I drove a nice example of one today, only 102,xxx mi. and looks great. So I did some research at acura-legend.com Should have done that before going to look at the car.
Apparently these have an Achilles' heel --- they are prone to blown head gaskets.
The situation is all but unknown to first owners, most of whom probably traded them in at 100K so no recalls were ever done.
But what seems to happen is that a few mild overheats will kill a gasket, and replacing them is a bitch, and an expensive one even if you do it yourself.
"Hold on" you say --- "any car could blow a head gasket if you let it overheat. Whatever you read is probably just the vocal minority overreacting." Well, check out that forum and tell me what you think.
Many cars (such as the CB7) will survive a mild overheating without issue --- say you get a leak in the radiator, t-stat goes bad, some fluid winds up in the overflow because it was a hot day, etc. etc --- normal stuff that happens to all cars.
The difference with the Legends seems to be each normal event such as the above is a potentially critical danger. Many owners drive theirs not knowing there's a small gasket leak. Others get it misdiagnosed. And so forth.
I'm sure many of you have known people who never had an issue with their Legend, but it seems widespread enough that I'll not pursue it for myself.
Give me another good CB7 and I'll be happy.
Apparently these have an Achilles' heel --- they are prone to blown head gaskets.
The situation is all but unknown to first owners, most of whom probably traded them in at 100K so no recalls were ever done.
But what seems to happen is that a few mild overheats will kill a gasket, and replacing them is a bitch, and an expensive one even if you do it yourself.
"Hold on" you say --- "any car could blow a head gasket if you let it overheat. Whatever you read is probably just the vocal minority overreacting." Well, check out that forum and tell me what you think.
Many cars (such as the CB7) will survive a mild overheating without issue --- say you get a leak in the radiator, t-stat goes bad, some fluid winds up in the overflow because it was a hot day, etc. etc --- normal stuff that happens to all cars.
The difference with the Legends seems to be each normal event such as the above is a potentially critical danger. Many owners drive theirs not knowing there's a small gasket leak. Others get it misdiagnosed. And so forth.
I'm sure many of you have known people who never had an issue with their Legend, but it seems widespread enough that I'll not pursue it for myself.
Give me another good CB7 and I'll be happy.
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