£6000 to fix my NSX

[Steve]

Took my car to Honda Cannock to check over and spent over 6K!!!
Bottom Ball joints complete hubs, track rod ends, abs cable, bolts etc.. £1600 per side!!!
Heater control unit £1500
Corroded sump £540
Cambelt change £600
Plus a few odds and sods
All plus Vat.
having only just bought the car the previous owner has given me half the money. So not as bad as it seems.

At least when I get it back I know that it will be perfect.....

[Rob_Fenn]

Very generous from the ex-owner, but really you should take your time if you can get a spare car sorted in the mean time. You could probably use a combination of aftermarket and OEM parts from the US and save a lot.

[bazza]

Steve,

PM me a full list of what you need, I may be able to save you some money buying it all direct from Japan for you. :)

Cheers

[Steveycaz]

Sounds like the horse has bolted guys!

[amo]

**** bad luck mate

here to help if u need

thx amo

[forumadmin]

Question is why? Haven't heard of anyone else needing that kind of parts list. Even after 100k miles.

[NSXGB]

Steve, bit late now but if you'd done your homework on here, there would have been a much smaller dent in your wallet.

Straight away I can see you could have possibly saved £1465 on just the 'Heater control unit'....



Make sure you check here for advice first in the future if you want to save some cash, there's quite a few peeps on here willing to impart useful advice and help. :)

[Silver Surfer]

Steve mate,

Jeez!!!! 6K :no:

My car's 16yrs old and done 60K and it hasn't got any of your problems! Some members done over 100K and also not had any of your problems! Are you sure you weren't ripped off by Honda even by 'Honda' standard. I suggest you go and ask them for the evidence of what they said was wrong and demand a discount or partial refund. :angry:

It mat be worth to take the parts to Norton to get a second opinion?!?

SS

[gsuds]

I sympathise fully....

As previously, I was very sceptical about range of work "needing" done - until I saw the damage up on Chatham's ramps. HUK gave me £1K discount on parts, but even with that I wish I'd known about Barry's new venture!

I realise the majority of cars (all handbuilt to very exacting standards) will not need this kind of major work at this mileage, but cars are exposed to different conditions/ environments and problems throughout their lives; by the time they get to the 100K mark they're going to differ quite widely. Steve's car is similar mileage to mine. I think the cautionary tale is not to get too blinded by the build quality / total Honda reliability thing: in the end, they are just cars, ones which often have a great deal asked of them.

Sorry for wittering on, but Lagavulin is playing a part...:beer:

[Steve]

Thanks to all the advice and help from everyone.
As the car is at Honda and the work is being done, it is to late for me to do anything about it now.
As I have only just bought the car, I suppose I was being impatient to get it done. It's not my main car, so sitting at Honda for 2 weeks while its ****ing down with rain is not the end of the world for me.
6K is a pain, but previous owner paid 3k, I won 3k on the lottery, I can claim the VAT back through work...so not the end of the world, gives the car some solid history and although Honda may be expensive, with the little knowledge I have about cars, I thought It would be the right thing to do.
In future I will definitely ask you guys for advice before doing anything, and save me some money.

[TheQuietOne]

This kind of thread scares the hell out of me! Still sounds like some odd things in the list what were the symptoms with the suspension things?

[Rob_Fenn]

I guess a lot of owners are pootling around with problems they don't know about, it's just that you notice them until something goes catastrophically wrong!

At least when you get the car you will 100% assured, that's a nice feeling! :D

[TheSebringOne]

I don't want to be scare mongering, both Steve & Gsud had suspension failures, Is there a correlation bewteen the X with its very high cornering loads & grip levels with a very firm suspension system that has to deal with this, thus leading to extra wear to the bushes, in addition to general ageing? But then theres early 90s cars & cars with over 100K miles that are fine. :think:

[simonprelude]

When I have some time I will have my suspension looked at to get an idea of what issues there might be.

I'll let you know, but it will probably be done at home, so if anyone else is interested then let me know.

[PeteM]

Interesting couple of posts regarding worn suspension / subframe mountings. The cost of the repair bills is quite alarming. :eek:

My X has coverd 103K and is a late 91 model. As yet (touch wood) not found anything regarding the suspension issues and it's just had a M.O.T which it passed with flying colours, the guy who was testing it actually commented that there was no play in any bush / joint.

I know that this will not guarantee that there is nothing wrong with it but when driving it the back end does feel stable and planted with no wandering feeling.

So it may seem that it's not all down to mileage that something will go wrong, it could be, like people have posted here, the way the car has been driven / used. My car for instance was used everyday for the last six years by the previous owner and had everything done needed to keep it in good mechanical order.

Incidentally I don't know if the bushes have been changed on my car.:think:

[Mr_Spanners]

It's a fair point regarding mileage vs wear. I spoke to a chap a few years ago (2000) who bought a 94' NSX which had just 14k on the clock. The previous owner was a professional racing driver and the car was already on it's third clutch. No doubt the bushings will wear out prematurely on such a car (I'm assuming this car had quite a lot of track use!)

I'd hazard a guess that most 100k examples that have been used for commuting and motorway driving have less bushing wear than a 30k example that's been driven hard and tracked regularly!

[Rob_Fenn]

Let's face it, a car that can be as old as 15 years old hasn't really had a hard life doing 100k, it only works out at about 6.5k a year.

I guess another difference is you get some fastidious owners who only drive them on sunny days and garage them for the rest. Others might not have that luxury and the cars suffer a bit more from the UK's weather.

[gsuds]

Yes, mine had MoT with full marks given for suspension, immediately before problems became apparent....

And JapaneseFest was first time car tracked. Doesn't live in a garage though.


Interesting couple of posts regarding worn suspension / subframe mountings. The cost of the repair bills is quite alarming. :eek:

My X has coverd 103K and is a late 91 model. As yet (touch wood) not found anything regarding the suspension issues and it's just had a M.O.T which it passed with flying colours, the guy who was testing it actually commented that there was no play in any bush / joint.

I know that this will not guarantee that there is nothing wrong with it but when driving it the back end does feel stable and planted with no wandering feeling.

So it may seem that it's not all down to mileage that something will go wrong, it could be, like people have posted here, the way the car has been driven / used. My car for instance was used everyday for the last six years by the previous owner and had everything done needed to keep it in good mechanical order.

Incidentally I don't know if the bushes have been changed on my car.:think:

[PeteM]

Yes, mine had MoT with full marks given for suspension, immediately before problems became apparent....

And JapaneseFest was first time car tracked. Doesn't live in a garage though.

That's a fair comment, just shows that MOTs can't be relied upon to denote the condition of any car. They mearly prove that on a given day a car was able to pass the MOT test.

The problem with the tests is that there can be a degree of different standards between the inspectors, and the test itself is open to interpretation in places, not that VOSA would let you believe it ! :)

Gsuds what was the first / main thing that alerted you to your problems ?

[gsuds]

Pete, it just started handling weirdly. Intermittently at first - just a feeling of squirminess in a straight line, then more marked with rear steer to the left on throttling off / to the right on power. Magnitude just increased through time to point it felt quite dangerous, even in dry. Wet even worse... Basically front & rear ends didn't feel in communication with each other. A bit like on old Range Rover.

I'd just had the same symptoms 6 months earlier with a broken suspension arm! Changed tyres and all sorts trying to fix it, dealer had originally given me all clear just before Japfest so really was doubting myself. Of course, the day the dealer drove it was one of the intermittently better days....Putting a fair bit more load through it at Japfest probably exacerbated problem!

[PeteM]

Basically front & rear ends didn't feel in communication with each other. A bit like on old Range Rover.

:laugh::laugh: I Know exactly what you mean just from that..

Cheers for the info gsuds

[josewick]

i know the feelig mate.

I spent over 10k last year fixing the car and just crashed it 3 weeks ago and have to go thru the saem again now :(

[TheSebringOne]

I'm sorry to hear about your big expenditure last year and the recent accident! Was your suspension failure too last year? Also I hope shes not too badly damaged or hurt in the recent accident? :(

[josewick]

yes the suspension was wrecked last time and now same again.. :(

i hope to get her ready for japshow final otherwise it will become the most expensive furniture in the house

[TheSebringOne]

Do you mind me asking, but what reg & mileage is your X and have you ever tracked it? Good luck in getting it ready for the Japanese show final, what is this show anyway & where? Were you at Castle Coome this year?

[simonprelude]

JapShow Finale - Sunday 7th October 2007

JapShow Finale 2007, the second JapShow of the year at Santa Pod Raceway and final round of the HKS Drag Series, will be on Sunday 7th October with a test day on Saturday 6th October.

????


Do you mind me asking, but what reg & mileage is your X and have you ever tracked it? Good luck in getting it ready for the Japanese show final, what is this show anyway & where? Were you at Castle Coome this year?

[Nick Graves]

I have to say, although it's unpleasant when such big bills happen, you are forgetting what you are driving; a 100K Ferrari or Porsche could easily cost you that per annum!

[TheQuietOne]

Mr Wick's is the orange one that used to be silver (auto) with the lambo doors etc. Sorry to hear you crashed it, maybe you can take the opportunity to get a few of those bits smoothed out though. I hope you are well insured, and if you need anything I'm sure we'll all do what we can.