Well I am going to side with Honda on this one. Personally I do my own work
and if a check engine light comes on I will get the code and troubleshoot it
with the Honda service manual I bought.

I do think a little common sense should have prevailed here and those
without common sense, even for a moment, pay for it out of their wallets
generally.

Now if you were stranded in the middle of nowhere and all you needed was a
couple gallons of gas, how much would you pay for that gas. What is the
highest amount of money you would pay to get you back on the road and safely
home? Probably quite a bit. I would be willing to bet it would be a lot
more than the actual cost of 2 gallons of gas. The dealership gave you
peace of mind by saying your car was ok.

So now you take your car in that your obviously VERY worried about, the
dealership thinks it probably is the cap but what if they send you out after
clearing the light and the light comes on again for something else? You
would be pissed as hell. The dealership did work on your car by hooking it
up to a computer and checking the system. They probably also wiggled and
jiggled a few things under the hood to cover their butts in case something
else was wrong.

If you knew there was a loose gas cap and the gas cap says make sure it
isn't loose because a light could be triggered then I think everybody is
even.

CaptainKrunch






"Brian Drake" <nospambdrake1@carolina.rr.com> wrote in message
news:3meTc.255051$2o2.14971387@twister.southeast.r r.com...
> There I was, on the way home from the airport Thursday night after a week
> out of town on business when my 'check engine' light comes on (2000
> Accord).... I immediately dial up the dealership, where they advise me to
> bring it in asap. I tell them Ill drop it off that night at the key drop
so
> they could look at it the next day. When I arrive at the house from the
> airport and exit the car, I smell gas fumes, so I pop the gas latch and
the
> gas cap is very loose, almost a quarter turn loose in fact. I tighten it
up
> and noticed (unbelievably for the first time) the written warning on the
gas
> cap that a loose cap will set off the engine light..... well, I think to
> myself, there's the problem. But being a little paranoid, I decide to
take
> the car into the dealership in any case. When I drop off the keys, I
write
> on the form that the engine light came on but soon afterwards I noticed
the
> cap was loose.... This morning and the tech called me and told me that
they
> hooked the car up 'to the computers' and everything was cool, that it was
> the gas cap that set off the engine light.
>
> Fast forward to this evening when I go and pick the car up..... and to my
> complete amazement, they charged me $86 dollars for the diagnostic test.
> Mind you they did no actual work, just ran the test. I was livid. I
> couldn't believe that they charged me almost a hundred dollars to tell me
> that my gas cap was loose (note that I bought the car at this
> dealership).... don't get me wrong, Im all about compensating someone for
> their time, but I called an independent Honda shop where even they were
> shocked at this price, and told me they would have probably not charged me
> anything, maybe the standard $30.00 fee if I wasn't a regular customer
(i.e.
> didn't have anything else done).
>
> Question: Am I off base to be upset here? I have calls into the tech that
> did the 'test' and the manager of the service department for some kind of
> explanation. It would seem that they could have reasoned that it was the
> loose cap that tripped the light (since I wrote it down for them), reset
the
> light and fired up the car. No light = problem solved. Light comes back
on
> = a different problem, therefore testing required
>
> Yes, I know, it was stupid to take it to the dealer and I have learned my
> lesson, but it still stings pretty bad. I am a huge Honda fan, but this
has
> soured me a little.... funny thing is that we were going in to look at
> Odysseys at that dealership this weekend, not now.
>
> brian drake
> charlotte, nc
>
>