Honda Car Forum

In article <1154610483.406763.132330@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups. com>,
"KellyCrash" <Kelly.Creeron@gmail.com> wrote:

> I want to call the 800 # as suggested, but my car is still at the
> dealership.

So?

True story: back in 1985 or 86, I had a 79 Civic where the gas tank
started leaking. I took it to my dealer, who immediately recognized it
as a goodwill warranty issue and who handled it completely and had it
back in my hands within 24 hours.

Based on that, my girlfriend (now wife) bought a 79 civic not too long
thereafter. And awhile later, its gas tank started leaking in the same
place, same way. Ha, no problem. I had her take it to the dealer
closer to her and explain that it's a warranty issue, that they should
check with Honda. This is a Friday morning.

Friday at 4pm they call and tell her come and get the car, it'll be
$200. WHAT? This place never called Honda like we told them to. We're
poor college students, and she's quite upset. I said "hang on here,"
and called the local zone office. Keep in mind it's 4:15 now on a
Friday afternoon.

I explained the situation to a very nice guy, who said "that's bullshit,
hang on for a minute" and put me on hold. A few minutes later he comes
back and says "go get your car, it's handled".

We go in to pick up the car. The service manager is behind the service
desk and hears us come in. She couldn't help herself; she had to say
it. "So you went over our heads, huh?" You bet your ass, sweetie.

I never once worried that the car was still there.



> Should I wait or should I call now? The service manager said he would
> refund us the cost of the Air Intake Service & the Power Steering Fluid
> exchange.

You betcha--because he knows he'll be spanked by Honda.

I forgot to mention something that I suppose was pretty important. The
service manager offered to credit the cost of the two extra services
they performed back to our credit card. We agreed on the Air Intake
Service because we were specifically told that would take care of the
Misfire, but said if the Power Steering fluid needed to be flushed & we
agreed we were fine with it. Now that I'm hearing what you are saying
that Power Steering fluid is typcially good for the life of the car
then I am going to insist that be credited back as well.

I did call the 800#. They assigned me a case # & said someone would
look into it & contact the dealer in 2 days.

I do not think anything has been credited back yet. I assume they will
apply the $$ to the new bill whenever they figure out what's wrong with
my car.

That was some interesting reading and you have already received some good
advice. I'm afraid many service advisors try to act like they are master
technicians, when in fact their main job, in my opinion, is to bring in
the $$$$. You're aware you're still under Honda's emission warranty I
hope? I would read up on the coverage, some items 5 years - 50,000 miles.
Some items are longer I suspect. Changing the power steering fluid is not
needed at your low milage, but your auto transmission and coolant should
have already been changed. You must use only genuine Honda power steering
fluid, same goes for auto transmission fluid. Many people on this Forum say
to only use Honda coolant as well. Good luck

"KellyCrash" <Kelly.Creeron@gmail.com> wrote
> I do not think anything has been credited back yet.

A credit to one's credit card account typically will take a
few days following the merchant's completion of his/her end
of the paperwork, etc.

Your posts are going to help others. Hang in there.

They are still trying to figure out what the problem is. It seems the
car only misfires when it's first started and smoothes out when it's
warmed up.

The misfire codes are P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, P0305, &
P0306.

They're not going to refund the power steering fluid exchange. The
service manager says they reccomend it be done every 30K miles.
Whatever. I don't know what to think.

Thanks. They aren't going to credit anything yet. They want to figure
out what's wrong witht he car first and then when they figured out
what's owed or not owed they will issue a credit.

I talked to the service manager in depth and he had a lot to say.
First of he's insulted that I think they're padding bills and whatnot.
He says he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if he went about business
that way. Anyway, he seems to think it's an electrical issue. He does
think that this will come under the warranty & if not he said that
he'll contact Honda & ask them to cover it. He says 9 out of 10 times
Honda comes through.

He seems to think my car is safe to drive even if the engine light
comes on. I was concerned because I'm supposed to be going out of town
on Sun. & need to take my car.

Sorry Tegger if my posts are too long for you.


Elle wrote:
> "KellyCrash" <Kelly.Creeron@gmail.com> wrote
> > I do not think anything has been credited back yet.
>
> A credit to one's credit card account typically will take a
> few days following the merchant's completion of his/her end
> of the paperwork, etc.
>
> Your posts are going to help others. Hang in there.

On 3 Aug 2006 12:26:41 -0700, "KellyCrash" <Kelly.Creeron@gmail.com>
wrote:

>They are still trying to figure out what the problem is. It seems the
>car only misfires when it's first started and smoothes out when it's
>warmed up.
>
>The misfire codes are P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, P0305, &
>P0306.
>
>They're not going to refund the power steering fluid exchange. The
>service manager says they reccomend it be done every 30K miles.
>Whatever. I don't know what to think.

I would definitely take this up with the Honda Customer Relations
Office 1-800-999-1009. As stated earlier there is no periodic
requirement for flushing the power steering fluid. The only time it
is required in the manual is if you use a non-Honda fluid in an
emergency. Then you are supposed to have the system flushed ASAP.
There IS a requirement at 45,000 miles to flush the brake fluid. You
might question why they did the non-required one, and not the required
one.

These service writers are really sneaky at times. I find the real
service managers to often be easier to deal with and more honest. The
service writers just want to sell you stuff. Of course I realize the
service writers work for the service manager. Several times I have
had service done that wasn't necessary at that mileage. Their
computers are even set up to print out these unnecessary service
procedures on the service order so it looks like it is a Honda
requirement. This has happened to me so many times I now carry a copy
of the Maintenance Schedule from the Owner's Manual with me to compare
what they told me is required with what Honda has specified in the
manual. Sometimes if you question something, they will say it's
because your car falls under the severe service schedule. That
doesn't work with me anymore because I already know my car falls under
the severe service schedule.

My advice to you is to scan a copy of the pages from the manual that
are applicable to your engine and driving conditions. Then, when they
start quoting requirements, take out your sheet and have them show you
where it is required.

Good luck on the check engine light problem. You should know that the
first thing you should check when the light comes on is the fuel
filler cap to see that it is tight fitting. This is explained on page
349 of the manual. Also read the pages on emissions controls starting
at page 371. Then read about the Federal emissions warranties in the
Warranties book that came with your car, starting on page 14. An
informed customer is better armed to do battle with incompetent or
sneaky service people. You really need to talk to Honda Customer
Service at the number I gave you above.

Dick

"Dick" <w6ccd@k7yca.org> wrote in message
news:2jr4d2pbvv3ri33t4datepphp9jghn21rt@4ax.com...
> On 3 Aug 2006 12:26:41 -0700, "KellyCrash" <Kelly.Creeron@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >They are still trying to figure out what the problem is. It seems the
> >car only misfires when it's first started and smoothes out when it's
> >warmed up.
> >
> >The misfire codes are P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, P0305, &
> >P0306.
> >
> >They're not going to refund the power steering fluid exchange. The
> >service manager says they reccomend it be done every 30K miles.
> >Whatever. I don't know what to think.
>
> I would definitely take this up with the Honda Customer Relations
> Office 1-800-999-1009. As stated earlier there is no periodic
> requirement for flushing the power steering fluid. The only time it
> is required in the manual is if you use a non-Honda fluid in an
> emergency. Then you are supposed to have the system flushed ASAP.
> There IS a requirement at 45,000 miles to flush the brake fluid. You
> might question why they did the non-required one, and not the required
> one.

I used to know a used car dealer in Redmond, WA, who specialized in high
mileage but still serviceable vehicles for the economy crowd. He claimed
that lots of the over one hundred thousand mile cars with rack and pinion
steering had that part fail, until he adopted a policy of flushing the power
steering fluid on every one that went through his lot.

I would question the required versus not required issue myself.

Earle

I did contact Honda Customer Relations today & was given a case # and
told that they would follow up with me (or the dealer?) in two days.

The first thing I did when I saw that the engine light was on was to
tighten the gas cap. That didn't work. There is definitely a problem
with the engine misfiring when it's started up.

I will take a look at the manual more closely before having any further
service done in the future. Honestly this is the first time I've had
any extra services done that weren't a part of the standard service.
Then again this is my first time at this particular Honda dealer too.

The dealer back in MA doesn't do extra services like this & they also
have no haggle pricing. It was part of the reason I bought my car
there.

I've gotten my cars serviced at dealerships in the past & I've never
had any thing like this done before. If I brought my car in for an oil
change that's what I got. If I brought the car in for the 30K service
or whatever it might be that's what I got.

We'll see how it turns out. The service advisor called me around
5:15pm or so and said that they had updated the computer & the car was
no longer coming up with a misfire code. He said that they thought the
car hadn't been allowed to cool off long enough tho & that it may be an
inaccurate reading. He said they would do more testing in the morning.



Dick wrote:
> On 3 Aug 2006 12:26:41 -0700, "KellyCrash" <Kelly.Creeron@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >They are still trying to figure out what the problem is. It seems the
> >car only misfires when it's first started and smoothes out when it's
> >warmed up.
> >
> >The misfire codes are P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, P0305, &
> >P0306.
> >
> >They're not going to refund the power steering fluid exchange. The
> >service manager says they reccomend it be done every 30K miles.
> >Whatever. I don't know what to think.
>
> I would definitely take this up with the Honda Customer Relations
> Office 1-800-999-1009. As stated earlier there is no periodic
> requirement for flushing the power steering fluid. The only time it
> is required in the manual is if you use a non-Honda fluid in an
> emergency. Then you are supposed to have the system flushed ASAP.
> There IS a requirement at 45,000 miles to flush the brake fluid. You
> might question why they did the non-required one, and not the required
> one.
>
> These service writers are really sneaky at times. I find the real
> service managers to often be easier to deal with and more honest. The
> service writers just want to sell you stuff. Of course I realize the
> service writers work for the service manager. Several times I have
> had service done that wasn't necessary at that mileage. Their
> computers are even set up to print out these unnecessary service
> procedures on the service order so it looks like it is a Honda
> requirement. This has happened to me so many times I now carry a copy
> of the Maintenance Schedule from the Owner's Manual with me to compare
> what they told me is required with what Honda has specified in the
> manual. Sometimes if you question something, they will say it's
> because your car falls under the severe service schedule. That
> doesn't work with me anymore because I already know my car falls under
> the severe service schedule.
>
> My advice to you is to scan a copy of the pages from the manual that
> are applicable to your engine and driving conditions. Then, when they
> start quoting requirements, take out your sheet and have them show you
> where it is required.
>
> Good luck on the check engine light problem. You should know that the
> first thing you should check when the light comes on is the fuel
> filler cap to see that it is tight fitting. This is explained on page
> 349 of the manual. Also read the pages on emissions controls starting
> at page 371. Then read about the Federal emissions warranties in the
> Warranties book that came with your car, starting on page 14. An
> informed customer is better armed to do battle with incompetent or
> sneaky service people. You really need to talk to Honda Customer
> Service at the number I gave you above.
>
> Dick

In article <1154633201.758217.111310@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups .com>,
"KellyCrash" <Kelly.Creeron@gmail.com> wrote:

> They're not going to refund the power steering fluid exchange. The
> service manager says they reccomend it be done every 30K miles.
> Whatever. I don't know what to think.

Ask them to show you the manufacturer's recommendations on that.

It's not in the owner's manual anywhere, trust me. So ask them to see
Honda documentation that backs up his claim.