An updated post about my car

[mommy2_3]

Well its been a crazy past few weeks. some of you might remember i posted about wanting to cry after Honda gave me a list of problems that was wrong with my car. you can read it here

so today i finally got a sitter (never knew how hard it would be to get a sitter on a weekday morning!) and i took my car in to see my mechanic. i did give him the list. he looked it over and started laughing (more at the prices than anything). he then took my car and about 30 mins later came and got me. he showed me where everything was. i do have a tiny tiny leak in my power steering pump. but thats it. nothing else was wrong with my car! they then checked all my oils and fluids and everything. my power steering fluid is a little low but other than that everything else is just fine. he said for a car with as many miles as mine has on it its in great shape! he told me just keep up on the maintenance and we should be good to go for at least till 250k miles if not more! by then i will prob. need a new transmission. and of course a new timing belt. but i guess Honda Odyssey can last a very long time if you keep up on it, take care of it, and you arent a crazy driver who like to hit speed bumps going 50! so now that that is taken care of, i can relax on vacation!

 

[jillbur]

That's awesome news!

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

Thank you so much for the update! I remember your thread as we also have a Honday Odyssey van (2003) and needed to take it in for the recall ignition issue. I asked my husband if we really wanted to hear about all the other problems they might come up with

Fortunatley they didn't. We had the timing belt done at 57,000 and we are at 98,000. We did have them do the transmission fluid, but most of the 90,000 stuff we had already done.

BUT - they did manage to mess up the steering wheel control of the radio I love that feature as I am constantly turning the radio down with my son in the car, and I can do it on the sly with those buttons. So I called to let them know immediately - and need to make another appt.

I fear the transmission will go out eventually as it is a problem apparently with the Oddyssey's around 2003.

Thanks for the update. You never know how many people read these threads without responding!

 

[tvguy]

If I can get 25+ years out of a Chevy, a Honda should be able to do it too.

 

[mommy2_3]

i know! i am so excited to hear that my car is in great shape!!

 

[Sagginit]

awesome news! i had the ignition done on my honda and i got the same laundry list of nonsense.

i was excited b/c my car was making a noise. i only needed the alternator belt and power steering belt replaced. it was done in a few hours and was just over a $100. i was so relieved,

 

[DizMe]

Thank you so much for the update! I remember your thread as we also have a Honday Odyssey van (2003) and needed to take it in for the recall ignition issue. I asked my husband if we really wanted to hear about all the other problems they might come up with

Fortunatley they didn't. We had the timing belt done at 57,000 and we are at 98,000. We did have them do the transmission fluid, but most of the 90,000 stuff we had already done.

BUT - they did manage to mess up the steering wheel control of the radio I love that feature as I am constantly turning the radio down with my son in the car, and I can do it on the sly with those buttons. So I called to let them know immediately - and need to make another appt.

I fear the transmission will go out eventually as it is a problem apparently with the Oddyssey's around 2003.

Thanks for the update. You never know how many people read these threads without responding!

We have a 2003 Odyssey, also, and just had the transmission replaced. It is definitely an issue with the Odysseys of that vintage so do be aware it's very possible yours will at some point go out. We were told we were lucky to have made it this far (130,000 miles before replacement).

OP, I'm so glad your second opinion was such a good one!!! Yay!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm so glad.

I hadn't had a chance to share your first post with DH, who was a service consultant a while back at Saturn and who is also an honest and decent person (who, interestingly, also had the highest grossing shop in the area while he was in charge...he was honest and made the mechanics be honest, and that reputation brought in more customers), but I did just now.

And he started giggling at the idea that they were saying the engine mount was broken, even though you hadn't noticed anything. Literally started giggling.

I'm really REALLY glad you took it in to someone else. I don't think that ALL mechanics are liars (and obviously your preferred mechanic isn't!), but so many of them are, and it's just sad that they "win" when a person doesn't have the ability to check if something is real. My husband used to get on the phone with mechanics who were trying to pull one over on his coworkers, not give them his credentials, but just be a (sorry to say this makes a difference so often*) MALE voice on the phone and have the mechanics explain it to him. They never could. He saved his coworkers large amounts of money by just talking on the phone with the mechanics or service consultants.

I'm really glad you got that second opinion.



*I was borrowing my stepdad's car while in grad school. Something started going wrong with it, making a very weird and distinctive noise. I got his go-ahead to take it to a mechanic, and the guys there were just mystified by the noise I was making. It was as though they had never had a customer make a car noise before. And they weren't listening to me. I called my stepdad (2 states away). I made the noise for him. Handed the phone over. He made the noise (that he had never heard from the car) for the mechanics. And suddenly, magically, they understood.

 

[DOOM1001]

If I can get 25+ years out of a Chevy, a Honda should be able to do it too.

I had a 1999 VW Jetta that I bought new and drove for 9 years till the transmission went with 330,000 miles,if I would have kept that car and driven it for 25 years it would have probably gotten close to 1 million miles.

 

[Jimsig]

IIRC you took it to a Honda dealer who "found" all those problems right? If so you should write Honda corporate, both e-mail and snail mail, about what you were told and what your local mechanic found. You may not be the only one who they have done this too and they will want to know.

Years back my dad took his company car in to a local Chevy dealer for some work. When he went to pick it up, the service manager started in with some mumbo jumbo about why work could not be done and it was not covered as it was a company car, all BS and outright lies as to why the work could not be done. My dad, who worked in the automotive industry at the time called him on it and started to make a big stink as well as raising his voice. Unbeknownst to my dad there was a GM rep at the dealership that day, and heard my dad raising his voice. He asked my dad what was going on, when the service manager tried to butt in, the GM guy told him to "keep his mouth shut." When all was said and done the rep had my dad take his car to the next closest GM dealer for the work and had the original dealership pay for his loaner and any work done at the new dealership would be paid for by the original dealership. The reason the GM rep was there was that there were so many complaints against the dealership they were in danger of having their dealership pulled. The had recently settled false advertising claims with the state, saying they had cars with certain options in stock when they did not and when people came in the only had cars with more expensive options..bait and switch and stuff like that. They also would sell cars and charge people for the lo jack system that were never installed, and if someone put a deposit down on a car they would give them a round around saying that they deposits were non refundable if the sale fell through. This dealership has now turned itself around and you hardly ever hear complaints about them.

 

[BlueBeagle]

Awesome news! I'm so happy it worked out well for you!

 

[tvguy]

I had a 1999 VW Jetta that I bought new and drove for 9 years till the transmission went with 330,000 miles,if I would have kept that car and driven it for 25 years it would have probably gotten close to 1 million miles.

Volvo used to make a big deal in their ads showing people with Volvo's with 1 million miles.
My 87 only has 141,000 on it, so I drive less than average. Looks like you drive about three times average mileage in a year. I'll have to keep my Chevy another 150 years to hit 1 million miles! I'm ahead of my mom. Her current car is a 2003 and has 10,000 miles. She had her previous car for 27 years, and it only had 77,000 miles on it when she got rid of it!

 

[eeyorethegreat]

It can be so hard to find an honest mechanic. In fact most of our debt that we have had over the years has been due to car repairs. I finally got wary after our usual mechanic told be it was going to be yet another $1500 for another repair. Took it ti the dealership and all it needed was a belt.... Walked out of there at a fraction of the cost. Just had a new (used) Suburban inspected for state inspection passed no problems. Take it back to the same place for tires(not the dealership and not the original mechanic, VIP actually) who said it needed a new power steering pump and ball joints. Now this thing has been running smooth. My husband did look at the power steering and saw it wasn't "leaking al over the place" like VIP said but he did have the ball joints replaced. He asked them why this wasn't noted at the time of inspection and though they apologized for the "mistake" they did nothing else. I would have walked and gotten a second opinion but I was with DS at WDW go figure!

 

[danygirl]

If they lied on the state inspection you call the state troopers. They investigate. If the shop lied they are disciplined. If there was no problem the honest mechanic loses a day's commissions and his family suffers, so don't do this without cause.

 

[pigletto]

Great to hear OP!!
A good mechanic is worth their weight in gold. We bought our car used from a lady who told us she had taken it to the dealer and they wanted her to do the brakes. It was part of the sale that we would do them ourselves. So we took it to our trusted mechanic who took a look, told us there was absolutely nothing wrong with them and would not take a penny for looking at it for us! So when anything at all (and after 2 years we did have the brakes done) needs doing on that car who do you think gets our business time and time again? Yep.. our kind and honest mechanic.
I'll take my cars to him as long as he's around because I don't have to doubt what he tells me I need to do. And all of his customers are long term customers who love him. THAT is how you build a solid customer base

 

[cm8]

Thanks for update OP, I'm glad you didn't need all that worry for nothing! Have a great trip

 

[churchpilot]

Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a magical time and gotta love those Honda Odysseys!