For the past 12 years I've worked in dealerships as a technician.

Often an owner will ask me about the reliability of this or that car, to which I reply that what I see are the ones with owner concerns, and unless I had a way to compare that to the total numbers of a particular model, I had no way to tell if this or that was a "good car".

Here, we have an opportunity to tell each other what we are taking our cars back to the dealers to have repaired or adjusted under warranty. The first thing that comes to mind is the aim of the headlamps, a problem I also see and one I will probably address myself.

I would like to see a sticky topic, like the gas mileage topic, devoted to our listing of warranty concerns so we could get a look at what others are experiencing. This might also give us a heads up on a problem area we might watch and address before it becomes a "help, I'm stranded on the side of the road" cell phone call.

 

Great idea...

 

Great idea! Some people might not even know they have a problem unless they see it listed here. better to have it fixed under warrantee than out of pocket!

 

nice man...........

 

I, for one, am hoping this thread remains a very short thread that everyone will forget about.

 

I concur.

Tre

 

um and why you say that??

 

Maybe he means, that he hopes that we won't have very many warrenty problems with our Fits.

 

Rayzer are you a Honda tech? Have any Fits been brought in yet?

 

Oh no. I worked on Cadillacs for 11 years, now I'm at a Ford dealership.

 

This would be a great service for the Forum to provide for current and potential Fit owners rather than wait for J.D. Power, Edmunds and Consumer Reports to tell us how the Fit does over time! Great idea!

 

intakes void warrantys?

 

In cases of voiding all or part of a vehicle warranty there may be state laws which apply, and decisions to be made by the manufacturer. The GENERAL RULE OF THUMB IS:

If damage or failure is caused by or due to a modification, then the repair is not covered.

This is neither to time or place to debate what if or how come. It would be good to hear reports of: My dealer said this or the Honda rep. for my area decided to do this:

 

Honestly that's going to depend on your dealers more then anything else, the onei work at doesn't seeem to care, weve only voided one repair on a 06 SI due to the guy having a intake, and that was due to his map sensor going bad after installing his intake, had it not gone bad then he would have been fine, but yet again this guy was a problem guy for our dealership all the timewith every single car he has bought, and not for major problems, just for stupid shizz.

 

I have Jazz 1.4ES sept2002

I had only one small problem, plastic bit under the handbrake broke. It prevents dust from getting in this part of the tunnel.
I asked a service and they told me that it is not under warranty and that it is just a bit of plastic. I called Honda in UK (where this centre for Europe is) and they provided me with the right contact in Hungary. He just saw my pictures and looked at the data and shipped the part to the nearest Honda service station to my country (at that time there were no Honda services in Serbia). As far as I see it, it is not the problem that it broke, it is the problem that the service does not recognise that because I am not Hungarian. On the other hand, people who care about Honda and its good reputation can do miracles about any legitimate problem.
I will buy a Honda next time for sure...

 

Glad you received satisfactory results. I must commend your English, it points out how weak our educational system is in the U.S.

Do you always used the hand brake (I assume you do and that your vehicle is a manual) and do you think the failure was related to the brake action? Can you post a picture or two showing the failed part or where the failed part was?

 

Thank you for your kind words about my English. It means a lot when it comes form a native speaking Jazz loving person.

I believe that knowing foreign languages is necessary in the world today. There are no borders, when you have chats, SMS and other easy forms of communication.

I always park with the hand brake on, my wife does that as well. I will find the pictures, and post.

 

Oh woe is me.

Could it possibly be that I have cursed myself?

Filled up Friday afternoon after work. Around 1100 miles, been getting appx. 33 mpg almost all city driving, nothing to complain about. Ran around a little bit yesterday in between yard work. Did raise tire pressure to 38 psi after seeing the max inflation was over 50 psi, just to see what the effect would be for a tank or two.

Got up this morning early, went to Wally World for some steaks and what-not to cook dinner for my dad on Father's Day (is this just an American Holiday? Prolly so since I remember reading about a mother's day and then a combined parent's day somewhere else, like Japan).

Cranked to leave Wal-Mart, and my check gas cap message came on.

I've been driving 50 miles since I filled up on Friday, and I ALWAYS GET SIX CLICKS ON THE CAP - BEEN DOING THAT OVER TEN YEARS. However, I did leave my vehicle unattended in the parking lot. So, like a dutiful owner, I pulled over to the side of the road, turned the key off, and went back and gave the cap a twist. Cranked up, message still on. Hit reset button, message off. Got home and took the cap off to inspect it. This is the first time I've noticed the extra little bit on the side opposite the strap. Could this have gotten tucked under and caused a leak after 50 miles? Highly unlikely, but back with the cap and cranked up. Message still on.

My Fit think's it has/or actually has a leak (don't know the system, could be pressure or vacuum) so Monday I will call the closest dealer and make arrangements to let them take a look. Having worked on cars for 12 years, I hate to leave it in the hands of someone else. I've seen what stupid things poorly trained or uncaring techs can do to a vehicle. And with our present climate in the industry that tends to run off good techs and fill the holes with warm bodies, all I can do is try to protect myself.

So, here is what I am going to do:

The most likely problems are with a sensor (may be under the hood, may be in or near the fuel tank), or a module that intreprets the sensor's inputs. There could also be an actual leak in a evaporative emissions pipe, or in the fuel cap.

I will take pictures of the car, all over the outside to document the condition of the body - don't want it back scratched up - and the interior. Then I will take a number of photos of the engine compartment (did they put everything back like they found it) and I will raise it on a lift where I work and take pictures of the underside (lord forbid they need to access the fuel tank).

I will be sure and keep this topic up to date with reports of my adventure.

 

I took my Fit in for warranty work for inadequate low-beam headlights.

They did nothing, I paid nothing. I re-aimed them myself and all is well.

It also pulls a bit to the left. (Silver MT Sport built 3-15-06)

 

When in doubt, get the manual out: or - My Proof of the Assume Principle.

(Hanging head in shame) Yes, I applied my knowlege of systems I know to a system I don't know.

Manual says, retighten cap, if condition still exists, MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light) will illuminate. Message will continue for several days (probably needs a set number of key cycles without a repeat failure to automatically clear the code).

I do not have a MIL indicator.

We experienced a strange set of climatic changes, and my tank is very nearly full. I expected that these were the cause of the code, but also expected the message to clear as soon as the condition was no longer present.

I will report any change, and try to keep up with the number of key cycles.