jelyman

Hey folks,

So a while back I posted about my LBJs going out and had them fixed in May. It's now November, roughly 6 months and 12K miles later and the dealer I took my car into today for regular maintenance said:

"LF LOWER BALL JOINT BOOT COMPLETELY TORN. AFTERMARKET LOWER BALL JOINS INSTALLED ON CAR PRIOR TO SERVICE. RECOMMEND REPLACE LF STEERING KNUCKLE, LF LOWER BALL JOINT, LF WHEEL BEARING" (caps theirs)

This has me concerned. The primary problem here is that I believe I'm ever so slightly out of the 12k warranty for repairs and the repair certainly wasn't aftermarket. When I told them another dealer did it, they seem surprised and made some calls. They confirmed my story but claimed there's nothing to be done. Unless I schedule a repair and pay for it (or have my warranty pay for it, again).

My questions to the community: do I have any sort of recourse here? If the work wasn't done correctly, why should the warranty matter? If the tech today couldn't identify the parts as being OEM, shouldn't that be a huge red flag?

I could just pawn this off on my warranty and pay the $100 deductible and be on my way, but I don't really want to if the work wasn't done right.

What are everyone's thoughts? Should I just suck it up?

InTheZoneAC

iTrader: (11)

I would take it back to where it was fixed and have them fix it for free. If the car is stock, those replacements should have a lifetime warranty. There is absolutely no reason for a ball joint boot to be torn anywhere under 100,000 miles unless the car is slammed and alignment not set.

As for the steering knuckle and wheel bearing, how old is this vehicle? A steering knuckle is NEVER bad unless you got into an accident that bent it somehow

And to test the wheel bearing jack the car up on that corner they say is bad, assuming drivers side front wheel, put it on a stand so the car rests on the stand with the entire wheel off the ground. Try to take a hand on each side and top and bottom and wiggle it. The wheel should feel solid and move with the knuckle. You can compare to the passenger side to verify how it should feel.

I had a shady shop try to charge me for a new knuckle and control arm and the only issue was a bad upper ball joint. Hope that place burns down along with any other crooked company.

Wheel bearings hardly go bad soon, you might have to replace both at some point if the car has around 150k+ miles or sooner if you like to hit every pothole and speed bump at high speeds with under-inflated tires...

And how does he know they're aftermarket ball joints? Can he specify or have a picture of parts laying around where it's stamped/embed somewhere on the ball joint to say it's oem or aftermarket?

jelyman

It's a 2008 Accord EX-L V6. Alignment is perfect. Only ever had the issue I linked with the joints. Also never been in an accident. I know what it being bent feels like, I did that once with another car. It's obvious.

After working with the original dealer for just a few months, it wouldn't be surprising if they ended up using non-OEM parts.

I had the LBJ replaced at 122K miles.

They said the right one was just fine.

American Honda Corporate told me to go back to the original dealer and have them address it. If they can prove it's OEM, have them check it again. They said if another dealer couldn't identify the parts as being OEM or being Honda service, there's a problem.

I was told the parts AND service have a 12-month, 12K warranty and after reviewing the warranty booklet, was able to confirm that statement.

I'm trying to find out what their measurement for being aftermarket was... I'm curious, as well.

jelyman

Update:

- the parts in question have clearly marked part numbers.
- service paperwork at dealer B has honda part numbers.
- parts confirmed as OEM.
- this will probably end in going back to dealer A and having them re-address.
- They may or may not fix for free since the service is out of warranty. If they don't, it's another claim on my end against my own warranty and I'm out $100.

Fun.

Galco

You should be able combine ALL the suggest work under your warranty and only pay the $100 deductible once. That will make it well worth your effort. BTW, how is that you have a warranty that covers suspension parts beyond 120K miles? That's a good warranty.

jelyman

Right. If I can't get them to fix it for free (it's currently 190 miles outside the 12K Honda service warranty), then that'll be the route I take.

The warranty I purchased when I bought the car used was from the dealer directly and covered the car for 4 years/42K miles. It's through a third party (The Mechanic, provided by The Warranty Group). It covers just about everything except electrical (I could have paid more to cover that, too). When my oil pan needed replacement when they did my timing belt, brakes, alignment, they said the total bill would have been $3000 but the warranty paid for all the teardown for the timing belt, too so it ended up being a bit over $1400. I paid $2300 for the warranty and have had almost $4000 in service covered by it. It's more than paid for itself, by now, and the number is only going to get higher.