My civic's engine blew up Part 2

[Bob san]

hi guys
you might remember my thread here a couple of months ago about my engine blowing up. well 3 months has passed and alot has happened since then.
my car is still off the road and i have been back and forth with honda for the past 3 months. My cars has a fujita CAI and a xforce catback.

To those who don't know my story, here is a quick recap: (its a long thread but worth a read)

The incident in which the engine blew happened on the 21st of January 2008 at about 2.30pm. A friend of mine had come over to my house and we had wanted to drive to the local cinema at the glen to watch a movie. I had gotten into the car and started it up normally and my friend was sitting right beside me in the passenger seat. The car was parked outside my house. I started driving the car normally. I then turned onto the main road. Driving normally at 3000rpm and doing 60km on an 80km road suddenly i heard a huge knocking noise. This had happened literally 2mins away from my house.

The vehicle has been service at * on the 1000km service (20/5/06), 10,000km service at (27/2/07). However the 20.000km service was not serviced at a Honda but by an independent mechanic on 13/9/07. The mechanic was * and he is a trusted mechanic and a long time family friend of ours. He services all he’s vehicles with genuine Honda oil.

I have taken the car back to the Honda dealership and they have had their mechanics from Honda HQ to access the vehicle. Honda claims the engine damage was caused by driver fault or excessive revving etc. I have requested a report on the engine and both the dealership and Honda HQ have refused to hand it over. Honda has failed to give me a proper explanation and have said they will not cover this under warranty.

now the irony of this is this happend a week before i was getting my full licease. and vic roads sended me a letter saying i qualified for the 'arrive alive' program givin me a 25% discount of my full licease as i have no traffic offenses and my dermit points are intact.

now i am not angry about they won't cover my engine, but angry at how they have showed me a lack of service and professionalism. if u want to know why read on.

i have also attached the engine damaged pics below.







*bennjamin edit pm for details

[Felix]

now i am not angry about they won't cover my engine,

Why bloody not?? I would be.

Mate have you spoken to a solicitor? I suggest you do quickly, most will give you a quick chat free of charge, and then charge once they begin formal work.

[milkman]

No. Consumer Affairs.

[90LAN]

a current affair / today tonight

[Bob san]

now i have contacted both a solicitor and consumer affairs. let me tell you how helpful consumer affairs is.

the person who took the case rang me up and said 'why didn't u just put a second hand engine in?'. he tell further when on claiming i have revved the car till it blew up and my case was not going to be in my favour. the person was an older fellow and his tone was very cocky.

back in febuary honda constanly harassed me to tow my car back. they had even threathen to charge me $25 a day just for my car being there. this was resolved after my solicitor gave them a ring.

now earlier this month i recieved a letter from honda claiming they will tow my car into storage as my car has been there since late january. i had gotten my solicitor to wrtie them a letter saying this case is now under consumer affairs and they have no right to remove my car without my permission and the car will not be moved until this matter was resolved.

a week later i rang them to confirm with honda and guess what? they towed my car knowing my solicitor had sended them a letter. and the best part is they didn't even tell me the address on where the car was even going.

i have towed the car back since after my lawyer asked them for the address and now there are more scratches on my car then u can get on a scratches ticket. also i had to pay them $420 for their diagnoises of the engine, which they only removed the sump...

[spetz]

I really hope this goes well for you. Make sure you keep us posted on results. It's seems ridiculous that they can just void warranty by saying it's your fault

[Jess]

ARRRRRGHHHH!! I AM SO ANGRY FOR YOU!!!!!

I bought my (used) car from EASTERN HONDA in December last year and experienced the same level of 'service' when my tranny crunched into third gear.



CONSUMER AFFAIR THEIR ASSES.

It took them two months to say they would fix my car AFTER trying to say it was my fault and that they weren't liable for repairs!

"Synchros are a consumable item. Not covered."

STATUTORY ****ING WARRANTY. I was professionally advised that even CLUTCHES are obliged to be replaced under this legislation.

Used car?

You'd be covered if your car is:
a) less than ten years old
b) driven less than 160,000 km
c) driven less than 5,000km since you bought it from them
d) purchased from them no more than 3 months ago

If you are, you might want to have a look at sections 54 and 55 of the Motor Car Traders Act 1986.

Call and speak to the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce - (03) 9829 1111.
They should be able to help you out as Eastern Honda are a member of the VACC. I spoke with John Caine and was is quite helpful.

Both John and the lady at Consumer Affairs Victoria - 1800 55 81 81 advised me to write a letter of notification/request for assessment/repair with a time frame in which for them to respond before you took it further.

But it seems they have already told you to bugger off.

Try your best to get all that information. You may need to take your car to a reputable mechanic to get checked out yourself.

Keep a log of any conversations you've had with anyone and any progress you've made - it will be extremely useful if you ever get to lodging a complaint with CAV.

The used car manager there isn't the greatest person to talk to.. but neither was the general manager.

If they keep stuffing you around, which it seems they have, escalate it as far as you can. Try and get a hold of the principal (Tony Jowett), but I suspect you may end up speaking with the general manager (Adrian Parsons).

I hope this information has been of some assistance. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. GOOD LUCK.


I can't believe they won excellence awards! Their after sales care is HORRENDOUS.

[Bob san]

thanks for the advice jess, but i have spoken to honda HQ directly and it has gone nowhere.

I spoke to the customer relations department manager at honda HQ and his tone and response was incredibaly rude and unhelpful. not only did they not tell me the extact reason for not covering my damages but he had accused me of lying and making stuff up. it was like talking to a ignorant child who was covering his hears and going waa waa waa.

mate i must have been to over a dozen different workshops and none of them wanna help me out. i don't blame them as who would wanna make an enemy outa honda?

now 3 months have passed and i am almost outta pocket. i am left with nothing but bad memories of honda.

[LD_Mart]

i feel sorry for you but the warranty clearly states

*Any vehicle used for competition, racing or record attempts or equipped with performance enhancing components

i feel annoyed for you and i would be pissed off if i was you aswell but when you install a CAI and Exhaust system spose you are taking that risk

[Shimian]

how much is a brand new engine? At this rate, you might as well just buy a new one if its a few grand rather than go through this crap.

[Bob san]

how much is a brand new engine? At this rate, you might as well just buy a new one if its a few grand rather than go through this crap.

on the spot there mate. now honda has quoted me 11g to fix the engine. yes $11,000 to fix a R18a engine hmm thats more then half the car's value

just a word of warning for new FD owners. if u even as to change the battery or what ever and u run into car trouble honda is gona use any excuse they can find not to pay for you.

and as for the so called 'warranty' well lets not go there... of course u can go argue with them in court but for me its already be 3 months and im just so sick of all their excuses now

[musers]

sigh sorry to hear all this, hope it's all better for you