| Jay0427 |
I know this topic has been discussed in great detail on this site, however, on March 23, 2004 Acura released the attached bulletin to all Acura dealers. The file is zipped.
I hope this helps some.
Thanks
-J |
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| one4gatr |
| good work... good to see Acura finally own up to this issue. Interesting enough another member actually figured this out and posted it but I do not believe he put in any replacement shims rather just removed them entirely. |
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| TheRunDown |
yuckyyy finally Acura agree to fix one of the characteristic of the vehicle.
It would be nice if they fix the gas sloshing in the tank too. With those two gone, MDX is truely a great vehicle. |
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| DaleB |
| Very nice, will have them 'apply' the fix on my next routine maint. |
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| JeffK |
Dear Jay0427:
Many thanks for the post. I have printed it and will give it to my service department next time.
JeffK |
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| DavidM |
| My computer will not open a zip file.....can you post it in adobe format?? Someone?? |
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| TYP |
Hi..
Just go find and down load "stuffit" and it will open zip for ya!
:4: |
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| EXCALIBUR |
Jay0427,
Thanks for posting this TSB. I think I will have my "brake clunk" feature taken care of the next time I bring my MDX in for servicing.:29: |
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| MARFONG |
| I can't unzip this file. What are the details of the fix? This use to be a very noticeable characteristic feature of my MDX, but lately I haven't noticed any clicking of the brake pads. I have almost 30k miles and maybe age improved it... |
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| dipersp |
I was wondering if I had this problem or not since I never heard it. Apparently, by looking at the VINs, they fixed it at the factory before mine rolled off - how nice.
Now if only that 2000rpm hum had been fixed. . . I also never hear the gas noise (Knock wood!) |
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| Jay0427 |
David and Marfong:
There are only certain file formats you can use to upload attachments. I wasn't able to upload just the PDF. I had to ZIP it. Sorry. If you continue to have problems, please let me know and I'll make arrangements to email you the file.
Thanks
Jay0427 |
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| DaveI |
| Awesome, thanks Jay0427. Does anyone know if a similar tsb exists for the front pads? |
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| Jay0427 |
Dave:
No i'm not sure about the front pads but I'll investigate and report my findings later this afternoon. |
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| jwsmithjim |
| Thank you very much. My 2002MDX can sure use this TSB! |
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| Jay0427 |
Whoever sent me an email yesterday requesting an email of the PDF, please send me a private message. I don't have your email address handy.
Thanks
Jay0427 |
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| Blue-audi |
My brake thunk was taken care of today when it was in for the free 1st oil change. It sure is nice not to hear the clunk especially while driving through parking lots and the subdivision.
Thanks JAY0427 for the bulletin. I gave it to them when I brought the car in and they said no problem.
Now I'll start working on the drone. It's not too prevalent, but it still can be annoying at 70 mph. I especially noticed it on a recent 1500 mile trip when the speed limit was 70. I just set the cruise at 75 and it went away. |
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| fatherlu |
I took mine in today but my VIN wasn't included in the bulletin. I received my X in early January. They checked out the vehicle and only found slight occasional clunks (perhaps every 5 to 7 backup shifting--which I'm not even sure if it was the rear brakes.
Can I assume that Acura must have retrofitted most of the 04 models after January? |
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| MARFONG |
Jay,
Thanks for sending me the info. via e-mail. I'll have the service done with my next oil change. It's odd tho, I rarely hear any brake clunk sounds anymore...maybe my hearing has gotten worse...ha,ha. |
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| Jim03MDX |
| Jay0427, thanks for posting this! |
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| HARDROCK |
| Thanks! Getting it done tomorrow with the 30K service. |
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| DaveMDXWave |
YEA! Finally, Acura has owned up to a serious problem. With that fixed, I agree the MDX is a great vehicle.
Dave |
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| Pauls MDX |
| They finally have a fix!!! |
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| DavidM |
Well, I've got news for everyone.....I wouldn't be so quick to call this a fix. I have had the "shims" worked on/replaced 3 times on my '02. Each time it cured the problem, but only for about 1000 miles.
As soon as the pads wear a bit more, it's back to the same old thing.
My take on this is that Acura has just finally put out the TSB on it, and I am a bit skeptical if this actually fixes it permanently.
Each mechanic I've talked to has told me the same thing:
"We'll do the fix, but it's just temporary...."
What I would like to see is this:
Acura should replace whatever parts are necessary to eliminate the problem. (Even if it means changing out the entire front/rear end to '04 parts......as I understand it, they do not have this problem!)
And I'll bet no one at Acura is willing to do that....!!:rolleyes: |
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| Jay0427 |
David:
You are absolutely correct. I did not state that this was a "fix". As a matter of fact, Acura's internal bulletin on this problem states that this "procedure" will quiet the clunk and a lot of times will not alleviate the noise completely.
It has been my experience that out of all the MDX's serviced for the brake clunk, a handful will come back with the same problem after approx 6 months.
The clunk is not hurting anything mechanical in any way. That is why we won't see a permanent fix that would go as far as replacing the entire assembly.
Unfortunately, we have to take what we can get! As an MDX owner myself, it is my opinion that the positive's of this vehicle FAR outway the negatives!
Thanks for your input David. It is appreciated! :-) |
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| nhatman |
i'm not so sure that there's it's not hurting anything mechanical. from my understanding of the "problem" and the "fix", there is too much clearance between the sides of the brake pads and the caliper housing. this causes the pads to butt up against either side depending on the direction you're in when you brake.
during all forward braking, the pad is already up against one side so you usually don't hear anything. then when you reverse for the first time, the pads slide to the other side until it "clunks" up against the housing. and vice-versa when you reverse then go forward.
this "clunking" is imparting unecessary impact forces on the caliper housing and over time, i think, can cause cracking which may propogate with the temperture and loading cycles.
the "fix" looks like it's basically bonding the pad to the shims so the pads don't slide around. this is fine and dandy until of course, over time, with the temperature and loading cycles, the bond breaks down and fails and you're back to square one.
the only real "fix" in my opinion, is for acura to design a special shim that takes up that gap so the pads don't slide around.
my two cents.... |
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| DaleB |
Well, there seems to be a consensus that the 'clunk' is a design oversight, but not really a problem. I think it might be more meaningful not to fix it, which is temporary anyway. And report back here if the clunk ever STOPS!!
It might be indicating a REAL problem! :D |
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| Pauls MDX |
quote:
Originally posted by DavidM
Well, I've got news for everyone.....I wouldn't be so quick to call this a fix. I have had the "shims" worked on/replaced 3 times on my '02. Each time it cured the problem, but only for about 1000 miles.
As soon as the pads wear a bit more, it's back to the same old thing.
My take on this is that Acura has just finally put out the TSB on it, and I am a bit skeptical if this actually fixes it permanently.
Each mechanic I've talked to has told me the same thing:
"We'll do the fix, but it's just temporary...."
What I would like to see is this:
Acura should replace whatever parts are necessary to eliminate the problem. (Even if it means changing out the entire front/rear end to '04 parts......as I understand it, they do not have this problem!)
And I'll bet no one at Acura is willing to do that....!!:rolleyes:
What I actually meant to say is that they have acknowledged the issue. Now at least you can get the dealer to fix the issue every 1000 or so miles if the noise really bothers you. Without this bullitin you had to hope they would give you a goodwill consideration. |
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| Triple7 |
THANKS!!
Hopefully My X will leave the dealership with one less "Feature" when it goes in for it's last free oil change and free detailing (due to sloppy service). |
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| TheRunDown |
| The fix obviously does not work. My brake noise just come back within less than 1k mile. Don't know if it is just the dealer who install the shim or it is just that the TSB doesn't work at all. |
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| jj_mdx |
quote:
Originally posted by TheRunDown
The fix obviously does not work. My brake noise just come back within less than 1k mile. Don't know if it is just the dealer who install the shim or it is just that the TSB doesn't work at all.
hmmm... mine was fixed last week, very very unwillingly, but the dealer... so far, so good... but i only have about 400miles after the fix... time will tell whether this fixes anything at all... |
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| fatherlu |
| The service technician at my dealer told me that it was only a temporary fix and that some of the clunk would be back after 1K miles or so. |
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| Triple7 |
What a bunch of crap. The only thing worse than a problem disguised as a "feature" is a fix for the problem that doesn't work.
I am having my dealer fix mine anyway. Especially if they are unhappy about doing it. They can keep fixing it with every oil change until they come up with something else I guess... |
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| rerodgers |
just took my '04 in to get the 7,500 mile serve done. I paid $140. Not great, but not horrible either. Anyway, when I made the appointment I told him that I wanted the brake clunk fixed and they told me that was a "feature" and that there was nothing they could do. I told them that I had a copy of the TSB that was issued in March and they had not heard of it. I told him I would bring it in when I came in for service. I had my wife (it's her car) bring it in and they told her that we were the first one to have the brack fix done. That was not too encouraging! Anyway, it took them forever to fix, I am hoping they did it correctly. I don't think I hear the clunk/click, but I will let you know after a longer test period. They wanted to know where I got the TSB.
What I can't figure out is how the public can get a TSB before the freakin service department. How can a service department not know of a TSB? Doesn't Honda send them to the service departments. Why don't they have weekly or monthly calls to figure out what the latest TSB's are? Maybe my service department is clueless? It's their job to know this, that's all they do for crying out loud. |
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| dfroim |
hi all,
as I mentioned already in different thread, I had this TSB applied just before a long trip(>3.5K in all) and as of today it's okay, no clunking. I think it is not about milige, but about driving conditions, - most of those miles I've added are from the highway driving and it's possible it would take about 1K of stop-and-go+backing up from the driveway to get this problem back. There was no problem with my dealer to fix it and also they applied same fix to a front brakes(at least they said same kind of sound was coming from the front brakes so they fixed them too).
IMHO, since any sound is a result of mechanical interactiuon(one way or the other) this problem is not just about bad sound, - too parts hit each other wich could cause a bigger problem over the time. Also, breaking feels much better now. |
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| texrb |
quote:
Originally posted by jj_mdx
hmmm... mine was fixed last week, very very unwillingly, but the dealer... so far, so good... but i only have about 400miles after the fix... time will tell whether this fixes anything at all...
jj,
Since I also live in Plano, I assume the Plano dealer is the one that was unwilling to do the work. This sounds right - since I asked tem to do the work 2 months ago (pre- TSB) & they gave me several reasons why it couldn't be fixed. I chose not to have the work done then.
I will just wait to see if the fix really works. |
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| jj_mdx |
quote:
Originally posted by texrb
jj,
Since I also live in Plano, I assume the Plano dealer is the one that was unwilling to do the work. This sounds right - since I asked tem to do the work 2 months ago (pre- TSB) & they gave me several reasons why it couldn't be fixed. I chose not to have the work done then.
I will just wait to see if the fix really works.
acturally, i ditched that plano dealer, though i made my purchase there, after they "supercharged" me for window tinting a month after my purchase... i've been using goodson acura in irving for a while, before i found out that they too overcharged quite a bit (for labor cost at least)...
now my maintainance is done by a honda dealer in McKinney, a lot cheaper, though they don't offer handwash of the car or rental cars... i also started doing some easy maintainance myself, like airfilter change, or pollenfilter change...
i only brought my mdx to goodson acura for warranty works, like this brake issue... a couple of the service guys/gals gave me some run-around, but one of them did offer the fix without any hesitation... if you need the name of the service guy, let me know... he's kind of cool and fun to talk to, i have to say... |
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| jwsmithjim |
| 2002 MDX, 34k miles. Had the brake clunk TSB "fix" installed on May 12 and so far so good. |
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| texrb |
quote:
Originally posted by jj_mdx
now my maintainance is done by a honda dealer in McKinney, a lot cheaper, though they don't offer handwash of the car or rental cars...... if you need the name of the service guy, let me know... he's kind of cool and fun to talk to, i have to say...
jj_mdx,
I agree Honda Cars of McKinney has a terrific service dept - I have owned several Hondas & used them exclusively. They did give free car washes when I used them, but that was before 10/2001.
Thanks for the offer of the service rep - but Goodson is too far fo rme to go for service. I'll just stay with McDavid in Plano, since I generally have been pleased with their service dept for my last 4 Acuras & the cost of oil changes is only $5 more at the Acura dealer.
Re: sales dept at McDavid - I agree they are not good - but have found all DFW area Acura dealers the same regarding sales deals - very poor re: treating customers right. They could all take a lesson from Park Place Lexus or Sewell Lexus for Sales training.
Acura service overall is far better than Lexus though! |
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| jj_mdx |
just an update:
it's been over 1000 miles since I have the clunk fixed... and so far, so good... |
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| Jay0427 |
rerodgers:
in response to your inquiry as to why the public finds out about TSB's before the service dept's do:
To be truthful, this particular TSB was not available to the public at the time it was uploaded.
The individual that uploaded the TSB in question, (that person being me) has a direct relationship with Acura).
I felt that it was important to relay this information to this board as soon as possible.
I don't do this very often. There are several reasons why. The 2 most important reasons are:
1. I don't have very much time to frequent this board. Although I read it on a semi-regular basis, a lot of the time I spend here is simply to gather input and opinions from the people the count the most...the MDX owners like yourself.
2. When someone affiliated directly with the manufacturer posts infomation like i do, he/she is usually bombarded with emails/PM's/complaints etc... I simply don't have the time to respond like I would want to.
What I CAN tell you is, that contrary to popular belief, this board's, as well as others, opinions, criticisms, complaints, problems that owners express on a daily basis do NOT fall upon deaf ears. Please believe me when I tell you that.
If you guys had any idea of the type of communication that Acura has between the dealerships when it comes to issues/problems with their vehicles, you might have a better understanding.
There is, for a fact, DAILY electronic correpsondence between Acura and the dealerships that demand that the dealerships report certain problems they encounter with vehicles, the requesting of photographs and detailed documentation of said problems, and the resolutions that Acura is working on to solve a lot of those problems. Trust me, you would have a better sense of the time it takes to figure out and potentially solve a lot of these issues you are having.
Now as an MDX owner myself, I know as well as you that the MDX is NOT a perfect vehicle and that a lot of the issues/complaints posted on this board may never come to light, but if you take anything from this post, please believe me when I tell you that Acura IS listening and they are not ignoring what you say! (NO, I can't say anything about the lack of Navigation updates:-) I'm just as peaved about that one as YOU ALL are :-)
What I CAN tell you is it's not all of Acura's fault :-( BUT, I am trying my best to get to the source of the actual problems :-)
I hope everyone can appreciate that there are some of us who really do listen quietly and can take that information that is given to us and try to do some good with it.
Thanks
Jay0427 |
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| ssMDX01 |
| any info on the gas slosh. |
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| pdempsey |
| Thanks for the post. Valuable. |
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