jca24

So you have the car back in the Dallas area now? Have you called the Hondew Shop In Richardson, well actually north Dallas just south of Spring Valley at 75? Call them and talk to Marshall, they do great work and are reasonable. Good luck!

http://www.thehondewshop.com/

geoh711

Sorry for the bitter update, but here's what happened. Got the car back Tuesday.

Wednesday when I wanted to take a snow pic, the car turned off as soon as the clutch was pushed down. It still turned back on after! Let's try again, clutch down, car off. Did that cycle one more time. Was about to record it and it stopped. Drove it later that day couple more times nothing out of the ordinary.

Thursday drove it once but not far.

Was taking my car to the shop yesterday (45 minutes away) so they can take a look. While driving on the highway felt the front end shake and then check engine light came on and I think the car was off at that point, started slowing from 70, no acceleration , pulled over. No start. The shop I was taking it to picked me up, checked the engine again and.................... SEIZED ENGINE AGAIN!! Yay!!!!

I should've taken it to them in the first place, they're going to take the engine apart and most likely confirm what we've thought. They think the top end will be ok but predict the short block is done for good this time. Will update when they update. At least someone is ACTUALLY working on my car this time.

Tried calling Honda Corp, they told me to take it back to the dealership I bought it from. Screw that. Called the dealership to bitch and they bitched back worse and I almost lost my s*** on them which wouldn't have done any good anyway, so I just left it alone and hung up pissed. I'm really disappointed in Honda.

Gregg Lee

From the documents you linked it's clear that you left out a quite a bit in earlier comments, and mislead in others. According to the documents, you took car to Lute Riley with valve cover off and you had broken off a rocker cap bolt, leaving the end of the bolt in the head. Once they determined that the engine would not turn, Lute Riley couldn't give you any further suggestions because you told them not investigate further. You also declined to have Riley fix the broken bolt.

You had removed the a cam (same time as when you broke the bolt?), which you didn't mention at all to Riley and not initially to Brown.

Brown transported the car to Amarillo free of charge even though the had learned from Riley that you had worked on the car and broken the bolt.

The $600 charge from Brown was labor to remove and replace the bolt you broke. Which means they had to remove the cam for access, remove the broken end of the bolt from the head, then replace the cam. The charge was NOT as stated earlier "just to test drive the car."

Brown did not "swear" that the car was fixed. If anything the opposite.

Neither dealer "ACTUALLY" did more than they did, because you withheld permission to do further work.


I am surprised that would post documentation that contradicts your story, but from what I read in it I can't fault the dealers for being wary - probably concerned that is more not yet revealed.

I hope the new shop knows everything going in.

geoh711

Obviously everything isn't mentioned in the documents but I guess I'll defend myself here. Yes the bolt was broken and when initially taken to Lute I asked them to fix it and then diagnose, but they didn't do that. They were trying to charge $12k for a new motor and Brown honda said they would do it for $10k then Brown took over. BOTH the dealerships knew of what I had done. It was very obvious because the valve cover was off and I told them we over-torqued one bolt and to fix it and that the other bolts were not torqued. Both dealerships were told everything that was going on.

I understand where you're coming from and where they are coming from with the questions about what we did. I told them everything though, I might've not said it on here or it might not be documented but from the beginning I told them everything. And furthermore this was all done after the engine was seized. I tried diagnosing it with help since Amarillo isn't a drive down the street.

It's a he said/ she said situation. You can sit here and blame me for messing up a $23k purchase by being real stupid, but that's not the case. I can sit here and accuse them of selling me a car that had pre-existing conditions, and I'm going to refuse to believe that was the case. I think it was just bad luck and there are a few threads that I saw where this happened as well.

The last conversations I had with Brown Honda I basically said do whatever it takes to fix my car, fix the thrust bearing, throwout bearing, take the engine out and investigate I would pay whatever the cost was. Obviously the documentation does not show any of the many conversations I had with them. They told me that the general manager said no more work on my car regardless if I was going to pay. I was willing to shell out the $10k for the new motor. The service director said none of the technicians wanted to touch my car.

I can't blame the dealer for being wary as well, this is a freak case that nobody I know has ever faced. But in the end I was begging for them to fix it. I understand the $600 was for Honda mechanics time.

Obviously I missed mentioning things on here but for most of this year so far I was out of town working 50+ hours a week, sorry if I didn't feel like typing out essays. I tried to mention the most important parts.

New shop has all the documentation, I told them everything. The guy I've been in contact with this whole time has seen more videos I've sent him as well and more symptoms that have happened.

I'm not going to leave bad reviews. I just want my car back, which is all I've wanted from the beginning.

I understand they are a business and lost money on this. But I am a customer and I lost even more and counting.. all while not having a car.

Hopefully this situation is over, and since this shop will open my engine we'll all know for sure. I don't mean to attack but I've been dealing with this since January 23rd and the frustration and sadness hits hard sometimes.

Car Analogy

You are willing to pay someone $10k to replace the motor, when the new shortblock from Honda costs like $3k. There really isn't a modern car that is easier to do a motor swap on. Which from this I conclude you don't feel comfortable doing a motor swap, even if it will save you ~$7k.

Which then makes me wonder what you were trying to do when you overtorqued the cam cap bolt? You aren't an experienced mechanic, yet you had the valve cover off and were messing with bolts under there? Wondering about this part of the story...

geoh711

Well up to $10k. They said if the top end was good subtract about 2-3k. Honda's price for the short block was a little over 4k?

You are correct in the fact that I'm not experienced so all the work that was done I sat back and watched either my brother in law who's a mechanic and a fellow S2Ki member. I think the mistake was in the torque wrench which we bought at harbor freight? Or maybe he was torquing to the wrong spec. I'm not sure, but I definitely definitely regret trying to diagnose it ourselves. Easy with the pitch forks.

Like I've said before, a trip to Amarillo from Dallas is 5-6 hours and I knew that the dealerships here wouldn't help me with a car I purchased elsewhere so I didn't want to take it over there if it was something we could fix ourselves.

All that matters now is that the engine will be taken apart by the local shop now.

geoh711

Here's the verdict ladies and gents

"On inspection of the engine, large pieces of thrust washers were found in the oil pan, along with a deposit of a fine metallic sediment. Additionally, the crankshaft was observed to have "walked" far enough for the body of the crankshaft to make severe contact with the cylinder block. See photos attached for reference. With the crankshaft seized in the block and unable to be rotated even with a large amount of force applied, it is clear that the crankshaft and the cylinder block are damaged beyond repair and are due to be replaced. Most likely since the engine has been driven ~100 miles since the engine first displayed signs of thrust bearing failure, metallic particles have circulated into the oil pump and have damaged it. The oil filter appears to have prevented the sediment from reaching the cylinder head. At the time of inspection, the damage caused by be thrust bearing failure does not seem to have affected the cylinder head or the transmission."


http://imgur.com/a/fQEeR

geoh711

Another update from the shop

http://imgur.com/a/xDGr4

He said there was absolutely no oil in there. Looks like I'm buying a new engine.

cleenyc99

check your states laws I know in NY you have 30 day lemon law. even tho there's really no way to predict something like that. sounds to me like the noise u where hearing was rod knock from loss of oil pressure for what ever reason. then your piston seized in the block from lack of lube. also if it was "certified" you have a good chance of getting them to pay at lest part of it. depending on how stand up the dealer is it might take a call from your lawyer.

cleenyc99

most dealers do an oil change before they sell a car if you have that in writing and there was no leaks you can fight that they didn't put the correct oil level in your car how else do you run your engine dry in less then 30 days. good luck man