Bad morning for cars in my life.. long

Got in the 2001 Prelude this morning (40K miles). Started it and hit AC
button about the same time and the bugger stalled and all the lights
came on. Cranked but wouldn't start. Sounded a bit weak as well. Did
the 'if you had a carb & flooded it routine' i.e., floored it and
cranked. It limped alive but weakly. Let it build up some rpm's then
hit the AC button (80deg & 91% humidity at 8AM). No joy. The AC was
dead. The night before I went to pick my daughter up at the mall. The
mall lot was flooded from downpours (police, emergency, fire, camera
crews, etc.). Some cars had water up to their windows. I skirted the
flood (did hit some shallow water at speed that splashed a bit (noted a
strange ping)and drove on. Took her home w/o incident.
I decided to leave the the Prelude in the garage and got in the '91
Integra (AC repaired last month). Drove a few blocks and the oil light
came on. This car has 140K miles and never burned a drop of oil.
Called my 18yr old daughter and asked her if she noticed a light on her
r/t to Chicago 2 weeks ago (388 mi). She said no, nor on the brief
errand she ran the day before. Stopped at Jiffy lube and they added
2-2.5 qts (they had changed the oil 1000 mi earlier). There was a bit
of oil around the valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket. I drove it to
work. I'll follow the oil on this one just to make sure they hadn't
underfilled it the first time. What's this gasket work gonna cost me at
a dealer?
Cheers.
p.s life is good on other days.

 

Get the VC gasket fixed first... will be expensive at the dealer, maybe
$150-200? Not sure. Any shade tree mechanic should be able to do this
job in 20 mins easy.

VC gasket leaks are notorious for getting blown all over the engine
making you think it's leaking from several places.

The oil pan gasket is a more difficult and expensive fix... might have
to remove the cross member (not too familiar w/ 'ludes), then you have
to let the gasket material cure overnight, etc. Figure several hundred
at a dealer for that one.

Hope this helps,
Good luck.

 

I always expect some pain when going to a dealer. They usually do a
proper fix though (hte one I've been using at least). All the money
I've saved not going to dealers for their expensive check-ups is the
fund I use to pay to fix things that go wrong. I usually come out ahead
with this approach. Thanks for the heads-up. I do a lot less myself
these days. No time. No desire.

 

both gaskets are cheap. you can change them yourself. but i doubt
they're the issue - if this car had leaked 2.5 quarts, there would be
oil all over the place, including the floor of your garage, all under
the car, it would be a real mess. if it had burned 2.5 quarts, you'd
see the smoke. /much/ more likely the jiffy-monkey did not fill it
properly.

 

That's what I was thinking or they overfilled it and she burst a gasket
on the Chi. trip, or it was just time for the gasket to let go.
This eve leaving work, I was looking for an oil spot. I wasn't
disappointed. I could see the oil stream from 75 ft away. At least a
qt.or 1.5. I tried to get a tow. Would've had to wait too long (AAA).
Decided there was enough oil to drive to the dealer (closed). Ended up
driving home. The oil was just above the bottom mark. The oil light
stayed off on the way home. Taking it in Thurs. The Prelude started
and the AC came on? We'll see in the morn. Cheers

 

check under the oil filter. if the jiffy-monkeys forgot to make sure
the old gasket was removed, you'll get double gasketing and dramatic
"streaming" failure like you describe.

 

Interesting. I never changed the oil on this baby as it was hard to get
to the bolt. I have til thurs. to check it out. Minus picking up my 10
yr old, cooking dinner, work, etc. Thanks!
Hey JB, ever tried single malt?

 

It turns out the Jiffy-boyz overtightened and stripped the oil pan
bolt. Honda will write this up when I get the bill for what will
probably be a new oil pan. How to I get the lube-boyz to pay for this?

 

call local management and ask them to reimburse you. if that doesn't
work, call their corporate offices. if that doesn't work, call your
local paper's consumer affairs reporter - they usually love stories like
this. bad publicity is way more expensive than the cost of seeing you
right.

 

The local guy seems to be cooperating. They send a report to corporate
with the bill I give them (when I get it). I told Honda to describe
what they found in some detail. I'll keep you posted if yer
interested. I've used J-L since I bought this car in '91 (and couldn't
reach the oil filter) w/o any issues other than the price. Cheers

 

$357 for a new oil pan.
J-L called Honda and wanted me to call them (J-L). I called and got the
other manager. He was a bit more testy as he said he'd like to see the
vehicle because they can rethread rather than replace the entire oil
pan. I said I brought the car in when the oil light went on. He said
they often have folks come in to "top off" their oil. I said I didn't
come in to top-off my oil. I came in on an emergency basis because my
oil light was on and they found it 2.5 qts short and even looked at it
down below. He said his guys are supposed to tell him when they see a
problem like that so he can look at it (and perhaps fix it there). I
said you're welcome to look at it at Honda apout a 1/2 mile away. I
said surely you don't expect me to drive it there again with no oil in
it so you can look at it. I said I'm not responsible for the fact that
his guys failed to summon him as per his "training." I mentioned I'd
e-mailed corporate with the scenario. He then testily said OK just have
it done at Honda ('dickwad'). He didn't say 'dickwad'. But I'm sure
he'd thought it. I'm willing to believe that on any car after so many
oil changes, the threads might fail. I'm willling to split the repair.
This guy didn't make me want to be that understanding. We'll see. My
buddy at Honda said a retap might not last. Quien sabes?

 

hey, i didn't say it would be plain sailing, but if you're sufficiently
persistent, you'll get what you want! most people give up after asking
once, so it's easy to see why places fall into a pattern of initial
dismissal.

 

Hey JB, have you ever plain sailed? It ain't plain EZ either....
I wasn't whinin, just describin'......
I used to have more energy (time) for this kinda crap when I was
younger. Usually pertaining to cars and service managers. Cheers

 

hey, sorry i didn't succeed in saying what i meant - i think it's great
that you're sticking with it. i meant to encourage you on that path.

 

$350 for the new oil pan installed from Honda. Submitted to the local
J-L to be sent to corporate. Asked for an update so I don't wait
endlessly. Will seeeeeeeeeeeeeee............

 

Even I didn't expect this. One week after submitting the bill to the
local J-L I get a check for the whole amount. No questions asked. Talk
about doing the right thing. I wish the Honda Corp were more like this.

 

great result!

i had a similar experience with my local parking tow company. bashed in
the oil pan on my car. took about 4 months, but they eventually paid
when i filed my small claims action against the city council who in turn
threatened revocation of their tow contract.