TLMichelle

Hey guys, if you were following my car trouble adventure from my other thread (I have a '98 3.2 TL), here's the latest update. I brought it to my parents' house so my dad could look at it with me. We ended up going straight to a Meineke because it was getting late and we were hoping they could fix the exhaust pipe today. A couple of weeks ago I was going to have my regular mechanic fix it, but he said there was a gas leak and it would be $700 and the car wasn't worth it. He had told me over the phone that he'd patch the exhaust so I could drive it home. Originally, he quoted $70 for the patch, but ended up calling back and saying he'd do it for free since it didn't really take a lot of time or shop supplies. He played it off like he was doing it out of good will just to get me home and save me from sinking more money into a problematic car. He even said he would delete the work order and send the replacement exhaust pipe back so it would be as if it never happened. Here I was thinking, what a nice gesture -- instead of charging me more money to fix a car that isn't worth it, he's being honest and telling me not to spend any more money. I thanked him sincerely even though I was heartbroken from the news. This was just after spending $650 on the spark plugs and ignition coil when the car blew the spark plug into the cylinder. When I had gotten the car back and started it up, the check engine light had come back on, but I didn't call the mechanic because he had told me to ditch it, so I figured that I'd just have to take it somewhere else for service. So back to today -- we brought it to Meineke and the guy said he was closing in two minutes (two hours earlier than we thought was posted on their site), but he would take a peek at the car in the parking lot anyway. He checked underneath and told me that the O2 sensor's wire was dangling because it had been broken.

Next we brought it to the local mechanic my dad goes to for inspections and stuff and the guy put it on the lift and we looked underneath. He said he could splice the gas line where it was leaking and we got a good look at that dangling O2 sensor wire. It was as if it was cut.

I was peeved before when I got the car back from my mechanic and found the check engine light back on after spending $650 the week before, but now I'm more than peeved and I feel let down by a business that I thought was giving me quality car care and was honest and good to me. I had been willing to pay for those things and refer business to them. I think when the mechanic was messing with the exhaust pipe, he accidentally cut the O2 sensor wire since the patch was right next to it and decided to pitch the excuses for ditching the car because if I junked it, I'd never know I was screwed. The only giveaway was the check engine light, which for all I knew could have been the problem from the week before resurfacing. But I bought that code scanning device and plugged it in myself and got the code pointing to the bad sensor. I was suspicious that maybe he unplugged it and forgot to plug it back in when he decided not to fix the exhaust and it triggered an error, but now I've seen for myself that the sensor was damaged and he tried to cover it up and pull a fast one because I'm a girl. And what's worse is when I call him, I bet he will try to deny it because he deleted the work order and I have no record that he patched it. I wish I had taken a picture of the envelope that I put the key in when I dropped it off (sometimes I do that with written letters so I have a record of what I wrote in case I forget, but I didn't do it for the drop-off envelopes). I don't know what will happen, but I'm planning on calling and confronting someone about it -- either him or the business owner or both. My dad said that they owe me an Acura sensor because that is what I had and the mechanic broke it. He probably figured that we're even because the patch he did was free ($70 value) and the O2 sensor on Amazon goes for about $80. The Acura sensor is $300+ I think and that is what I had originally, so I think I'm getting the short end of the stick here. But that's not even the main issue. I understand that accidents happen and there is probably a way they can skirt the liability, but I told this guy on the phone and in person that I loved my car, that it was the best car I've ever driven, that I don't have a lot of money to buy another car anyway so if I can keep mine on the road then I would be so happy. I even said on the phone at one point, "I just want to hear good news!" After all of that, and not to mention, I practically pledged my loyalty to the owner the week before, after all that, this dude goes and breaks my sensor and then tries to hide it by telling me to ditch my favorite car in the whole world. He had me convinced for a few hours that this was the end and I had to buy a new one. After we hung up, I burst into tears -- you guys understand, right? I love my Acura. I got into an accident and bashed her face in a little bit, but I'm still driving the car and she's still beautiful to me. Despite all the trouble I have been through with this car, it's still my favorite car to drive and this guy was telling me to junk it just to hide the fact that he cut my O2 sensor in half. That was just a shady move. Like, I could say that with a few different words, but I won't. I don't know what to expect when I bring this up. I haven't mentioned the name of the business because I know this could potentially hurt their reputation (apparently they have a lot to lose in that department) and it would probably count as slander, too, and I haven't given them a fair chance to right the wrong at this point because they are closed for the rest of the weekend. What do you guys think I should do? This is really more of a rant than a quest for advice, but I'll consider all viewpoints anyway. I'll probably call them up next week and explain the situation and see what they have to say. If they leave me high and dry, then the least I will do is stop going to them and tell my boyfriend not to go there, too. If I keep getting BS then maybe I'll write a review. I just feel really let down, especially after making it extremely clear that I loved the car and the last thing I wanted to do was junk it. On top of that, I expressed my appreciation that he was honest and trying to help me. He never said he broke my sensor and he knew he broke it, too, because how could he miss the wire hanging down when he had the car on the lift and the check engine light was glaring right at him on the dash when he parked it in the lot? He could have at least acknowledged that the sensor was bad and left it up to me to decide if I wanted to pay to fix it or not. Now my trust has been broken and my high opinion of them has been lowered, and unless the owner says the right things, I'm probably going to start driving all the way to my parents' town to have future work done. Since this car is such a mess, the guys in my parents' town are probably going to make a lot of money on me, so good for them -- at least someone will be happy.

main70072

Cheer up don't let this ruin your Easter Sunday! Unfortunately, things like this happen but just call them and tell them what you found and hopefully they will take care of the problem. Nothing much you can do at this point since there are no records of that service and it's been weeks after you drove off. Good Luck and keep up updated.

TLMichelle

Thanks! Unfortunately, this became the least of my worries on Easter Sunday when we got a call from the hospital about my brother going to the ER for a motorized bicycle accident (he fell going 30+ MPH when he rode on uneven pavement). Thankfully, he is now recovering and will be okay because he was wearing a helmet AND eye protection, which made all the difference. (I cannot express that enough; if you saw the massive scrape on the lens of the safety glasses he was wearing and just think if he hadn't been wearing them....) Anyway, sorry for getting a bit off-topic there. It has been quite a weekend, lol, but other than a few things, it has been good.

I think I will call the shop and speak with the owner instead of the guy who broke my sensor. I did a little research on the business just to see if other people had similar stories, but the place has great reviews everywhere I've looked. The owner runs the place with his wife handling the numbers and the guy who broke the sensor has been with them for 18 years. I don't want to believe that they were pulling a fast one on me, but I shouldn't cast judgement until I've spoken to the owner. I'll post an update once I talk to him. I kind of doubt he'll do something, because like you said, it's been a while and the records are now missing, but maybe he will try to smooth it over for customer service reasons since they are known for great customer service and honesty.

TLMichelle

I called the shop and asked for the owner, but he won't be there until Wednesday so I said I'd call back. Oddly enough, the guy who broke the sensor didn't answer the phone. He always answers the phone if the owner is not there. I don't think I've ever called and spoken to someone else. Hmm.

TLMichelle

Just got off the phone with the owner and he said to bring the car in so they could have a look and see about fixing the wire on the sensor, so I'm going tomorrow afternoon. We'll see what comes of this. I thought he'd give me a hard time because this was like over a month ago, but he was very good.

TLMichelle

I brought the car into the shop today so the owner could look at it. He didn't seem to think that his guy broke the sensor because he said the exhaust pipe was hanging by the wire of the sensor and that was what caused it to break. He said that it would have dragged on the pavement when I went over bumps and showed where on the flange there was some wear (but it had already rusted over) and even pointed out a blue line on the pipe where it would have dragged on the blue paint of his lift. I told him that when I brought it in the check engine light was not on but it was on when I started the car up when I picked it up. He said he'd replace the sensor for no cost, but I have to pay $437 for all the other stuff they have to do to fix it. He wrote down:
$10 Gaskets
$10 Gaskets
$214 Intermediate pipe
$47 Labor
$141 Gaslines
$15 (shop charge?)
---------------------
$437
He said the O2 sensor is worth $251.57 from a manufacturer called Denso, I think, and told me that if I think that his shop is at fault then he'd replace it. My dad thinks I should stop going there after this. I don't know what to think. It's not like they're just fixing everything for free and sending me on my merry way because I'm still going to be paying $400+. I don't expect them to do everything for free, but I have a feeling that he would not like it if I asked him to hand me a new sensor so I could bring it somewhere else to have it fixed. I think as the customer, I'm supposed to feel like I am getting taken care of, but they're winning, too, because I think I'm getting what I feel like I deserve while they're actually getting the benefit of having me spend even more money with them. I don't know. I think if they were truly innocent and had nothing to do with the sensor breaking, they would have told me that it broke when it did and not deleted the work order. I don't see the point of deleting the work order unless the guy was trying to hide something because couldn't he have changed it to reflect the price he wanted instead of deleting the entire thing? It just seems shady.
Here are some pictures of the situation:
This first one is from when the car was parked in my driveway. You can see the wire hanging down and a little bit of the patch.

This one was after the car was on the lift. He tucked the wire back up where it was supposed to connect. You can see the blue stripe on the cat pipe.

The last picture is a wider view of the second one. The pipe that does the 90 degree turn out of the right side of the photo is the pipe that needs to be replaced. It has a hole on the other end, too, but I forgot to include that in the pictures. It's a pretty bad hole. I could probably stick my finger in it, that's how big it is.

So I'm going back there tomorrow afternoon to have them do the work.

adventurecrv

That might be the list on the DENSO part, but are much cheaper on Amazon. DENSO is the OEM for the part for Honda.

TLMichelle

Got my car back today and she purrs softly once again! However, the random roaring sound I used to get at certain speeds is still there and now there is a new noise coming from the wheel on the side of the accident. It was there when I was driving to the shop today and was worse on the way home. Hopefully it's nothing.... And I had an odd occurrence while coasting down a hill. I started to brake and it revved up higher for a few seconds. Is that a tranny problem or just the computer getting confused since the sensor was bad at the time?

I'm so happy that I got a few things fixed in one go: the O2 sensor, exhaust leak, and the gas line leak! Now I want to take her out for a ride, but I probably shouldn't put more mileage on the timing belt. This car is such a train wreck, but I swear, it's a great car!

main70072

Glad to see that you're happy with the repairs. The rev up on downhill while braking is part of a feature called "grade logic" to help slow down the car by using engine braking. Maybe you would like to read news release on your car, haha

http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/ar...spx?id=2742-en

TLMichelle

Thanks for that link! Every time I read about my Acura I get a new appreciation for it. I especially like how you can say, "It's not broken -- it's a feature!"

Mandy

Post some pics of your baby so we know

TLMichelle

Sure, check this one out -- I took it the night I got her back from the shop:



She used to be a bit more photogenic, but I kind of like the bumperless look now. My dad said she looks like a hot-rod, haha.

Saaax650

I bought DENSO front for $60 and rear $ 36 from Autozone. Check parts in store also