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Comments
I've met a number of people who've taken their cars to Jiffy Lube and have driven off with the wrong filter installed or with too much or not enough oil replaced, etc. I remember a special on 20/20 where they showed people with BMW's and Mercedes Benz's that had the filters left off completely or even no oil put back in after draining the old stuff out! Sure, Jiffy Lube would pay for the repairs but do you really wanna go through all of that hassle?
Honda built and designed the car...they are the experts when it comes to maintaining or repairing it.
Just my opinion...don't mean to offend anyone!
Yeah I cringe at the thought of having some minimum wage, half trained and totally uninterested kid working in a quick change franchise, change the oil in my Honda. Stripped threads, wrong filter, too much/not enough oil and then what about those people who have their Honda ATF changed-they are totally hosed cause these places do not carry Honda ATF. On two occasions have asked these people of they change ATF in Honda's - answer was yes - and of course our fluid will work just swell in your Honda.
SCAREY
Be careful out there
Thanks.
Took it to the dealer and was told I had "bad" transmission fluid (car had @25,000 miles). Charged me $60, but there was no improvement.
Brought it back to dealer and they said I needed new shift solenoids (done under warranty).
This didn't fix the problem either, so the dealer ordered a new transmission and gave me the car back. While waiting for the new trans (about 2 weeks) things went downhill quickly: would not upshift into 3rd or 4th, seemed to be stuck in 2nd gear, would intermittently drop out of gear completely, green ring around D4 on the instrument panel blinking incessantly... not safe to drive, so I crawled over to the dealer and left it there till the new trans arrived.
Bottom line, it is only going to get worse. Get the dealer to order you a new trans ASAP.
To remove:
Disconnect both battery terminals, negative first.
Disconnect the large cable from the starter motor; label and disconnect the wiring to the starter solenoid. Certain engine/transmission combinations have an engine harness secured in a clip on the starter or transaxle. Remove the harness from the clip and position it out of the way.
Remove the starter motor by loosening the attaching bolts.
To install:
To install, reverse the removal procedures. Tighten the starter-to-engine bolts to 47 ft. lbs. (64 Nm) on the Accord V-6 and 32 ft. lbs. (45 Nm) on other models.
Connect the wiring to the starter securely.
Connect the battery cables, positive cable first.
I have to admit though, it is tempting sometimes to stop at a Jiffy Lube place. They're cheap, convenient, have better hours than a dealer...but I just don't want to take the risk and have to go through all the hassle if they mess it up and something really gets damaged. Insurance companies, lawyers, phone calls...forget it. This 20/20 episode showed a Mercedes where the oil shop had managed to drop a loose screw into the crank case (and then resealed the case before the guy drove off). It caused over $7,000 worth of damage to the engine!
You pay more for service at a Honda dealership, but I look at it as a form of insurance. I let them do all the service and factory recommended maintenance, and if my transmission or engine dies at 99,000 miles...guess what? I did my part under the terms of the extended warranty and they gotta fix it.
Honda dealer charges $26 and changes (tax included). Jiffy charges $30+.
So $750 is a good price. At 130k miles if you haven't replaced the timing belt yet, it's better to do it now too.
This will happen on ANY make or model and not just a Honda.
And, I agree, the price sounds fair. Unless your timing belt is almost new I would have them change it while it's apart.
if you bought it used, i'd suggest not to be so quick to decide never to buy a honda, since previous owner(s) may have abused the car....
on the other hand, if you bought it new, getting 130,000 miles on the car isn't all that bad-- but i can at least understand better any ill will if you were the only driver of the car and knew you hadn't abused it..
am i nuts?
$750 is a fair price to mill heads but this is a very tricky repair job with few getting any success at all-once warped - head(s) are tough to get right again. This job IMHO is way beyond most gas station mechanics-just torquing the heads back is not simple-bet they don't even have a shop manual-would not let them touch it.
I know there were discussions on this-what was the verdict.
Her model is 04 EX-L 4CYCL SEDAN.
However, I think you can get the job done for less. Call a couple of other shops and just tell them what you want done and see what price they give you. Ask about replacing pads and resurfacing rotors.
The reason I suggest finding a better price is because this is a pretty simple job. Even ask around amongst friends and co-workers about a privately owned shop that does reputable work at fair prices.
But the Accord's filter is impossible to remove unless you have the jack and stand so I've all but given up on doing it myself. I have a conspiracy theory that Honda deliberately designed their engines like this to discourage people from doing their own oil changes (that way their service departments make more money)!
Is there anything I should watch out for (gas under pressure, breaking the hoses, etc.)?
I don't have the service manual for the 89 Accord LXi.
It looks simple to replace it.
The dealer charges ~60 bucks ($20 for the filter).
I know I can get 14 bucks on line.
Thanks.
What is your coolant guage reading?
How long since coolant has been changed?
Maybe the radiator is clogged and needs cleaning.
Maybe water pump is failing.
The cooling system is made up of many different parts & one weak one can upset the system.
Good luck
I need a lift and a stand to replace the oil filter. I have a stand, but no lift. A jack won't cut it.
The local shop I brought it to fixed it for $400. There was a TSB about the problem I was having that exactly described it and said how to fix it. The little shop had the TSB and the GM dealer didn't (or didn't care).
Definetly shop around. Even if you had to tow the car to another shop it would probably end up being worth it.
no problem yet. The leak is about 1 qts, so it's not empty. Although this summer I had both a/c and radiator fans failed one after another and the thing was overheating a few times.
How long since coolant has been changed?
just changed this summer. And I am putting in qt by qt lately
Maybe the radiator is clogged and needs cleaning.
- I actually flushed with distilled water before refilling the radiator this summer.
Maybe water pump is failing.
- well, it's due for 3rd timing belt at ~295 k miles. But how can I know for sure? How much worse can it get if it is indeed the water pump? Despite the mileage, the engine does not feel old at all. On the other hand, I have at least $1500 repair to do - timing belt/water pump, crack winshield, failing speedometer, and tires. Just not sure what to do with it this point. I really like to have it get over this winter.
The cooling system is made up of many different parts & one weak one can upset the system.
The other possibility, since the engine overheated a time or two, is that you have a leak in a head gasket and are getting some compression blow-by from the cylinders into the cooling system. Any good repair shop can check this by pressurizing the cylinders and watching for bubbles in the radiator. Good luck, but it may be time to replace the whole car.