Bad service at Honda Dealership ruined my car

[rtodzia]

I have a 1997 Honda Accord SE Coupe that I had serviced at a local Honda dealership b/c the "check engine" light came on. They said it was just a faulty oxygen sensor and they replaced it. 2 days later on a trip to Florida with some friends the light came back on . I called them immediately and told them and they said it was probably just the emmisions system again and not to worry about it till I come back in town. I asked them if I should not drive the car and he said it would be ok. Well, guess what......about 15 minutes later my car overheated and I stopped the car immediately. I opened the hood and there was radiator fluid everywhere and the radiator cap was completely off and laying exactly where someone would put it....right next tot he latch you pull to open the hood. I paid $117 to tow it back to the dealership. A week later, they said they still didnt know what was wrong with the car. I told them I wanted a claims adjuster form HOnda Care since I had bought the extended warranty to come look at it. I told the dealership I wantd to be there when the adjuster came. They called me and told me I wasnt allowed to be there. The only thing the adjuster said for denying my claim on my warranty was that there was "stop leak" in the radiator and that I ran the car too hot for too long. This is not true b/c I took the same radiator to a specialist who tested it and said the radiator was not ruined, clogged, or leaking. I called the Honda warranty people and they refused to relook at the radiator. The thing is...the dealership just left the damn radiator cap off when they were servicing it and now they say they didnt do it and they wont fix it. They gave me a quote of $7,300 to fix a car thats only worth at most like $9,000. I'm having to sue them and the warranty people b/c of all of this. On top of this, the dealsership has had my car for over 2 1/2 months and made me pay them $230 for the "breakdown" and when a tow truck guy from a separate place came to get my car so I could get it fixed somewhere else, the manager yelled at the guy and told him that they shouldnt fix my car b/c I would just try to sue them too.....Does anyone have ANY advice on what I should do? I've had alot of car service people and lawyers in town tell me that they've heard alot of bad stuff about this honda service dept before.

[crxlvr]

well id follow through with your lawsuit, thats no way to treat a customer.

plus if you have the proof that the rad was not clogged or misused then you have enough backing to win this suit.

im sure Honda wouldnt let a lawsuit hang over there heads either, so they would prolly settle out of court with you.

i think you have a good case, even better if it says on the honda service repair that they were fixing the coolant system and failed to replace the cap for you.

[rtodzia]

Hey crxlvr, it says that you are a mechanic? Well, I have a question for you if you don't mind anwering. If a car is brought into a shop with the only complaint being that the "check engine" light came on the dashboard, what exactly would the mechanics do....and I mean exactly? B/c the Honda dealership is saying that they did NOT even check or look at any of my fluids or coolants when I brought it in with the "check engine" light on. They said the absolute only thing they did was hook the car up to a mchine that gave them a "code" saying that a oxygen sensor was faulty and they replaced it free under Honda's general extended emmisions warranty. They did not put on the print out sheet that they did anything other than replace a sensor. But when my car was towed in the second time and I asked them for the code, they said that they didn't see the reason to hook it up to the machine and get a code and find out what went wrong b/c "the car just overheated". When i asked them to hook it up now and give me the code, he said they couldnt b/c they had already disconnected the battery. A Honda mechanic at a another dealership said the reason why they did that was to clear the code. Remember, the only reason the dealership could think of for my car overheating was that they said it "appeared" to be "stop leak" in my radiator and "clogged" it up. When advised by another HOnda dealsership mechanic to ask them to show me the "inlet valve to the heater core" so I could see if it had a bunch of "oatmeal" or "sludge" looking stuff in it that would have clogged up the system and ruined the engine....he told me that my car didnt have "one of those". When I pointed it out to him and asked him to show me again, he said "i can't get to it". They also did not give me all my parts back when I towed the car out including the distributor. This is a college town and I'm a young woman who they think they can take advantage of. B/c most of the naive girls just have mommy and daddy pay whatever amount of whatever goes wrong with their HOndas...and this is the only HOnda dealership for almost an hours drive. They've taken such advantage of me it's disgusting. Thanks for all who read this and help me with advice.

[BullShifter]

Hmmmmm.....Sounds very funny for that to happen 2-days later on a trip. You would smell coolant the 1st time you drove it home from the dealer & every trip after that. Sounds to me like someone checked all the fluids before the road trip & forgot to put the cap back on.

Did you have any type of radiator flush, or oil change where they might have opened it? O2 sensor has nothing to do with coolant.

Thats just my opinion.

[rtodzia]

The dealership was that last ones to look under my hood. NO one else has access to my car keys and I keep my car locked at all times. I didn't see the reason to check my fluids or under the hood before my trip b/c they had just serviced it 2 days prior. I hardly drove the car at all after I picked it up until the morning of my trip. It was only mid-60's , had been raining, and i drove mostly through town with a couple of 20-25 minute stops at gas stations. When i noticed the "check engine" light come on and I called them, the car was not over heating. But about 15 minutes later I noticed it was and stopped immediately. It had been over 1500 miles since my last oil change. so like I'm saying they were the last ones to have looked under my hodd before this happened. I even have the testimony of a police officer and car mechanic that stopped to help me and my friends stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowerhe Georgia and when they opened my hood they both mentioned that the cap was off the radiator. I thought the pressure blew it off until they informed me that there is absolute no way a radiator cap can come off on its own. And the cap was laying right where you pull the latch to open the hood in the little groove area...exactly where someone would lay it if they were checking the fluid/coolant. Isn't one of the first things a mechanic would do if a "check engine" light comes on is to check all of the vital fluids/coolants to make sure they arent empty,low or old? B/c that can cause such a huge problem? I was told by a different honda mechnic that the emmissions system is directly related to the collant sysytem and that if the coollant sysytem isnt up to par that in Georgia you wont pass their strict emmisions test.

[BullShifter]

OK!

The 1st thing a Honda tech will do when the check engine light is on, is to hook it up & get the codes

I was told by a different honda mechnic that the emmissions system is directly related to the collant sysytem and that if the coollant sysytem isnt up to par that in Georgia you wont pass their strict emmisions test.

I never heard that one before.

[swedish]

Three letters: BBB (Better Buisness Berau)

[rtodzia]

so jackassi, are you saying that they would never have checked my fluids or coolants when i brought my car in with a "check engine" light on?

I wish the BBB would whoop this company's ass!

[BullShifter]

I wouldnt go as far as never would open it, some techs will & most wont unless they get paid for it. Techs where I worked wanted .2hrs just for walking to the parts counter .. . . .

[YOUNGSTER]

man your in a bad situation

[whtteg]

Did you ever think they did it on purpose to get the bussiness from you, and think you would not know that they did it. They prob thought you knew nothing about cars and tried to sabotage your car so that they could get more bussiness. I know it sounds shady but it could happen. Also I would just like to say that reading this post really makes me mad and I think if I were you I would call someone at Honda's corpate office and tell them what is going on there. Also the place that looked at your radiator, are they willing to give you written doc that there was nothing wrong with the radiator? If so you need this along with written testimony from any and all who have had bad service at the dealership and written testimony of anybody who is qualified and has looked at your car and your situation. Hope you get your money and give the dealership the finger after you get the money! And tell the corporate office that unless something happens to resolve this issue that you will tell every person you come in contact with not to due bussiness with them. Also throw in the " That is not how good bussiness ethics are practiced!" I have gotten alot of success using this line, I came up with it when a local restaurant here stole my girl friends digital camera. I called the regional office and told them about it and right after this line and some other stuff the guy said I 'll call you back in 10 mins. He told me thatif they could not come upi with the camera then they would give the $500 to replace it with. I got the camera back in 45 mins. You just always have to get a hold of the next person up the line, and keep going up the line until you get what you want! Good Luck

[BullShifter]

American Honda Motor Co has nothing to do with Honda Care ext. warranty.

I highly doubt they left it off on purpose to bring in more business, maybe an independent shop would do this, not Honda. You never know.

Find out if it was an apprentice working on your car then maybe they forgot to put it back on for some stupid reason.

[jcrx]

Some dealerships will do a courtesy check on all your fluids when they service your car. They probably did so and forgot the cap. They are at fault for not putting it on, but you are at fault for not asking questions and checking it out before driving off the lot. You are going to be hard pressed to prove they left it off, but maybe.

[crxlvr]

ok sorry about my late post, but yea they may have checked your fluids for you just to be nice and all, but if they didnt put that on the service report than there is no way to prove they did it.

secondly, yes we mechanics are shady and alot of us(not me) will try to rip people off especially women with these exact situtaions. im sorry to say it, but it does happen.

when a car is brought in to check a code, it is usually just tested to find the code its throwin, wether it be by equipment or counting flashes or whatever, if it was your O2 sensor, there is no reason to open the rad cap.

i hope this helps.

[rtodzia]

Thanks to all of you who care enough to read my long threads and to have posted your thoughts and advice on the matter. I understand how people say that they probably didnt check the fluids but I just cant get it out of my head that there is 100% NO way a radiator cap can come off on its own.....SOMEBODY left it off whether by accident or on purpose. I have had ALOT of lawyers and mechanics and even a wealthy influential man in town tell me that they wouldnt buy a car from this particular dealership and that they had had customers come in to them with problems from this dealership. They have a very bad reputation is what I'm trying to say when you start asking around town. Like I said before, they are the only Honda dealership for about 55 miles...so they rip people off (and especially since it's a bunch of college kids with mommy and daddy's credit card). Quite a few mechanics and lawyers have mentioned to me that they wouldnt be surprised if this was done to my car on purpose also. I had to pay $2500+ to get my car a replaced engine and it should be ready for me to pick up and drive this week...hopefully I'm still in touch with my lawyer and I'll be sure to do what I can to rectify this situation. You know what though....I'm VERY dissapointed in the way HOnda Care treated this situation and denied coverage under my extended warranty for a "clogged radiator" even though theres nothing wrong with it and it's on my car right now and working fine. I'll try to keep you guys posted and if you have any more advice that would be great. I just think of it this way since alot of you reading this are mechanics or quite knowledgble about cars......how would you feel if this was done to your Grandmother? Mother? Sister? Daughter? Wife? ......it's just not right to do that to a female b/c they think were stupid idiots that don't know anything about cars. Well, they *ucked with the wrong woman b/c I'm not an idiot and I'm not one to let people take advantage of me and get away with it. Also, one note...to whoever said it was my fault for not checking under the hood when they serviced my car???? Are you kidding me? Who does that? I shouldnt have to go behind them when thats there damn job to fix my car. But anyways......thanks again.