The reason I didn't do all this myself was that I didn't want the car to be off the road for very long. I didn't want to be driving my highly modified 240 all over the place (required repeated trips up to Memphis and back, my mom was flying in from the airport).
Assistant Service Manager Brady Hutchison at Dobbs Honda in Memphis, TN quoted me roughly $1700 and change, with a 3 day turn around.
3 days turned into 3 weeks. I received multiple calls letting me know what was going on with the car. One of which said that it would be an extra day because the exhaust manifold studs were severely rusted, and the nuts wouldn't come off of them, so they had to cut, drill, and re-tap them all. This added 9 hours of labor to the job, and a bunch of cash.
Do those look like new exhaust manifold studs and nuts to you? This pic was taken after I got the car back.
Now, I've heard of crooked shops performing un-needed work on cars (and charging for it), but this is just ridiculous. They didn't perform that work, and still charged me for it.
Every time they told me it would be taking longer than expected, I asked if I could get a loaner car or something, due to the situation with my 240. They kept telling me no. Finally I said "Ok fine, but it absolutely HAS to be done by March 19th" as that is when my mom was flying in... and the 240 isn't exactly a good car to go around touring the south with (no cruise control, no AC, not very comfy seats, loud as heck, not very reliable, etc). They said that wouldn't be a problem.Well the day comes and guess what, the car still isn't done. They claim that they were having trouble with a shop they outsourced the head to... and that the guy didn't want to do the work. Brady Hutchison actually called me and informed me that if I rebuild the head, that I would probably end up using a bunch of oil in the car. I informed him that he had that backwards... but Brady Hutchison doesn't seem to understand even the most basic of automotive internal combustion theory (which he proved to me many times, but that's another long story).
After I picked up my mom from the airport in the 240, I went to the Dobbs Honda in Memphis TN and demanded some sort of rental or loaner, because it had now been 2 weeks on a job they had quoted me 3 days, and that is just retarded. Brady Hutchison told me that he could get me a rental car from Enterprise, but I would have to put it in my name so that the rate would only be $19 per day, and not the $35 if it was in Dobbs Honda's name. He also told me that they would only cover 3 days of rental, not the amount of time until the car was completed, whatever amount of time that may be. Dobbs Honda would NOT cover any insurance or any other fees, just $19 for 3 days.
I discuss it with my mom and determine that if there are a bunch of stupid hidden fees, we would say screw it and just drive the 240. Well, that didn't work out. Pulling into the Enterprise car lot, the 240 hits a bump and just dies. It cranked over but wouldn't start and kinda smelled like fuel (like the coolant temp sensor just died). So now we're screwed, and we HAVE to get the rental.$19 a day turned into about $60 a day after insurance and a daily $10 "under 25 fee" even though my 25th birthday was during the time of the rental (they wouldn't wave the fee for those days I was 25), plus $10 a day to add my mom as a driver. So then I get this awful chevy Aveo... not comparable to the Prelude in any way, shape, or form. Whatever, by this time I was sick of the whole situation and just took the keys.
By the time the rental ran up, my Honda still wasn't done from Dobbs Honda in Memphis, TN. Brady Hutchison gave me some random BS line about why that was, and that I would have to rent the car again, but they weren't going to cover it.By this time I am thinking that the crooked lazy people at Dobbs Honda in Memphis, TN and Enterprise car rental in Memphis (both on Covington Pike) are in cahoots with each other, and do this type of crap all the time. So I figured I'd throw a monkey wrench into their plans, and buy another car. I was looking at getting an S2000 from the dealership, but there was no effing way in hell that I would be buying ANYTHING from them, so I got a Mazda Miata from another used car dealer.Gave the awful Aveo back to Enterprise and went on my merry way in the Miata. I also filed an official complaint with Honda Corporate. That seemed to get their butts in gear, because 2-3 days later BAM my car was done! Amazing!
So I drive to Memphis with a friend of mine and pick up the car. I go to Brady Hutchison to pay the bill, and HOLY SMOKES, the $1700 and change has exploded into $2818.17.I swipe it on the credit card in case anything is messed up (or I find some sort of billing discrepancy), so my credit card's army of lawyers can rip them a new one.
We got 20 miles from Dobbs Honda in Memphis, TN, and the oil pressure light came on in the car. I stopped driving immediately, parked it in a walgreens lot, and drove the rest of the way home in the Miata. It was pouring rain out, so I didn't feel like digging into the problem right then and there. I called Brady Hutchison of Dobbs Honda in Memphis and left a very angry voice mail.The next day, my friend gives me a ride up there to get/fix/inspect the car.
I inspect things, and this is what I find:Valve cover bolts used to be chrome, now they are weird rusty ones from god knows where.Radiator support bracket bolts used to be weird rusty ones, now they look like valve cover bolts (which there were 4 of)....but now there are 5 of them down there. Where Dobbs Honda got the 5th bolt... I have no idea, probably stole it off someone els' car.I also find this little gem:A random wire just hanging out, not connected to anything, and this wire, completely broken off:
Anyway, I didn't find any oil leaks or anything, so I start the car up. No oil pressure light. Great. I drive it home problem free.I take it to work the next day and on the way home from work, BAM, the oil pressure light AND and CEL come on.I run diagnostics on the CEL and I get this:P0401- insufficient exhaust gas recirculation flow.Probably some coked up intake port for the EGR that they didn't inspect after I requested they inspect everything while they had it apart.
Brady Hutchison of Dobbs Honda calls me back and tells me that I need to bring the car back up there. I tell him he can send a flat bed and pick it up, and pay for the tow, cos I'm not driving the car with the oil pressure light on. I also tell him that I have no faith in his shops abilities. He tells me its probably just the oil pressure sending unit that is faulty. I ask which sensor controls the oil pressure light (there are 2, one is for Vtec). He tells me he'll look into it. He never called me back, so I do my own research and find out which one it is. I swapped it out today. Guess what, oil pressure light is still on, I called him, and he hasn't called me back yet.
When I first got the car back, the oil REEKED like it was half parts cleaner, it was also a quart and a half low... so I changed it out (also hoping it would take care of the oil pressure light). The only thing I can think of is that they filled my crank case with something other than oil, OR they let a piece of trash get into the oil system while they were doing all their work, and it is blocking the oil pickup. Either way, they haven't reduced my bill, given me a refund, or made any attempt to make it right. I'm calling my credit card company today and telling them not to pay them.
