Recently I took my 2000 Honda Civic in for a tune up which included replacing spark plugs, wires, distributer cap and rotor, clean out air intake, replace fuel filter, air filter, replace heater hoses, replace thermostat housing to intake, drain and fill transmission, replace front top motormount and replace right motor mount, replace front break pads, rotors and calipers, bleed brakes and replace back break shoes, clean backing plates and lube, air conditioner repair including replace compressor, drier, expansion valve, blow out lines and flush, replace o rings. three weeks after all this work was done my a/c started to “spit” (freon leak). Also car when idling in PARK would not shift to any gear and engine began to rev VERY high at the same time. Took car back to the mechanic and he said the spitting in a/c was due to needing to run my a/c with the circulator on. He didn’t mention or check freon. Also said my cylinoid was going out in the shifter and that he adjusted the idle. Basically I was in and out in less than 5 minutes, I am not kidding and he did nothing to FIX the problems. two weeks later a/c was blowing hot air and car was leaking oil on driveway. Took the car back in and they said two o rings were broken and refilled freon. Said oil pan was loose and tightened it. Now home a few days later and oil is still leaking. Yesterday I got stranded with my six month old daughter when the car was in park and engine began to rev very high, higher and higher, yet car was in PARK and would not shift to ANY gear. I killed the car a few times recranked a few times but still engine continued revving and would not shift. Finally it did shift into gear after I pumped gas a couple times while the car was off but I dont know if that had anything to do with why it started. Can you tell me why the engine revs so high and won’t shift into gear? Please help, I put my entire tax return of over $2,000 into this car to get it running good and now it is having problems it didn’t even have when I took it in to begin with and now I don’t have thed money to fix it or want them to just keep messing up my car.
How many miles on the car?? Two Grand sounds cheap for all that work today…Who did this work?
294,000 on the car. It is my only vehicle and ran fine when I took it in but I just wanted a tune up; when they did all this work they said it was good to drive ANYWHERE. Now I am afraid to drive it at all for fear that it is going to leave me stranded somewhere with my baby daughter. Car Doctor Hawkins, Texas did the work. You are not the first person to tell me sounds like I got a very good deal, but not sure I am getting very good skill; they have told me to bring it in again next week to see about the idle problem. Please let me know if you have any suggestions as to what could be causing the car to rev high (a/c on) while in PARK and will not shift to any gear so that I may suggest to them. Thanks.
Just take it back. It is very difficult to diagnose over the internet.
It may be minor. That being all said this car has live past its proverbial 9 lives. Don’t sink money into it.
You state that they adjusted the idle, that tells me that they don’t know what they are doing. There is no idle adjustment for this vehicle. There is an idle stop screw, but that is not an idle adjustment, and using it as such may be the source of some of your problems.
The throttle has to close enough for the TPS (throttle position sensor) to detect that your foot is off the gas. When that happens, the computer takes over the control of the idle through the IAC (idle air control). If the throttle stop screw has been turned up enough to act like an idle adjustment, then the TPS never detects that your foot is off the gas. If the “idle” was set when the engine was cold, the idle will be very high when the engine warms up.
If the AC is leaking freon, then it is also leaking the PAG oil that is in the system. When the AC is recharged, the PAG oil has to be replenished as well or your new compressor could be damaged.
If they did not use the correct transmission fluid, that would explain the shift problems. You used to be limited to using only the Honda Z1 fluid, but Castrol now has an ATF that will work in Honda’s and Toyota’s.
I hope this guy is not ripping you off. You said he replaced the A/C seals the first time. Then you had to go back for a dead A/C. He should not have had to do anything to the oil pan unless he caused a problem the first time, given the amount of work he did. It sounds like a stuck throttle cable or a bad return spring is your current issue. I wonder if he had to dismantle some of the engine to do the A/C work and did not get it right on the reassembly.
Thank you so much for this information. I think it will be very helpful. How can I go about finding the right mechanic to check all of this out for me. I don’t want to take it back to the original shop that did this work. I just am worried more damage could end up being done to my car than good quality work. I just don’t know how to find a really good, qualified mechanic to do this work. Any advice that could lead me in the right direction? I am in the Longview, Texas area. Thanks.
I have the same concern. I asked him why the a/c orings needed to be replaced again since he had just fixed the a/c and he said he didn’t know, just that they could have been damaged when he did it the first time. I also told him my floor board was very wet and he said that the drain hose had come loose. He checked for freon leak with some device he said was not very reliable and I said, “so I just need to wait and see if it starts making that spitting noise and blowing hot air again?” He said yes. That he could not guarantee was not still leaking. I have had a/c work done in the past and it was fixed. He it is like ‘pay us and hopefully it is fixed’. I originally only wanted a tune up and then they told me I needed to have all the other stuff done. I trusted them and told them to go ahead and fix everything. The a/c I wanted fixed because I live in Texas and summer is too hot to have my daughter in the car with no air. I have had a/c work done before that cost much more but he said he could do it for $600 so I told him to fix it. Ended up being $700. Also, this shop is claiming no correlation between the previous work they did and the problem I have now with the high revving idle, oil leak, and shifting problem. They said it is completely unrelated. Told me to bring it in to take a look at it again, but they just aren’t sure what could be wrong. I more than likely would be paying for them to fix a problem that I feel like is related. I don’t mind paying for something that has nothing to do with the original problem. But I didn’t have these issues to begin with and now after they have done this work I do so I just don’t know. I just want someone else to fix it all now, but I don’t know who to take it to. Also, one of the days (originally this work was done over 4 days) I have gone back twice since. But one of the original days while flushing the hoses to change the thermostat housing he had a big pan catching all the coolant from the radiator and at the same time smoke was billowing, I mean billowing out. I was a little distance away but it looked like it was coming from the radiator, (which was relatively new by the way only about a year old)- I asked what the smoke was from because it smoked for a good five minutes and they said flushing the hoses from replacing the thermostat housing; this what they told me but I was watching from the window in the waiting area and they had concern on their faces. Does that sound normal to you?
You could try the Mechanic-X file on the home page of this web site, but check with friends, relatives and co-workers too.