Why does a VSA system activate if I’m just backing out of my garage?
“would the cost of all that be on me or the repair shop who might have left the drain plug loose?” Jacinta2030
It’s YOUR car…YOU must be authorizing any work that is being done and YOU will be expected to pay for it…MAYBE you will recover these expenses but now it’s ON YOU…
Because the wheel rotation sensors sometimes get confused when you back up…The marriage of sophisticated electronics and nuts and bolts has not been a completely happy one…
read the fine print on the warranty paper. I’m sure it excludes most (expensive)items from what it covers
The warranty covers pretty major repairs from what I’m reading.
Engine including timing belt, front, rear 4wd axles, transmission, chassis, fuel system, computer & electronics (switches, sensors, SRS control unit & cable reel) fluids & oils as required to repair covered part, air conditioning/heating/cooling, audio electronic, navigational devices.
Pretty expensive items right?
It would appear that Honda and their dealer did not cause the problem. It would appear the oil change place did. Appearances are not always true, but I don’t see where you can blame Honda or the dealer. The warranty does not say, “We cover it is no one knows who is at fault.” The fact is the owner is the one who pays if it is not covered under warranty or it can be determined.
BTW was the last oil change done by one of those fast lube places? You want to stay far away from them.
Joseph,
No, the oil change was from an independent mechanic shop. they’ve worked on our cars for the last 8 years, its hard to find a good, trustworthy mechanic and these guys have never failed us. Its a shame what happened, I just want to understand the discrepancies. Thanks for your comments.
After reading the complete thread (and refraining from comment) I can make one about the OP. OP you are from a generation that seeks AND EXPECTS to find someone else responsible for your own screwups, plain and simple, no evasive language used.
What did the OP screw up?? The oil was checked on Jan 27 and it was fine.
There ARE INDEED some strange events going on here…
An oil drain plug that does not leak a drop since last November but suddenly starts leaking after Jan 27 and by Feb 8th, 70% of the oil has leaked out. Things like that do not happen very often, if EVER…But I suppose it’s not IMPOSSIBLE…A finger-tight plug COULD remain leak-free until it worked just a little bit looser and started leaking…
NOBODY checks their dipstick everyday and you should not condemn jacinta2030 because she failed to do so…
Since there are 4 parties jockeying for position here, ( the owner, the Honda dealer, the independent shop and the insurance company) the true circumstances have become so twisted as to be almost impossible to sort out.
One group believes the “Oil” light was not working…
Another believes it was working fine, but never came on because the oil pressure never dropped to zero…
Others have assumed it DID come on but jacinta2030 ignored it…
But NOBODY here knows what REALLY happened…
I agree with Caddyman that oldschool is being too harsh. oldschool, normally, you add something of value to the conversation. What were you trying to contribute here? What value have you added to this discussion?
Ok, I read the whole thread.
Does a low oil pressure light coming on set an engine code?
She listed the codes that they pulled and Civic Minded deciphered all the ones that he knew, but there were some proprietary codes? Would low oil pressure have set a code that you and I could decode? This would answer the question of low oil level causing intermittent oil starvation on cornering and stop and go traffic. The codes should be stored, right?
To answer Jacinta’s question about why would they put a low oil pressure sensor that would detect a low oil level in a car…It is a failure sensor. A friend of mine makes a good example. She unknowingly hit road debris that put a pinhole in her oil filter and was spraying oil out of the filter. If she had continued long enough on the highway, her oil level would have dropped to the point that would cause her (the car’s, I mean) oil pressure to drop to a point where the oil sending unit (the sensor) would detect low oil pressure and turn on the light on the dashboard (with the cool oil can pic). At that point, the driver is alerted so that the driver can scream and pull over to the side of the road and shut off the car therefore saving the engine (unless of course…it’s a Honda)…
The Universe is telling you to buy DOMESTIC
What I have add was what a person that is not involved with trying to push any type of agenda could add. I have read all the posts and I just boils do to there is no big brother out there to take care of you everytime. You can take you car in for service when needed, use all the correct products, drive nice, pay your bills, this is not going to buy you a “get out of jail free” card in regards to your car having a problem.
The very strong impression I get from the OP is that since they feel they did nothing wrong (and most likely they did not do any thing wrong) that there is some bank account in the sky that people who do all the right things have access too.
Some generations are so used to always having some one that will swoop down and make everything fine again they can’t accept that at times things line up where it is YOU that is going to have to pay as everybody in the line up is going to do THEIR level best to get out of paying and all other parties look like they will be sucessful in dodging this one.It’s time to accept that you are up against professional bullet dodgers and your case is very weak.
If I was the GM and there was a chance that I was going to have to honor a contract to repair an engine that has internal damage but when inspected my mechanic he reports back that it was severly low on oil I would use this fact whether it really was the cause of the problem or not to save the people who are writing my paycheck money. I have a way out of paying for this and I am going to use it, tough luck, you should not have let my mechanic discover your car was so low on oil. Perhaps you should have poored some used oil in the crankcase before inspection, no one would be able to point at a low oil problem then and you just may have been able to force me to pay up.
Do we know from what generation she is from??
Her Honda was probably made in the USA with American labor and American parts. Would you prefer she buy a GM vehicle made in Canada, or a Ford made in Mexico? What about a Chrysler made with more foreign parts than her Honda? Would that be domestic enough for you?
Besides, Honda hasn’t done anything wrong here.
I don’t think we do.
We certainly can make a list of observerd or stated behaviour and then use our life experiences to come to a conclusion as to what section of our society believes that you can transfer responsibility by paying for a service or paying for a system.
If you send your car that potentialy has internal engine damage (or even a lower level of potential problems) for both evaluation of the problem and determining who will pay for the yet to be discovered damage to the very person who may be required to pay for the repair this person will think they have won the lottery. They can now have the best chance to manipulate the inspection to get themselves off the hook.
If you do send your car to this person at least make sure that a no glaring or obvious situations exist that could easily be used for grounds to deny your claim.
Finally do not rely on either someone else (“the oil change people handle my oil issues, if my car has problems with the oil system take it up with them”) or a system (“I bought a car with a system that warns me about problems in the oil system, if I have an oil system issue and I did not get a warning then it is the responsibility of the person who made the system to fix my car, after all I did pay for the system”). This is not reality, you cannot pass on to others what you should be doing for yourself. Now what generation likes to do this today? You will probably find candidates in all generations, with some more densely populated (this is where I call upon you to use your life experiences Whitey).
why the need for oil level indicators, low oil pressure gauges etc.?
I haven’t read all the replies, so forgive me if I’m repeating what others have said.
Those gauges etc. are for redundancy. Something you would surely expect on a plane you’re flying in or a nuclear warhead you’re riding in a submarine with.
Cars have come a long way, but they still need more care and attention than a toaster.
At the very least you should be checking the oil level and tire pressure once a month.
One is essential to the health of the engine, the other the life of the driver and passengers.
I have two questions:
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After the car was taken in for inspection, was the oil amount measured after being drained? That would certainly be a simple way of knowing if the oil was low
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Was a sample set off to be analyzed? You stated “no metal shavings,” but was that simply visual inspection? Blackstone Labs is a known testing lab that many mechanics and enthusiasts use.
Without any specific documentation, you simply have several person’s opinion, which will not get you far in court. Your owner’s manual will tell you to check the oil level on a regular basis. That’s your responsibility as an owner. You’ve already admitted you didn’t do that. Arguing about a lack “visual clues” will get you nowhere. Again, you’ve admitted there was a puddle on the floor, but you missed it.
Catastrophic engine failure happens very quickly. The fact that you report no “burnt smelling oil” is not surprising. So unless you have documentation by either of the two methods mentioned above or some other CONCLUSIVE evidence of the cause, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. At this point I think the best you can hope for is that the independent shop that did the oil change will meet you halfway and do the repairs at a discount. I see nothing that would implicate Honda.
Thank you everyone for your replies.
Oldschool-if you offered any real mechanical insight your posts would deserve a response.
M3chef, when the car was first towed to Honda, they said it was bone dry. The service tech put some oil in the car to see if it would start. When it didn’t, they informed me it was a blown engine due to oil starvation (they checked the dipstick first thing I guess) and then told me whoever changed the oil last is responsible because of the drain plug. BUT-when the independent shop got the car, they said they drained 1.5 quarts out of it. When I called Honda back, the Tech swore up and down he drained it dry before sending to the shop. What do I do about that? I just pretty much chalked it up to “its irrelevant”…I’ll never know.
No metal shavings was from a visual inspection.
And AGAIN! I’m not asking how to stick it to Honda. I’m asking for mechanical advice from the questions in my post.
I had no other advice except from Honda and the independent shop. I needed help from others out there to tell me why the two places were contradicting themselves.
Please everyone, drop the blame game! FINE! I admit it was my fault for not checking my oil every other day. CAN WE GET ON WITH IT NOW!!
As of Sunday, the latest is that the independent shop will take it down to the bearings. Thank you to multiple responders who said that would be the only way to know for sure. Honda sure didn’t make that suggestion in the first place! I took the information you’ve given me in this discussion and forwarded it to the owner of the independent shop who is working on my car himself.
I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated with the diagnosis.