1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help
 

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and I'm having a serious problem with my Accord.

I owned a 1998 Accord LX for 6 years. Around the 65,000 miles mark, I noticed that the check engine light came on while I was driving. Freaking out, I drove carefully to my house and checked under the hood. It turned out that the engine has died. Very surprising to me, since I have done every required maintainence on this car, such as renewing engine oil and check-ups at certain mileges.

Right now, my car is at a Honda dealer (different place from where I bought) But they are saying it was a driver's neglect, and I am required to pay for the repair. I told them that wasn't acceptable, since I have done every maintainence any responsible car owner would do. I sent them all the documents and recipes on check-ups and changing engine oil for proof. Now they are telling me they'll charge me $1500 just to tear it down.

Needless to say, I was severly disappointed by their attitude. I kept on complaining to them, and even wrote a letter to the Honda President. So far, no progress has been made. I was very disappointed with their car's reliability, since that was the reason I bought Honda in the first place. But I am even more disappointed by their lack of service. Shouldn't engine be under unlimited warrenty? I've seen Honda cars that ran more than 100,000 miles and they had zero problems. Mine chocked out at 65,000 miles. This is completely unacceptable.

If anyone can give me any advice, it will be much appreciated.

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (solgae1784)
 

For sure the dealership is ripping you off. They're charging you $1500 for an engine rebuild! Bullshiat. What they should've done is check the engine trouble code and then let you know what the problem is. I'm sure that you don't need an engine rebuild. Please take your car to another auto repair shop immediatly.

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (Jgears)
 

be specific.. what do you mean the engine died??? did your spin a bearing?? throw a rod?? because you did get to drive home.

dealers are rip-off artists. i used to sell cars at a honda dealership.

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (Frankie324)
 

http://images.honda-tech.com/set1//smile/emcrook.gif Wow sounds like all the local Garages here to me . A friend of mine just wanted the tranny of his 97+ civic hatch Flushed or Looked at . Nope We cant help ya . We will not touch that. Even the HONDA DEALERSHIP here said Nope cant touch it. LOL stikes me odd that they dont even touch there own product . *scratches head* https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emwink.gif

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (Tennessee Lich)
 

No way in hell you did $1500 worth of damage and were still able to drive home. You can buy a completely new engine for less than that. I agree details would be nice, run an OBD2 scan while you're at it.

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (Schmitey)
 

I'm not sure what's wrong with the engine, but the engine oil got leaked everywhere. I found the engine oil leaked into the coolant and got mixed up with the contents. Nobody really knows what's the problem is yet. As for OBD2 scan, I'm not sure what are you talking about. Can you be more specific?

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (solgae1784)
 

I work at a dealership and can tell you that at my shop if you have a good service history with us we will go out of our way to help a customer in a situation like yours. But, when someone comes in that has never been in our shop before, or maybe has done a couple of oil changes at our shop we are not likely to do much.

I hear statements like this, "I have done every maintainence any responsible car owner would do". On a daily basis. Did you do your 30k, 45k and 60k services? I have people everyday that consider 90k miles worth of Jiffylube oil changes to be a great service history. If you did maintenance at a dealership, take it back to that dealership, they are much more likely to help you. You can also call Honda Consumer Relations at 1-800-999-1009. They may work something out for you.

But you also have to understand that everyday I have some car come in that an independent shop or one of the quickie chains screwed something up on. If I've never seen this car before I am very unlikely to pull money out of my pocket to try to help them. These are the customers that only come to the dealership when no one else can figure it out or they feel that Honda owes them a free meal.

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (under advisement)
 

Yes, I have done the 30k, 45k, 60k services. Not just oil changes. I've done everything that is required.

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (solgae1784)
 

http://www.alldata.com - search thru the TSB/Recall problem list for your exact car.

i'd also google "1998 honda accord engine failure"

there's another federal agency with call leter NSTHA or something that is the federal equivalent of a Car Quality watchdog. They wouldn've investigated things like the Ford explorer rollover problem, etc. Google them/it/the concept

good luck

Re: 1998 Accord LX Problems!! Dealer won't help (solgae1784)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solgae1784 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yes, I have done the 30k, 45k, 60k services. Not just oil changes. I've done everything that is required.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Call Honda customer service and be firm with them 9/10 times they'll do the right thing.