2012 Honda Fit Sport has 12,000 miles on it and the dealer wants to charge $80 to flush the air conditioning system which, by the way, works fine. Is this normal maintenance? When does the Fit need its a/c flushed?

 

Ripoff, find a new dealership.

Service that does not need to be done.

 

No, this is not normal maintenance. The dealer is a crook, find a new dealership. I don't think of ever heard of an air-conditioning system getting flushed. A 2012 fit with 12,000 miles on it does not need anything being flushed except that dealership.

 

Dump that dealership now!

 

Yeah that's BS

 

No WAY! Call the manager, tell him you're not impressed and for every customer calling him back telling him that, there's 10-20 people just not returning his calls and choosing not to go back for maintenance. Tell him the customers he's not hearing from are costing him more than the customers he's fooling. If he's on the fence, maybe that'll scare him straight. But probably not.

My dealership called every three days straight for a month telling me it was probably time for an oil change. Eventually I picked up and said, "Look, the MM is still at 70%. I don't drive a lot. When I'm at 15% I'll give you a call. Do you have anything else you want to say about it?" Silence. I said thank you and hung up.

 

If the A/C works fine, there's no need to clean or flush anything out of the system. Granted, the refrigerant lines and some other components (the evaporator, usually, from my experience) will eventually get clogged over time due to dust and dirt, but that's something that's better dealt with when the time comes that your A/C isn't cooling properly any longer.

 

Of course the other posters are all correct but I add this information:

R134 and R134a refrigerant do not "go bad" or require replacement (unless the air conditioning system has been worked on). Refrigerant only needs to exist in your Fit's AC system to the system's designed capacity and pressure.

A large majority of air conditioning problems result from system leaks (leaking gaseous refrigerant) at connections and corrosion spots within the plumbing. If your AC is up to proper capacity and pressure, there isn't anything wrong. Take your service needs elsewhere.

 

HAAHAH LOL JUSt Laugh at them

 

Ernie Boch Jr?

 

Ask the Manager where this is located in the manual as you don't see it as a recommended or required service. Then ask, if there is a problem, why isn't it covered under warranty... remember, if you maintain the fit properly, BY THE MANUAL, Everything that needs to be done should be warranty work. the Honda Engineers who designed this stuff know waaaaay more than the service departments doing the work.

~SB

 

I would send an email to Honda. This crap needs to be reported to get some pressure put on these rip off dealers. American Honda would not approve of or allow these tactics to continue.

Similar thing happened to my niece who also owns a Fit. Dealer charged her almost $500 for "complete" fluid change. They flushed brake lines, coolant and ATF (but no A/C). She was complaining to me that Honda's are expensive to maintain. I just rolled my eyes as the car only had 30,000 miles on it so everything that was done was unnecessary and overpriced to boot.

_

 

I see it as a sign of the times. Fewer people these days are educated about cars, and almost no one reads the owner's manual. They trust "service advisers" not realizing they're just salespeople. Drives me nuts; I live with gullible people. We spend thousands in unnecessary maintenance over the life of our cars, "Well the service adviser told me we needed to change the oil pan gasket or it might leak!"

If it's any consolation the local Toyota dealer is worse than the local Honda dealer for suckering people.

 

Clearly the auto manufacturers don't see stopping this as a priority or they would do something about it.

 

This requires people to take it to the auto manufacturer as an actual complaint. If People don't do their part, the manufacturer's don't realize it is an issue.

~SB

 

As long as the cars are selling well, the manufacturers aren't going to pressure dealerships to change their service practices. Selling service is where a dealership's profits are. We're doomed (unless daddies start teaching their daughters about valid car maintenance).

 

State franchise laws may also protect the dealer from too much manufacturer pressure in this area, other than warranty work.

Now, someone was sold a power steering flush for a Fit, its time to write the Bureau of Automotive Repair.

 

I didn't notice if you had posted what dealer it is? I would. Dishonesty runs so rampant in the service world that the rats need to be flushed out when we can.

 

That's really sad. I wouldn't trust any work that they do.

Report them, go somewhere else.