So I heard back from the dealership. The short block came in, but the alternator is fried, radiator is blown, and the head may need replacing. They're unsure if this will be covered by the warranty.

 

If that's all downstream damage then they should cover it as it was caused by the warrantied failure.

 

So Honda refuses to warranty anything else. Turns out, the shop that did my oil changes, according to the service person I spoke with, was the wrong oil which caused the damage. Apparently the shop used half synthetic instead of fully synthetic.

Long story short, since I wasn't going to pay $3500 to do the repairs, I ended up getting a trade in value on the car and bought a new used car. I requested the documentation on their oil analysis and such so I can bring it to my lawyer (family member of mine) and see if it's worth going after the shop (or whomever) or not.

 

So end of the day, Honda told you to get F**ked like they did to me. I hope you didn't buy another Honda?

 

Honda specifies that anything other than full synthetic oil violates the warranty? That's a new one on me (but I don't own a 3rd Gen. Fit).

 

Honda specifies that for the current generation Fit you must use 0W16 or 0W20 (from any qualified manufacturer). As far as I know those grades are only available in full synthetic. If you use any oil which is conventional or semi-synthetic then you must be putting a thicker grade of oil - probably 5W30 conventional or semi-synthetic - into your car, and yes, that voids your car warranty if Honda notices it. Of course once you're off warranty you can do whatever you want.

So, not only did the garage use a "half synthetic" blend of oil which does not provide the protection of a full synthetic oil, but it would also have been the wrong grade of oil because blends are only available in thicker grades (as far as I know) which would have caused poor circulation of oil in the engine. Whether this was really the cause of your engine failure is debatable, but Honda is within their rights in choosing to make an issue of it.

 

Pretty much, but if that's in their warranty clause, that's their right. They shouldn't be on the hook for someone else's mistake (neither should I), though you'd think that they would help someone who's family spent over $150,000 on their vehicles in the last 5 years, when it would probably cost them less than $2000.

I did buy another Honda (2016 Civic), but Honda themselves won't see a dime from it. They aren't the financial institution, and it's not a new car.

I'm assuming so. They wouldn't budge.

Honestly, I should've listened to my instincts about the shop. When I had my tires replaced last year, they said "oh we couldn't get your tire pressure indicator to turn off". I went across the street and put some air in my tire and oddly, the light went out. The time before that I had gone in for an oil change and I had to have some sensor or filter replaced afterward because it came out with a magical CEL that wasn't there beforehand. Brought it to the dealership and they fixed it (like a $500 part or series of parts, I don't recall). I asked them if it was due to the service done on my car, they said "no, it's probably just a coincidence".

Guess I'm going to just over pay at the dealership for oil changes.

 

I'm about 30k miles out of warranty, every thing is still running well, i continue to trust that honda knew what oil the car needed (for good measure i still change it at 5k miles no matter what 15kor20k it's rated for). And other such budding fanboy pandering....

Yuuup, yet honda has your money, and so does the lender...

Lol. As for the oil change c.y.a. measure:
i've kept every receipt for every oil bottle and filter i've bought for the car. More to that each time i've changed the oil/filters, i've taken a photo of several dash readings next to the receipt (total mileage, mileage since last change, and cars estimated oil life percent). Not that it matters since i'm so far out of warranty, and don't plan on selling the car anytime soon... So... Idk. I'm sorry for your pain?

 

I used to keep the receipts for the oil/filter as I do my own oil changes, but after passing the 60k powertrain warranty I don't bother with all that anymore.

Honestly though, I won't be buying anymore Hondas. The Fit was my first one and I had some Q/C issues early on that I had to get corrected at the dealer under warranty. It has the VTC start up noise that I'm not bothering on fixing since I'm at 90K. If it breaks it breaks and I wont' be replaced with another Honda. I saw another thread someone paid to get it repaired themselves and it was almost 1k. And I've seen threads where people got it repaired under warranty and the noise came back later. So no thanks.

My big issue is on my 2013 Odyssey, the second Honda I bought. It has the paint warranty extension and I'm working on Honda to repair it. They are fixing the rear hatch where paint is just flaking off, but they are not willing to do anything on the sliding door that has the same issue. Car was a painted in the same plant so not sure why the are only targeting certain body panels. They want to charge me $550 fix the sliding door and I ain't paying. I told them they don't stand behind their product and they've lost a customer for life. I'm going back to Toyota.

BTW, the GK also has the paint warranty and my car is covered on it. So far the paint is fine, but who knows for how long.

 

So you would rather experience the peeling white paint issues that Toyota owners are currently going through?

 

Nope, no more white cars for me. The Odyssey was used so it was what was available. Same with the Fit I bought, I didn't care for the Red or the dark grey options available at the lot.

My point was the manufacturer didn't stand behind their product. I had a Toyota Tacoma that they bought back from me under the frame recall warranty. They paid me 150% of the KBB excellent value for a vehicle I paid $2500 for. So I got over $5k. Honda could at least repaint a door panel...

 

Actually Honda has a 0w20 synthetic blend, and the Honda dealer near me uses it by default.

 

Yeah, am pretty sure my Honda dealer uses the blend here by default too. Doesn't concern me much most years I don't put much more than 5 or 6 thousand miles on it so it gets changed on a yearly basis.

 

You're absolutely right, much to my surprise. Pennzoil produces a 0W20 synthetic/conventional oil blend now which I would guess is what's bottled under the Honda name. I still don't see what the purpose of this is nor would I want to use it without a better understanding of what it's supposed to accomplish and what the disadvantages are.