2016 LX 6spd manual
Hit a large rock while in a field with long grass a couple of months back. No fuel leaks or apparent damage at the time, but when I next filled up the fuel gauge stayed on full even as gas was used.

Took it to the local honda dealer yesterday. Appears that the rock pushed the pump upwards and slightly bent the travel rods, and left a small dent on the outside of the tank and some discolouration.

Apparently $2600 in parts to replace new. I plan to just fix it myself as the dealer wanted to sell new to me. Thinking of just bending the rods back straight and leaving the dent as is.

Reckon the dent could deteriorate over time? And anyone see an issue with my planned approach?

Cheers!

 

Have you examined the exterior of the tank yourself? I'm pretty sure there's a guard underneath the tank, so you might have to remove that to see the tank, but if it's not leaking and if you can get the fuel level float functioning again, I probably wouldn't worry about it.

Even if you wanted to get it repaired, $2600 seems ridiculously overpriced to me. As your pictures demonstrate, it's easy to remove the fuel pump and the tank is very accessible from underneath the car. Unless a new tank and pump cost >$2400, I'm not sure how they're coming up with that price. I would definitely get additional estimates from one or more independent mechanics, including if you provide the parts yourself. You might also call scrap yards to see if you can find a used tank.

 

just the tank and fuel pump at a discount from Bernardi Honda would run you around $ 2440 . the tank alone is $1763 . .i think i paid around $ 400 for a new tank for my '02 SI ( mine got pierced )
maybe you could try popping out the dent . make sure nothing else involving the pump or the seals was deformed

 

So an update on this - I took the pump out myself and have fixed the issue.

Quick description of the original problem as I've diagnosed it
- drove over a rock, which pushed the fuel tank upwards underneath the fuel pump.
- The fuel pump was pushed up so far that the washer/clip at the end of the rails got caught on the plastic lip at the bottom of the pump.
- the pump couldn't travel downwards as the washers on either side of the rails were holding it at the top of the tank
- originally the fuel gauge worked fine, but after the first fill after the rock strike it stayed on full permanently. Still don't know why it did this.

Mechanic at Destination Honda in Vancouver took the pump out, didn't fix or alter anything, and replaced it as is. Charged $400 for this.

I removed the pump today, and popped the rails back into the tracks on either side of the pump. While straightforward, accessing the fuel pump took about 2hrs to take off and then replace afterwards. The fix was very straightforward. I did this by hand in 30 seconds. The fuel float and potentiometer is working as described in the manual - I used a multimeter to check the resistance - it's the same as in the manual.

Lessons learned:
- only go to service shops where you're dealing directly with the mechanic. No salespeople involved (destination honda's "service specialists" are mechanically untrained salespeople who get paid commissions on service work, hence why they were so pushy about the $4k repair and so blustery about the actual issues).
- for the purposes of the fuel system, the 3rd gen appears to be very similar to the previous gen fits. I only had access to the service manual that's published on this site for free and it was bang on correct for my fix.
- If you wanted to fix the under-reading on the fuel gauge (eg there's heaps of gas left when the fuel light comes on), you could just bend the fuel float arm down a wee bit. Not sure exactly how much you'd want to do this, would require some experimenting. Would also mean the indicator stays on full for longer. I've seen a few people complaining about this in other threads.
- one special tool is required to take the fuel pump out - a fuel pump removal tool for undoing the locking cap/gasket holding the pump into the tank. There is a genuine tool you can buy which is over $100. Or you can just buy a cheap generic one like I did for $20 on amazon. This one worked.