You're welcome! Tim works at Peoria. Curry Acura is a big competitor in online part pricing usually, but Tim is usually quite good at making things work for us here. He's also one of our moderators and does a stand up job helping any way he can on here.
Ah-ha! Got it. Unfortunately I was not able to establish contact with Tim (called, PM'ed, eMailed) and I need the struts so I ended up ordering from Curry Acura for pick-up.
I really appreciate the help. You literally saved me hundreds of dollars and now I know where to go for almost any part for my MDX to save some $$$.
Are they including a his/hers day at the spa along with that? That has to be close to double what a suspension shop would charge. It's certainly not rocket surgery to replace front struts. I'd want a second opinion that they're actually leaking too.
They are including a one-way ticket to "Gotcha! Land"
That's a good point. Shocks don't typically fail at this low of mileage. Given the high cost from that particular dealer for the repair, it's worth checking to be certain there's a problem with the shocks in the first place.
OP - Is the fluid leaking externally and if so did you see it or do they mean it's leaking internally past some seals and therefore not doing its job?
What prompted this quite for the shocks? Are you having actual issues that you can sense when driving the MDX that are due to bad shocks? Did you test them by bouncing the front end a bit with your hands (carefully so as not to dent it) to look for a lack of shock absorption?
So, in response to mdxstang and others:
I got a second and third opinion today.
First of all, it wasn't Acura who told me the front shocks are bad. I went in for an inspection on Tuesday and they 'failed' me, citing the front shocks were leaking as their reason. I was so shocked at the inspection because the day prior, Monday, I was at my Acura service center for hours due to other issues (continued transmission problems) and they didn't say anything. Heck, my SA was shocked too when I called him because he said it is something his tech would have noticed. Nonetheless he quoted me the price over the phone and asked me to come in so they can check it out.
I didn't end up going to Acura today. I went to two independent shops and both said they are broken / leaking fluid externally ... both of the front shocks. The second shop showed me as well (not that I really knew what he's talking about.)
neoshi You were right. Both shops quoted me $100 per strut for installation + $80 or so for the alignment. Which is much more reasonable. It seems like a simple enough job (for someone who works on cars) so I feel fairly confident having it done locally...unless you guys tell me otherwise!
mdxstang I can't say how this happened. I live in NYC and a lot of my driving is within the city where the roads are well ... a hazard. I go over potholes (or just holes, really) every single day and it's nearly impossible to avoid all of them. I suppose this may been it.
But I have had to get my torque converter replaced twice (RPM fluctuation issues) and after the second replacement (back in July) I was feeling something loose / broken right under my accelerator pedal (sounded like a loose part that would move and bang against something underneath when I went over big potholes / bumps). I did take it back to the dealer and they didn't find any issue ... except for a missing bolt on the cover underneath the car which they fixed. LoL. Allegedly anyways. This was a few months ago. I can't imagine but wonder if the tech who worked on replacing my second torque converter may have accidentally damaged the front struts. But I have no proof nor do I know if this is even possible during a torque converter replacement.
Well that's that! Hopefully the struts will come in tomorrow or Friday and I can have them installed same day.
I imagine it's OK to drive until then, right? Who knows how long they been this way anyway.
Thanks again everyone.
PS - Really disappointed in Acura's workmanship. This car has been nothing but trouble for me. Two torque converter replacements (and now same thing happening again) among other issues. Whenever I drive the loaner MDX's I wish my Acura performed like that. I really feel Acura needs to get me a new transmission otherwise I'll be screwed once my powertrain warranty runs out (though my issues are all on record.) I was thinking about calling Acura Client Relations and asking them to comp-extend my powertrain warranty due to this continuous issue. Any tips, feedback is welcome.
