We recently purchased a new Acura Integra. We are happy with the car, the price and how the purchase went – right up until the last step. I have purchased many cars, both personally and commercially. I know all about the last step – the high profit add-on items that get offered aggressively. I am old enough to remember when it was rustproofing. As always, I was prepared to say ‘no’.

But after declining a long list of possible add-ons, Joseph, our ‘finance’ person said that we should at least do a basic service plan. He said it would pay for itself and handed me a list of scheduled sub-services. He said it would cover everything for the first 48K miles.

I looked at the list of sub-services and noticed that it had everything on it, like the water pump and the timing belt.  In other words, items that get serviced long after 48K. When I pointed this out he agreed, but he said that the differential fluid in an Acura needed to be changed every 17K, and that it was a $500 service. I was sure I had misunderstood the mileage, so I asked him to repeat that 2 more times. Surprised by this, I asked him for the mileages for some other services. He gave me:

Air Filters every 18K
Coolant every 23K
Trans every 35K

I agreed to the plan but said I would check his math and cancel the plan if his numbers were off. When I got home I looked closely at the service plan. It included a schedule of the specific services the plan covered and when they would happen. The plan didn’t list any coolant changes or any differential changes. I Emailed Joseph and asked why the plan he sold me didn’t show those two items. He ignored that question and offered to upgrade me to Acura Care at no charge, saying that it covered ALL scheduled sub-services up to 48K. But the Acura Care paperwork didn’t show the detailed schedule showing when each service would happen. So I asked to confirm the mileage numbers he gave me with someone in their service department. That is when things went sideways.

First Joseph insisted that there were no ‘normal driving conditions’ mileage numbers anymore, because of the ‘minder’ systems in modern cars. Yet, somehow, he could look up and quote specific mileage numbers when selling me a plan. Then he insisted that the mileage numbers I wanted were listed in the manual. But when I asked him for a specific page number, he couldn’t provide one. After I reached out to management I heard from someone in the Service Dept. With some more pushing I was given a service schedule for a 2024 Acura Integra under normal driving conditions. I don’t think these numbers are actually published anywhere:

Air Filters are replaced every 2yrs or 24K
Trans Fluid is replaced every 3 yrs or 36K
Brake Fluid is replaced every 3 yrs or 36K
Coolant is replaced every 5 yrs or 60K
Spark Plugs/Drive Belt at 7 yrs or 105K

None of the numbers Joseph gave me matched the this schedule.  Some were FAR off. Joseph said his numbers came from his training materials. And it is possible that the finance guys at this dealership are trained to use mileages for very extreme conditions. Or maybe they just use made up numbers. Whatever the reason, I was clearly misled. This might also explain why these numbers aren’t readily available to the public.

The real kicker was the mileage for differential fluid changes. My Acura doesn’t get ANY differential fluid changes, because the differential is integrated with the transmission. That one service was Joseph’s specific point of emphasis when he sold me the plan.

It now makes perfect sense why the first plan didn’t list differential or coolant services. It also explains why Joseph didn’t answer the question about these services being missing, instead offering me an ‘upgrade’ to Acura care. It sounded like Acura Care would cover more, but in truth there wasn’t anything else to cover in the first 48K. Obviously, I requested a refund for the plan. I expect to get one, but I am still unhappy with being misled.

It isn’t clear if Joseph was misleading me on his own, or was trained to use misleading information to sell service plans. To determine this I contacted the dealership through the ‘contact us’ page on the web site and shared my experience. I also plan to send them a link to this post. I will update if they respond.

This dealership’s website says that for the past 19 consecutive years they have sold more than any other Acura dealer in the world (you can web-search that phrase). The site also says:

“When you visit us in-store, you’ll be treated with honesty, respect,
and like a member of our own families”.

I don’t consider what I experienced as ‘honesty’.

I am the fix-it guy around the house so it pays to know what type of glue to use in each situation.  Here are 5 strong adhesives I keep around and how I use them:

Liquid Epoxy
I was a trombone major in college. Most trombones have a counter weight on the back to help balance the weight of the slide, but they usually don’t balance it completely. I added a second counter weight and it was still not quite enough. So I went to a hardware store and found some brass rings that would add just the right amount. I told my teacher I was going to glue them on and he said they would fall off in a week. In this case I used Epoxy. I wanted something that would be very durable and I wasn’t in a hurry. I used that horn through 5 years of college including on several tours, and those weights never came off. They were still on when I sold the horn 30 years later. Epoxy needs to be mixed, is slow to cure and smells bad till dry – but it is very strong and durable.

Epoxy Putty
I recently had a piece of plastic trim come off of my car door handle. It is completely non-functional but looks ugly when missing. The part only costs about $15 but the first one I purchase snapped when I tried to put it on. What broke was the little plastic slot that hold’s it in place. So I bought another one and the same thing happened. It looks like it should just snap into place but it isn’t flexible plastic. I think it requires taking the door apart because the dealer wanted $150 to replace it.
I tried to glue it on with epoxy, but with the retaining slot broken there isn’t enough contact surface for a good bond, and it fell off after about a week. What I really needed was something putty-like to push into the trim piece and then push onto the mounting post. That way it could shape itself around the post and harden into place. I was ready to try play-dough when I discovered Loctite Epoxy Putty. It actually has about the same consistency as play-dough. I cut off a slice and mixed the inner and outer layers of the putty into a blob, then pushed it into the trim to fill it. I pushed that onto the mounting post and taped it into place for 24 hours to let it harden. It has been in place for a year. Just like liquid epoxy it needs to be mixed, it is slow to cure and smells bad till dry – but it is very strong and durable.

Cyanoacrylate (Super Glue)
Everyone knows Super Glue. It is pretty strong (although brittle). I use it quite a bit for fixing things that break cleanly (lots of small statues, Christmas ornaments and ceramics). The main trick is making sure the pieces stay in alignment until the glue sets (about a minute) without getting your fingers stuck to the pieces. Good for lots of small jobs.

Thin (watery) Cyanoacrylate
When we finished the basement bathroom we installed a custom sink with a nice cabinet base. It looked like a piece of bedroom furniture. The sink basin was not a standard size, so when a crack started on one side I couldn’t find a replacement for the basin. I decided to see if I could fix the crack. I knew epoxy could hold it but I didn’t think I could get the epoxy to penetrate deep into the crack. But, I had read about a wood craftsman who used a very thin (watery) super glue (Cyanoacrylate) that would penetrate cracks in old wood. I decided to try it and ordered Starbond Thin Cyanoacrylate. I ran a bead along the crack, let it soak into the crack for a few seconds and then wiped it with a cloth before the excess on the outside could dry. That was several years ago and the crack has not advanced further and there is no leakage. The crack is is still visible as a hair line in the sink. I use this whenever I want the adhesive to penetrate into and seal a crack.  One note about this glue, it has to be stored in the refrigerator.

UV glue
The advantage of UV Glue is that it won’t cure until you expose it to the special UV light, but it cures almost instantly once exposed. So if you have something that you need to hold in an awkward position, this is perfect. Note that it won’t work when the adhesive is covered by something because you can only cure it with the UV light source. The UV resin I have used has properties similar to Cyanoacrylate. It isn’t as strong as Epoxy and can be brittle.