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I wish I could buy you all a beer or whatever drink!!
I got my car back yesterday!
UGGH!! I didn't read any responses before the indy shop did the work. They DID the transmission flush!
Followup
1. The indy shop now has a new customer and they offer a 3 year warranty!! They also explained how they did the compression test three times to try to duplicate the 50psi that the dealership found and again, the indy shop stated that all cylinders were over 200lbs.
2. When I got in my car, I noticed that when I turned the ignition, she did not start immediately. I took a video but I have to figure out how to post it. It wasn't a lengthy delay in starting but she never had a delay before (except when my battery died and my starter went out.)
3. She drives GREAT!!! Almost better to me and she is quieter at start and at idle.
4. I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE DEALERSHIP from the indy shop. It was only 2 miles away. I had a stern conversation with the Service advisor who really couldn't answer my questions but she appeared to be empathetic. I am to speaker to the service manager today!
5. I have uploaded some pics and a video of the startup. NBP04TL4ME - Sorry... not of me But I will take your advice and we both will treat ourselves this weekend
Future
All I am asking for is that she can last me another year or two. I plan to continue with the routine maint, do the timing belt, replace struts/shocks and she needs some new shoes in the future.
Questions
1. Should I take it back to see why the start is not immediate? Is this normal?
Video:
2. What gremlins should I expect with the tranny flush? Is there a remedy that I can apply now?
3. Anything I should mention to the service manager? Note: I had been going to this "former" dealership for the last 10+ years!! I will take previous poster advise and follow up with a letter but I am still PISSED!
Congrats but I would say the SA's are just mouthpieces for the techs and likely few if any understand what they are telling you and the SM might be the same boat. If you push for this sit down would go to service director and have the tech that performed the analysis sit in but personally this is just going to be a waste of your time IMHO.
I would say unless you paid a diagnostic fee and want that back or a portion then you have really no expectation of any recourse from them except an apology and from a dealer thats not worth much or my time to sit through the pain I would say to be happy with the result and move on.
Care to provide in PM the name of the Indy, Im in NoVa and might want to take advantage of a good solid shop at some point.
It may be a low battery. Sounds like it may have sat for a while during diagnostics or at the shop. A good charge should fix it or just pop in a new one. Take a long drive, enjoy the scenery, and come back to see if it does it again. Glad all's well that ends well..
The ignition seems to have an issue. It may just be the battery. But the gauges should not 'flash' as you crank. What I see looks to be typical low / dying battery.
Sometimes the battery gets drained while the car is serviced. So they may have just charged it a bit and it still needs full charging. Sometimes an event like that will kill an already failing battery. How old is the battery in the car? RL's eat batteries for snacks. I had 3 batteries in the 10 years I owned my RL. Did your NAVI reset (you had to unlock the NAVI) when you got it back? That is a sure sign the power was cut for some reason.
Since the ignition / start up was part of the original reason you took it to the mechanic, ask them why it cranks like that. If it is the battery, you may need to shell out more $ for a replacement. If the battery tests OK, they need to diagnose what the electrical issue is (bad alternator, or some power drain).
But once it turns over, your report that is idles & runs well is most of the battle.
I'm glad everything worked out for you OP. The starting issue as everyone already stated is most likely the battery. The Indy may have left your ignition on for quite some time while performing the service/repair and at first start up it cranks like that. It should be okay now, if not, a new battery is in order.
As for the stealership, I don't know what to say. Why not practice an honest business operation? That's why I avoid these stealerships like a plague. I just haven't found a good one around my area as of yet.
Pray for your transmission. The gremlins you fear are the ones of nightmares. Best of luck.
Maybe their definition of "flush" is different than most shops. If it isn't, it makes me seriously question their knowledge of Honda's. Anyone who has serviced enough Hondas in the past 20 years will know that you never use a machine to change the transmission fluid.
On my way into work this morning, I called them. And once again, this forum nailed it!!!
The indy tech said that between the three days sitting at the dealership and the two days being worked at the indy shop, the battery was disconnected for periods of time. At the time when I called them, I had only driven the car a max of 6 miles. He said that the longer I drive her, the more charge will occur or something like that.
To the poster who asked about my Navi...... the indy shop had to call the dealership to get my Navi code and they give him a bunch of shit and didn't want to give it to them... I think the dealership said, "you are taking business from us, why should we help you!" The indy tech replied "you had the business first. you lost the business. Either you can give it to me or I can call right back and talk to someone else and get it from them." Needless to say, she gave it to him.
oo7spy - I will have a conversation about the transmission flush with the indy shop. I said flush, they didn't. I believe their terms on the order is "Transmission Fluid Service". Again, I will confirm.
Dealership contact - I did pay a diag fee (more than the $119 quoted). I ended up paying around $260!!
On my way into work this morning, I called them. And once again, this forum nailed it!!!
The indy tech said that between the three days sitting at the dealership and the two days being worked at the indy shop, the battery was disconnected for periods of time. At the time when I called them, I had only driven the car a max of 6 miles. He said that the longer I drive her, the more charge will occur or something like that.
To the poster who asked about my Navi...... the indy shop had to call the dealership to get my Navi code and they give him a bunch of shit and didn't want to give it to them... I think the dealership said, "you are taking business from us, why should we help you!" The indy tech replied "you had the business first. you lost the business. Either you can give it to me or I can call right back and talk to someone else and get it from them." Needless to say, she gave it to him.
oo7spy - I will have a conversation about the transmission flush with the indy shop. I said flush, they didn't. I believe their terms on the order is "Transmission Fluid Service". Again, I will confirm.
Dealership contact - I did pay a diag fee (more than the $119 quoted). I ended up paying around $260!!
sorry for any typos....
Then I would pursue for some refund for misdiagnosis and hold out for an explanation and justification of their diagnosis.
I was reading this whole thread and the first thing I thought was how is it possible for your engine to have had such a catastrophic failure if it was always serviced on time at the dealer. This led me to the conclusion that many have concluded here which is that the dealer may have been engaging in shady practices to get money out of you.
I mean, how could there only have been two quarts of oil in the engine if you got an oil change in december?!?!? Then the spark plugs were loose?!!? I think they were taking advantage of your relationship with them and trying to get you to spend big money due to your loyalty.
I actually had the same hesitation/acceleration problem as you did as well as the slow starting, it was all fixed by replacing the battery. Good luck with the car and its great to use the forums as its probably the single greatest resource when dealing with car issues.
So sorry to keep this thread alive, but I wanted to respond to Misdeismo regarding my battery.
I agree, this forum has been GREAT and my car is running great too!!
I did have a residual issue with the extended/slow crank when I took my car home. I drove her for very long miles on Saturday, hoping the battery would charge. Unfortunately, that saturday evening, the start was the worse hesitation and I contacted the indy shop (after hours) and they told me if I can wait until Monday to bring it in or I can go to Advanced Auto (AA) to have them check the battery. I went for the latter.
Sure enough, my "Cold Crank Amps/CCA" (I am speaking the lingo now, LOL!) was in the 300s and per my acura 100-month warranty battery it states it should be 550. I called the dealership while at AA and asked when I had the battery replaced. He said Oct 2011 and that I would get 50% off a new battery but I would have to pay for labor.... so it would be somewhere around $120! I WAS NOT GOING BACK TO THAT DEALERSHIP!!! I just bought a 3 year warranty battery from AA plus I had a 20% coupon. So, the cost of the AA battery and with a nice tip to the battery installer, I paid less than the "warranty" battery from the dealership.
Now, she starts right up and she still has the acceleration I am used to! Fingers crossed that I can get another 50K out of her!!
Never flush a Honda transmission. Definitely insist on Honda DW-1 ATF for the transmission/front diff and Honda DPSF (or Dual Pump as they call it) for the rear differential. It will take right at 3.5 quarts for the transmission so have them fill, drive 500 miles & drain/refill, drive 500 more miles and then drain/refill again. By that point, you will have all of the old fluid out along with any varnish buildup in the tranny. You may also want them to change your gear oil in the transfer case, I use Mobil 1 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube LS, a quart will cost $11-12.
For the rear differential, use Acura AWD fluid or Honda DPSF, they are one and the same. The diff has 2 chambers that must be drained and filled from the rear. The combined fluid changed is around 3.5 quarts but one chamber is larger than the other, just like shy of 3 quarts in one and 0.7 in the other.
In short, go to the Honda dealer and buy 4 quarts of DW-1 ATF and 4 quarts of Honda DPSF & then go to Advance Auto to get the Mobil 1 gear oil. Take them to this indie shop and you should be good to go. BG products are good stuff but the only thing I'd ever use is BG44K twice a year as a fuel system cleaner. Good luck!
Pray for your transmission. The gremlins you fear are the ones of nightmares. Best of luck.
Maybe their definition of "flush" is different than most shops. If it isn't, it makes me seriously question their knowledge of Honda's. Anyone who has serviced enough Hondas in the past 20 years will know that you never use a machine to change the transmission fluid.
Not sure this is specific to only Hondas especially when mileage and age are up over 60k miles. I only do drain and refill/fluid exchange on any fluid in my vehicles.
I am only used to Honda's. My Tundra has a "Lifetime" sealed transmission. I know a lot of domestics can take the abuse of a flushing machine.
My imports (asian and european) all strongly suggest against the flush so I err on side of caution on my domestic as well especially since its over 100k miles.
Funny as I questioned a shop on their term "flush" (used for brakes, PS, coolant, Trans, diff (really the diff?)) and they didnt understand my concern with the term so I declined the service of course.
Sunday:
I received a call from the assistant Service Manager from the dealership wanting to know what exactly happened and how the indy shop came to their diagnosis. I tried my best to explain but he requested that I email him the indy shop's invoice. I did not email the invoice.
Monday:
The indy shop contacted me on Monday morning to ask how my car was doing with the battery issue (side note: all is still great with my car!!) During the convo, I explained that the dealership service manager wanted to know how the indy shop got their diagnosis. The indy shop guy said, have them call us. We will explain everything to them. I emailed the dealership with the indy shop's information and instructed them to contact and follow up with me once they had done so.
Tuesday:
The Dealership assistant service manager called me tonight and advised me that he talked with the indy shop service advisor about my car. The dealership ADMITTED that their tech misdiagnosed it. He said that their tech started down the right path but didn't do his due diligence (my words not his). The dealership service manager was very apologetic and reassured me that they were not trying to take advantage of me and that disciplinary action was forthcoming. I said that I appreciate the followup and this is definitely a learning opportunity. He refunded my diagnostic fee and said that if I ever decide to come back to the dealership, that they would take care of me. I am satisfied with their followup. I know that it could not have been easy for them to call a competitor and admit fault.
I can't say thank you enough to this forum. If it wasn't for you guys, I would have made a COSTLY mistake!!
The indy shop contacted me on Monday morning to ask how my car was doing with the battery issue (side note: all is still great with my car!!) During the convo, I explained that the dealership service manager wanted to know how the indy shop got their diagnosis. The indy shop guy said, have them call us. We will explain everything to them. I emailed the dealership with the indy shop's information and instructed them to contact and follow up with me once they had done so.
... The dealership ADMITTED that their tech misdiagnosed it. He said that their tech started down the right path but didn't do his due diligence (my words not his). The dealership service manager was very apologetic and reassured me that they were not trying to take advantage of me and that disciplinary action was forthcoming.
Glad to hear all is well with the RL. It does appear you have found a mechanic to continue service and repairs.
If the tech 'misdiagnosed' why would he need disciplinary action? Very telling. Move on. You and your RL deserve better.
02-19-2016, 08:11 AM
But I will take your advice and we both will treat ourselves this weekend 
