- The problem
- On certain minivans, sedans, coupes, and sport utility vehicles equipped with v6 engines, a timing belt tensioner pulley on the water pump is misaligned and could cause the timing belt to contact a bolt on the cylinder head. Eventually the belt could be damaged and fail.
- The risk
- If the timing belt breaks, the engine will stall, increasing the risk of a crash.
- The fix
- Dealers will inspect the water pump and if it is one of the defective pumps, the water pump and timing belt will be replaced. Owner notification began august 30, 2002. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact honda at 1-800-999-1009 or acura at 1-800-382-2238.
Engine & cooling
2003 Acura CL Engine problems
Owners have filed 4 complaints about the 2003 Acura CL's engine & cooling with NHTSA - 5% of all its complaints, most recently on December 7, 2017. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.
- Complaints
- 4
- Recalls
- 1
- Crashes
- 0
- Fires
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Deaths
- 0
Engine recalls for the 2003 Acura CL
Engine complaints
Engine cradle is totally broken in half. The car is unsafe to drive & it is all I have. Only 120,000 miles on it, was this a defect on your part? I need help. This repair includes removing engine, transmission, from car to access engine cradle. The cost is over $1500.00 Dollars. I truly thought I was buying a quality car! I have no idea how long I have been driving this highly unsafe vehicle of yours!! It also lurches forward at times when I press on the brake. I'm making payments on it & now must borrow again to repair this car. Please get back to me on this asap.
Going 5 mph in parking lot, coasting to a stop at end of aisle with foot off throttle pedal. Put foot on brake and the engine revved to high speed. Barely held car with brake. Shut off ignition. Car restarted fine. This was the second time in a week it had happened. Previous incident was on a residential street coming to a stop at a stop sign. Acura dealer and acura techline say the problem can't happen because the throttle control is a hard cable, no electronics involved.
Erratic/raised engine idle caused by worn idle air control valve creates a condition where engine idle is suddenly higher than 2000rpm in gear which results/resulted in unintended acceleration (vehicle speeds up with no accelerator pedal input) and the engine is more powerful than the braking system (with vehicle in drive gear, brake pedal to the floor, vehicle will still move forward.) Condition happens to my vehicle when engine is normal operating temperature, with warm to hot ambient temperatures, on any road condition.
While driving vehicle at 15 to 20mph engine made a big noise, car slowed down, and engine died. Pulled out of the road. Dealer diagnosed that timing belt was broken. Consumer wanted a new engine since one of the technicians indicated that this engine was defective. Please provide further information.*Ak
Acura CL engine complaints by year
CL engine problems, every yearSource: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data