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Comments
Honda fixed the first two times on thier dime. I will contact on monday to see what they say. I live in Mesa (phoenix) Arizona. I will check back.
My wife has a 2002 CRV LX, it has only 48,000 miles, and last week the car started to do a noise, I checked the car and the A/C was not working. I took the car to a mechanic and he told me that the compresor was lock up, he want $1,000 for a refurbished one. After reading some of the postings seems to me that the same problem happened to many people, I will go directly with Honda Corporation to see if they can help me with this issue.
Meanwhile I will take the car to the dealer for the repair.
Here in North Carolina is about 95 Degrees, it is brutal to have the kids in the car with no AC.
JP :sick:
Thanks guys you saved me a bundle!
My VIN starts with "J".
My stats 2003 Honda CR-V - 44K miles.
I made sure I told the folks at American Honda this was my 3rd Honda.
The American Honda number I called was 800-999-1009
The dealer gave me an estimate of $1885.00 to replace just about everything. The service person stated that any time a compressor locks up you need replace just about everything, including hoses and clutch, etc.
The dealer, located in PA, stated that they would call Honda headquarters tomorrow morning and see if they could do anything for me. I mentioned that I bought the car less than a year ago and that I have a letter stating the non-power train items are covered till 5/2007 or 48,000 miles. I faxed the dealer the warranty letter. My CR-V has 45,000 miles.
This has been a big aggravation, considering my wife was to leave for a vacation with her mother & sister on Wednesday.
I will hopefully hear good news tomorrow. I'll keep everyone points.
My VIN # starts with a J
Ken
Man, $1200 for just compressor replacement is kind of high.
Honda recommends to replace everything due to contamination.
Good on Honda's part to pay for the non-dealer repair.
I talked to Honda Corp yesterday and they gave me a case #, then I took today the car to the dealer in Raleigh, they repair the whole system including hoses in no time, they also said that normally it would cost $ 3,000, but it cost me only $50, for the diagnostic.
Thanks to Honda, they really are doing the right thing.
my vin starts with J
I would not hesitate to buy another Honda car (Odissey) next year.
JP
The aggravating part is it'll take till Friday to get all the parts needed to make the repair.
I was told they would loan me a car from Enterprise Rental for 2 days and that anything beyond that would be my expense.
just got the call that Honda was replacing my AC system free of charge, even though I have 67,000 miles and no extended warranty. Any company can design a defective part, few will stand up and do the right thing. Thank you Honda! And thanks to those who took the time to post here, as you cot me on the right track.
Stephen Cutter Mesa, AZ
I contacted Classic Honda in Round Rock Tx. The Service Manager acknowledged the problem right away. TheY contacted the Honda District Manager to see what could be done. Honda agreed to pay for parts but not labor. This left me with a $410 bill. I was told that they amount Honda would cover was based on the condition of the vehicle and if you were a "loyal" customer.
I told the dealer that any costs on may part to replace a defective part was not acceptable. They offered to cover all but $200 of the repair costs. Since they had my car and I needed it back, I agreed.
I am now working with Honda for reimbursement of the $200.
I'll be back to give an update. :mad:
With the current heatwave and more hot days ahead I am concerned for more Honda CR-V drivers. Our Honda is a 2001 model with 49K miles.
Thanks, Joe
Honda paying for the repair at full cost and doing it so quickly has made me a Honda owner for life.
You should not have to wait for service manager to return, but he may have best relation with Honda National. If you have any doubt about driving you should contact your dealer for OK.
Best to you.
It will work out OK. Just got my CRV back yesterday. No charge replacement.
In addition, your assumption is correct. The dealership's advice is to wait for the Service Manager's return since he has the best rapport with American Honda.
Lastly, thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences. I am trying to not become overly optimistic that American Honda will pay for a vast majority of the repairs, however, it is difficult not to be after reading your various posts.
Best of Luck to all!
Joe
I just bought a 2002 Honda CRV with no extended warranty two months ago from a dealership. The other day my AC stopped working and started to make grinding noises. I took my car to a local mechanic and was told the the AC compressor failed and needs to be replaced. The cost is $1227. By chance, I came across this forum and called the Honda dealership and asked about the "unofficial" extended warranty on AC compressors. He advised that he has heard of no such thing but will do a diagnostic and contact Honda Corp. to see if they will provide financial assistance. The dealership advised that depending on the problem Honda Corp. could opt to take care of 25%-50% of the cost or none at all. He also mentioned something about the "goodwill warranty". There are 71k miles on the car and the dealership said it probably wouldn't have been much of problem to receive financial assistance if the car only had 40k miles on it. This whole ordeal is so fustrating!!
I'll be back to give an update.
July 20, 2006
I took my CRV in last night to Elk Grove Honda. The dealership is charging $150 for a diagnostic. I have since received three calls from Dean at Elk Grove Honda regarding my situation. The first call consisted of Dean advising that the AC compressor has failed. The local mechanic I took my car to previous to the dealership already advised me of such. Dean is currently working with Honda Corp. to get my compressor replaced but he is making no promises. He asked what I would like done and of course I explained I wanted the AC fixed FREE of charge. He said that he could maybe get $1000 paid for which only covers parts.
UPDATE!
GOOD NEWS! I just received my fourth call from Dean at Elk Grove Honda and they will be taking care of EVERYTHING! Thanks to this forum I've saved $1700! Not only have I saved the $$ for the replacement they'll also have my car ready for me by 6pm tonight. That's what I call fast service! THANK YOU ELK GROVE HONDA!
Good luck to everyone else! I believe Honda is aware of this problem and will do the right thing.
JMCELEBRADO
Sacramento, CA
I have a 97 CRV and the AC isn't cool enough at this summer. So I added some refrigerant. But it seems overcharged now. The AC pressure switch is working now and compressor keeps start/stop. So is there any suggestion? How can I let the pressure go? Should I have to go to dealer to fix?
Thanks a lot!
Jack
Of course your service manager is going to confirm there are not many problems with the A/C. Whey would he tell you any differently. My service manager admitted there are many problems after I pushed the issue. Maybe should re-visit your dealer.
Just found this site after finding out that our '04 CRV (36,000mi) needed a new compressor, and being absolutely astonished.
We're in MA, and bought it in Aug of '04, so we didn't even make it through 2 summers....and we don't even use AC all that much, only on long highway drives and days when it's over 90.
We're a 3 time Honda family, and love them. I think Hondas are great, it's just that every dealer is different, some are going to be snakes no matter what brand of car they sell!
We had ours in last week and they said it needed to be recharged, so they did that and charged us. After 2 days it crapped out again, and now they're telling us it's the compressor, and offering $50 off the labor + cost of the part. After reading all this...I think it's time to renegotiate...plus get our $ back for the worthless AC service last week (when they should have caught it...since I'm sure they're aware of the problem by now).
Bottom line: If Honda corporate does not want to issue a service bulletin on this, they need to at least come clean and inform all their dealers to stop trying to haggle on the repair, which wastes everyone's time going back and forth on the phone and then having to submit a claim to Honda directly.
They should just set a reimbursement cost, tell the dealers to deal with it, and quit nickel and diming everyone on an individual basis.
The "loyal customer warranty" or whatever they want to call it, is simply a way for the company to make good on an obviously problematic part, without admitting direct liability for a defective product.
I am glad I check this thread before I order the parts. I was going to have a friend of mine who is a mechanics to replace it for me. I just called the dealer that usually does more maintenance. They asked me to bring the car in tomorrow.
BTW, my automatic transmission also died about 2 years ago at 37k miles. It was pretty scary when it died. It just stalled all of a sudden (fortunately there was no cars behind me). Then, it stuck in 2nd gear. The dealer called Honda corporate, and they fixed the transmission at no charge in "goodwill". I will see whether they would do it this time around.
Hundreds of thousands of CR-Vs have been sold. There will be problems.
Funny how people with the 1G are also posting about AC problems (on at minimum a five year old vehicle). So is the problem with the 1G compressor? the 2G compressor? both? neither?
Again, it seems like Honda is addressing the situation. Not sure what else people want.
I think what people want, is for Honda Corporate to take responsibility in a proactive manner, and not make all the consumers jump through the hoops that the local dealers present in order to fix something that obviously needs fixing.
Wouldn't it be great to just have the dealer say "oh yeah, we're aware of that - no problem", instead of having to research it online and "confront" the dealers with this info and have those awfully awkward converstations on the phone with the service managers? I certainly think so.
ON another note....does anyone know if a bad compressor would cause the AC to need to be recharged sooner than normal? Last week they told us it needed a recharge...which I ALSO think after 2yrs is a bit soon on a car w/ minimal AC use in New England.
My theory is that the bad compressor caused the system to need a recharge sooner than normal, and so by charging us for that, we were getting charged for what was essentially a symptom of the overall problem - therefore this money should at least be refunded or credited toward the overall repair (if we can't get them to reimburse us 100%).
I am not an apologist for any industry. I understand that these are complicated machines and things go wrong.
Bottom line you need to ask them for assistance in the repair or at least some reimbursement for the repair (if its already been done). I don't belive they are going to offer this. Also keep in mind that the person you first talk to is only taking information. They will turn this over to a district person who actively gets involved with your case and calls you back in a day or two.
I'd make the call again.
Jack
I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say there. Are you saying that people should expect their cars to start falling apart after 5yrs?
This is part of the problem, people have been conditioned that when it comes to cars, you shouldn't expect much for your $20,000...we're just conditioned to think "it's a car...things fall apart."
Either way, I've read this entire thread, and I seem to see just as many people with CRVs that are less than 5yrs old having this problem as those with CRVs more than 5yrs old, so I think it's a moot point.
Again, my CRV is only turning 2yrs old next month, so I think that even with 35,000 miles on it, I have every right to have a reasonable expectation that a major part in the car isn't going to implode the day after the warranty runs out.
UPDATE: We took the hard line w/ the dealer, saying, "we've done the research, and it appears you guys are having problems with this part. We're going to either get Honda Corporate to take accountability, or you guys can just save everyone a lot of time and effort by helping us out now."
He then tells us he'll have to check with someone on the West Coast.
20min later, he calls back to say it will be fixed free of charge.
It was a good day!
Hope many of you can report similar testimonials.
Joe in KC
Actually yes. Cars start "falling apart" the day they are driven off the lot. It is a machine that has tremendous wear and tear put on it every minute. Do you think nothing should happen?
This is part of the problem, people have been conditioned that when it comes to cars, you shouldn't expect much for your $20,000...we're just conditioned to think "it's a car...things fall apart."
So the purchaser of a $20000 vehicle should get five years of free parts replacement? What about the purchaser of a $40000 vehicle? 10 years? I think that's why they have warranties.
You vehicle was driven ~48% more distance in it's two year life than the national average. You had a part go bad while still in warranty and it is being replaced (even though you took the "hard line"---not usually the best way to get something that the corporation has been doing gratis). Not sure what else you are seeking.
First: I never said the car was under warranty. In my original post, I mentioned that it would cost us more than 1,000 to fix it, which I think should imply that it's not going to be covered under a warranty.
So the purchaser of a $20000 vehicle should get five years of free parts replacement? What about the purchaser of a $40000 vehicle? 10 years? I think that's why they have warranties.
Second: No, this is not what I'm saying...what I'm actually saying is that people have come to expect that their cars are going to fall apart and they'll just have to deal...which in my opinion, has provided an "out" to car companies, who can use this mentality to skate on issues like these and ultimately produce a car that runs, but is filled with shoddy secondary features...like bad AC compressors, shoddy window motors, flimsy switches and buttons, etc.
Example, if you spent $20,000 install central AC in your home, and used it 10-20 days in the span of 2 years, and then the compressor blew, you'd be pretty pissed. And you'd sure as hell call up the contractor and get his butt out to your house to fix it, and you'd ask him why on earth it failed after a couple dozen uses.
But the way it works with cars, it seems, is that car manufacturers get a free pass, because the general public has convinced itself that just because the car itself is moving around a lot, that a relatively simplistic technology (like an AC compressor, CD player, or window motor) should be "expected" to crap out much sooner.
Does the fact that my electric window motors on my old Ford all went in the same 2 yr period? Even though I hardly ever used the back windows? Does the fact that the car is driving have anything to do with how those motors operate?
Does the fact that in another car I only got 30,000 miles out of my first stereo, and 35,000 out of the one they replaced under warranty, have anything to do with the fact that the car is a moving object?
My point is that I could drive my car 500% over the national average, but it shouldn't have any impact on how soon the AC compressor goes out. What matters is how much you "drive" the AC itself.
BTW: I work with stats for a living, and I'll tell you right now...you can say anything with statistics. I'd be willing to bet that this national average for driving distance in a year is severely skewed on the low side, by two things:
1. The extensive number of people living in metropolitan areas who may own cars, but who don't need to actually drive them every day.
2. The number of people who don't have to go to far to work...say, under 20miles...but need to have their car actually turned on for more than an hour to do it because of gridlock.
I hear what you are saying and in a perfect world your example would be what happens but I have never experienced what you describe. So if you know an HVAC person in the Chicago area who will guarantee their work for years please post.
2002 CRV 39,000 miles
anyways,here's an update of what happened. after 20 minutes of posting a message here, we got a call from the dealership in california that Honda corporate was paying for the parts but we are reponsible for the labor--that is 1300. my husband told them that we will think about it.
since we had a case number from honda corporate, he immediately called the corporate office and asked them have about any decision made with our pending case. He was told Valley Hi Honda dealership was informed that everything will be covered. My husband then told him that we got a call from them telling us to pay for the 1300.00 for labor. Customer rep from corporate told him apparently they did not understand what was communicated to them and said not to worry he will call them again. 30 minutes after, dealership calls and informs us that there was a miscommunication and we will get it fixed free of charge -- so called "goodwill warranty."
Since then our Honda CRV had been fixed, with 110 weather here, that's a blessing.
I had a call from honda corporate today and asked me if everything went well. I thanked them for giving us "goodwill warranty." Told him it was our 3rd honda car, but it's a 2004 honda crv, really just 2 1/2 years, out of warranty at 44,000 miles but honda cars should not start breaking down in 2 1/2 years, of which he agreed.
I'm still driving my first honda - a 1994 civic. I do thank Honda corporate for their help, but i wasn't happy with the dealership for trying to sneak up on us.
Also we had to pay for $85.00 diagnostic. I asked Mike from Honda corporate if it was part of the "goodwill warranty," and he said unfortunately since we already paid for it, that it is up to the dealership to decide if we will get anything back from them or not. My guess, probably not.
We also asked the dealership about warranty on the ac compressor and nobody knows, we have to wait for the service manager who is on vacation to let us know. I hope it does not happen again since i've read from some messages that they've had to get it fixed again for the 2nd or 3rd time.
Again, thank you Honda. I will still buy Honda but maybe avoid going to this dealer.