drewen

Hello, looking for advice here. I drive a 2008 civic hybrid and I just hit 160k. Over the last six months whenever I hit the brakes the red brake light comes on..doesn't matter if I'm moving or parked..when moving I also get a lovely beep. I drive 1k miles a week and once in awhile (rarely) the amber brake system light comes on- it goes away if I turn the car off. My brakes are just not "right" either. I had a close call when the freeway came to a stop so decided to get it diagnosed.

First I found an acura mechanic that does side jobs and he diagnosed it as the brake power unit or the accumulator set. PN 57300-TR2-A01 or 57019-SNC-A02. However when I got the money together he declined to do the repair saying the bleeding procedure sucked. His Honda tech friend wanted no part of it either.

So off to the dealer. The code the dealer came up with was 61-01. They said it was the abs modulator 57110-snc-305 which they wanted 1200 part + 400 labor for. Ugh... So he works with me. I get the part from a dismantler on eBay for 75 bucks and take it to Honda this weekend. Doesn't fix it..they say the part is bad and i pay 400 and drive home with the eBay part installed. They want 300 more to put the original part back in..fair enough was a gamble on my part. I'm out 475 so far with the original part in my trunk.

I drive home and its exactly the same as before, can't even tell it was replaced. I'm biting the bullet and they are getting a new one Tuesday- labor will be 300 + I talked them down to 950 on the part. They say no way its the part the acura guy says and even think its worse with the eBay part which solidifies their diagnosis....it is the same...remember I drive 1k miles a week.

I ask what if the new part doesn't fix it and he avoids it saying it will.

So my questions are what part do you guys think is bad? And what is this guy going to do if it was misdiagnosed. I feel if it was misdiagnosed they owe me all the labor back...the 400 for the eBay part install + 300 for the new part install.

vtecnique69

I would get everything in writing from the dealer as to what is wrong and what WILL fix it before committing to repairs. Those ******** can be real snakey.

I have recently been taking my car to a small trustworthy independent shop for any major repairs. Find one people trust, go in and talk to them, and name drop who referred you. Nowadays the smaller shops are more interested in their reputations than making money. Dealerships are more worried about numbers and volume and don't care who they **** off because they make every excuse in the book as to why your car isn't fixed properly.

97emsedan

I agree with Vtechnique, get a good Honda shop to get you a written quote with everything needed and then see what can be done after that. Has your insurance company been told of this? They make gut have a policy available to help cover this. Road hazard or something.

drewen

So they got the new modulator in and I left it there to be installed. Turns out they decided to redo the diagnostics instead of install the new part which is odd but whatever. Now they are saying its the accumulator which is what the acura guy originally said he'd replace first. PN 57019-SNC-A02...they are paying for a rental so I'll find out tomorrow if this was the problem. Hopefully this helps someone else and I'll either try to eBay the original modulator or hold on to it lol.