i have a 2003 honda civic lx with 18500 miles on it.

2 weeks after i bought this car brand new in july 2003 a woman side swiped me, forced me into oncoming lanes and i had a front end crash that damaged the corner on the driver side.

i took my car to maroone honda of hollywood, fl and they took about 4 weeks to repair my car. however, when i drove it home it kept making a knocking/thumping noise when i made both left and right turns. not everytime, but alot. i took it back over and over and over again and maroone honda had my car for pretty much the next 3 months and could never figure out the problem. the last time i picked up my car the thumping noise went away for a couple of days ( i assume they just lubed up everything good to make it look like it was fixed) but the noise came back. i couldnt afford to take my car back AGAIN because i have to rent a car. they did everything to try and fix the problem including taking the whole front end apart and putting it back together and even took it and had some kind of laser tests done on it.

after 1.5 yrs and having some money in the bank i took it back to maroone to see if they could finally figure it out. i thought maybe new technicians would be smarter. i rented a car and waited a week for them to finally say the left and right struts needed replaced and that they would pay for it. i picked my car up. no noise. well, until the next day the thumping/knocking started up again and now it seems worse. i once again assume they just lubed up everything really good before i picked it up to make it seem as if it were repaired.

i looked over my original repair claim to see everything they fixed, replaced. looks like they put in ABS parts on the driver side, but my car is not equipped with ABS. could the mismatched parts be making the noise? a friend of mine who knows alot about cars mentioned this and also said it could be some kind of pin problem in the brakes locking up...he nor i know the technical term. i am not good with cars or their parts so i am at a loss as to what to do. i have spent hundreds of dollars renting cars and still my car isnt fixed. i want to take it to another honda dealership but they will know it was repaired and the knocking noise is probably the fault of the first dealership that fixed it and will tell me they cant fix it. i'm assuming that. or perhaps i should take it to a new dealership and play dumb and act as if the knocking sound just started?

i know maroone will never figure this problem out. i think they are doing it on purpose because i filed complaints with them with the ftc, bbb, attorney general for taking over 3 months to fix my car the first time.

any advice would be help. sorry for the essay.

greg

 

axles. the shop should have replaced this.

 

LOL definately axle problem... I had the same problem on my EG I had to get my axle replaced... And wow the tech's there must be freakin' idiots because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that problem. Tell those tech ***** to go to UTI!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gregftlaud &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> sorry for the essay.</TD></TR></TABLE> No need to be. Lot's of info is better then just a little. I would look into those ABS parts causing the problem. Sounds like that dealer doesn't know what they are doing. 3 months!! Holy crap that's a long time. Look into the ABS parts used and go to another dealership and just play dumb. What about axels? Prolly bent .

 

pretty sure they did. they said they replaced everything on the front end to try to stop the thumping noise but u never know. i feel a vibration in my steering wheel also when the sound occurs

 

That is an extremely long amount of time for them to keep your car. Only when you turn huh? And its a thumping? Were the axles replaced? Bushings checked? Were the brake lines routed correctly? Can you FEEL the noise? or just hear it?

 

yeah, that sounds like the cv joint in the axle is bad. if they didn't pull everything out correctly, that could cause them to break repeatedly. there is about 1/4" or so tolerance for the length of the axle, and if you are off more than that, they will bind and break.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gregftlaud &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i feel a vibration in my steering wheel also when the sound occurs</TD></TR></TABLE>

How fast are you going when the vibration occurs? Cause if you're going let's say 45mph and the vibration kicks in, then maybe you need to get your tires mounted correctly or maybe you just might need new tires...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cboy1-EG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

How fast are you going when the vibration occurs? Cause if you're going let's say 45mph and the vibration kicks in, then maybe you need to get your tires mounted correctly or maybe you just might need new tires...</TD></TR></TABLE>

that would happen in a straight line too though, he's talking about turns.

 

i can feel the noise in the steering wheel only when it knocks/thumps during turns. this only lasts less than a second. i can get on a freeway and drive 4hrs and have no problems

so sounds like i shuld play dumb and take it to another honda dealership the worst they can say is they figured out the other dealership screwed it up...they cant fix it....and have to take it back to maroone i suppose. i get the feeling man that maroone isnt fixing it on purpose just to mess with my head since i filed all those complaints against them.

replacing the struts obviously didnt help. i know they actually did replace them b/c i had a friend look and they appeared brand new. i dont know if these people are just dumb or cunning. i spoke with the general manager of the dealership on the original repair and when i took it back a few weeks ago....and he was very combative with me i guess because of the complaints and just hung up on me. i hate this feeling of being at their mercy. i mean if i take it back there who says they wont have my car another 3months just to irritate me and run up my rental car bill. are there any laws that say a dealership has to fix your car within a reasonable amount of time? i miss the days honda was good and just gave u a loaner car until your car was repaired. they wont even offer to pay for my rental ...they should since this is all their fault.

 

report them to the bbb. mark your parts before you go in so you know if the replace them or not.

 

Oh okay but I was just throwing that out there incase that might be a minor problem hehe... But yeah go to a diff honda dealership cause those ***** are retarded...

 

i already originally reported them to the bbb. they were of no help

says on my repair bill they put on a "knuckle with abs" . my car didnt come with abs could that be it?

or basically are we at a concensus that it's either the axles, cv joints?

 

they shouldn't use abs parts on a non-abs car. the cv joint is part of the axle. i would say call them back, but it sounds like they have no idea what they are doing.

 

yah and i cannot afford to rent a car while they figure this out. i think they should rent one for me considering the first time...during that 3 month period they did. this is their mistake. i did file another complaint just now with the bbb we'll see what comes of that....saying they pay for my rental car while they figure this out. if not, i'm gonna take it to another honda dealership since it is still under warranty and play dumb. i'm tired of this. i'm sure u all would be too. thanks for the help

 

Hahaha not to be a ******** in any way but if that accident didn't happen it would kinda sound like you got a lemon...

 

nope i bought my car brand new 4 miles on it and it operated perfectly before the accident

 

I know I'm just saying if the accident never happened and you heard those noises, then and only then would your car be labeled as a lemon hehe but it's not I know...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i took my car to maroone honda of hollywood, fl and they took about 4 weeks to repair my car. </TD></TR></TABLE>

why i never let OTHER people fix my car....

clicking while turning is usually cv joints as previously pointed out......

 

playing dumb and using the warrnaty is probably your best bet now. Good luck.

 

civicmike my entire drive side front end was smashed in from an accident. u could repair that kind of thing yourself??????

yah....i'm gonna go to another honda place next week i really dont think it is too serious

btw.....when it rains really hard and the roads are REALLY wet it doesnt make the sound very often. does that mean anything?

greg