I thinK Larry B. said that the car would have v8 rumble if the TB is off a tooth.