[Lucy Harvey]

Looking for help

Purchased new Ody in '09 and within months oil light began coming on. Engine down at least a quart each time. Brought the car back 4 separate times. Each time dealer said it was a "sensor." Last week, without warning engine blew apart on the highway. Cracked block and pistons destroyed. 38k on the car. Towed back to dealer. Now being told this is "hydrolock" and not covered under: (1) the extended warranty we purchased, (2) the 5 year/60 factory warranty or, (3) the bogus "lifetime powertrain warranty" touted by this dealer (College Park Honda). To be clear WE DID NOT DRIVE THE CAR IN ANY FLOODS OR HIGH WATER.

Honda Corporate not much help so far. 10 days, no action. Corporate is "looking into issue" i.e., talking to dealer and will "let me know," at some unidentified time, if they agree with the dealer's unilateral conclusion. I am beyond disappointed and ready to go to court. In the meantime, has anyone out there heard of anything like this happening on a late model Ody? Any suggestions on how to take this up the ladder at Corperate? My customer service person has no power and refuses to provide me with the contact info for the regional rep. All help appreciated. I had heard this dealership (College Park Honda) was not reputable and now I am beginning to believe it.

 

[deepdezal]

Hi Lucy,
Sorry to hear about your engine troubles..

did you check the engine oil level before you added oil??? If you did check, you should have seen some water on the dip-stick...

or did you drive your car through high water?? during the past storm here in MD??


Best of Luck!!

Deep

 

[banswee]

Hi Lucy,
Sorry to hear about your engine troubles..

did you check the engine oil level before you added oil??? If you did check, you should have seen some water on the dip-stick...

or did you drive your car through high water?? during the past storm here in MD??


Best of Luck!!

Deep

just dropping by,

She already stated that she DID NOT drive on flood or high water.. :frown:

just to be clear, how long 'til you notice from the moment you bought the van have the oil leaking issue. You should bring up (good if you still have the records showing you were there) that its been an issue before..

GOOD LUCK!! and go to court

 

[deepdezal]

O'h I do see her note..:dammit:

If you can take pictures of the blown motor..

 

[wild willy]

I can tell you that the Mechanics at my dealer (Shenango Honda) Would not know Hydrolock from Hydrocortisone....if they do not fix it...take it to a real mechanic and see what actually happened, then get a lawyer.

 

[texnnc]

Looking for help

Purchased new Ody in '09 and within months oil light began coming on. Engine down at least a quart each time. Brought the car back 4 separate times. Each time dealer said it was a "sensor." Last week, without warning engine blew apart on the highway. Cracked block and pistons destroyed. 38k on the car. Towed back to dealer. Now being told this is "hydrolock" and not covered under: (1) the extended warranty we purchased, (2) the 5 year/60 factory warranty or, (3) the bogus "lifetime powertrain warranty" touted by this dealer (College Park Honda). To be clear WE DID NOT DRIVE THE CAR IN ANY FLOODS OR HIGH WATER.

Honda Corporate not much help so far. 10 days, no action. Corporate is "looking into issue" i.e., talking to dealer and will "let me know," at some unidentified time, if they agree with the dealer's unilateral conclusion. I am beyond disappointed and ready to go to court. In the meantime, has anyone out there heard of anything like this happening on a late model Ody? Any suggestions on how to take this up the ladder at Corperate? My customer service person has no power and refuses to provide me with the contact info for the regional rep. All help appreciated. I had heard this dealership (College Park Honda) was not reputable and now I am beginning to believe it.

Do you have records documenting oil changes being performed as listed in the owners manual?

 

[OdyinNH]

Ouch, sounds like your dealer is useless. Good luck and don't let up. Make a scene during a busy Saturday if you have to.

 

[davedrivesody]

Your case is very unfortunate, but rare. These engines are very durable. When one dies so early, it's clearly a manufacturing defect. The hydrolock claim is just a devious way of putting you on the defensive. There's no excuse for such treatment of a customer.

Call another dealer. This is clearly warranty and a dealer can make money from Honda by fixing it.

 

[texnnc]

Wow. "Make a scene," "Clearly a manufacturing defect." Dealers want to perform repairs, customer pay or warranty. Not to say that this isn't a warranty concern, but the first thing a service advisor should ask in a case like this should be "where are your maintenance records so I can present them to Honda." If you don't have proof of maintenance it's negligence and if you repair it, Honda will not pay as they shouldn't if that's the case. I'm all for the right course of action if guidelines have been followed.

 

[in4mation]

From what I've read of hydrolock I can't imagine that a running engine would do that on the highway without plowing through high water. The engine heat alone would steam out any water that was there when the engine started. Unless there was some massive coolant leak that dumped water into the engine. Ask them to explain that.

 

[texnnc]

It doesn't take "high water" to hydrolock an engine. If that is the case with the engine, your insurance should address this if you have full coverage. In case anyone doubts this, I handled many cases where that happened in Texas where flash flooding was bad. It's an accident and the insurance would take care of it. You would have to contact your insurance company and have an adjuster get in contact with the dealer to coordinate the inspection and claim check. Your agent can go over this in more detail.

Hi Lucy,
Sorry to hear about your engine troubles..

did you check the engine oil level before you added oil??? If you did check, you should have seen some water on the dip-stick...

or did you drive your car through high water?? during the past storm here in MD??


Best of Luck!!

Deep

 

[MartyL]

This is garbage!

I just purchased an '05 Odyssey last month so I am new to this site but the more I read the more I am becoming convinced that Honda is building crap over the past maybe 10 years and is trying to make owners pay for it. I have owned a '93 Accord and a '95 Odyssey, both of which were wonderful vehicles. These newer generation Odysseys are expensive to buy, expensive to own and expensive to repair. It seems that American Honda is trying to cheat owners out of everything they can. I have read about the motor mount issue, the AC condensor stone issue, the transmission issue, the poor fuel mileage issue ( I get 15 city and 19 hwy). These kinds of things are why I quit buying American cars many years ago. I got tired of being cheated. I am begining to seriously regret that I bought this vehicle. Judging from what I see here I will not be buying Hondas anymore.

In relation to your engine if Honda tries to get out of this I would absolutely sue them. As I said in my title - this is garbage!!!!!!!!!!

 

[wild willy]

Marty.....Just be sure to tell everyone you know that Honda stinks.......I sure do

 

[texnnc]

Let's all get on board and bash Honda.

Oh, and my family loves our Odyssey.

 

[wild willy]

That is a great pic......Made me laugh....!!

 

[dvpatel]

That is a great pic......Made me laugh....!!

Yeah. Me too. Some one photochopped a horse into the OfficeSpace beat the crap out of the printers shot.

 

[psu ody fan]

Yeah. Me too. Some one photochopped a horse into the OfficeSpace beat the crap out of the printers shot.

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta!! D

 

[OdyinNH]

Wow. "Make a scene," "Clearly a manufacturing defect." Dealers want to perform repairs, customer pay or warranty. Not to say that this isn't a warranty concern, but the first thing a service advisor should ask in a case like this should be "where are your maintenance records so I can present them to Honda." If you don't have proof of maintenance it's negligence and if you repair it, Honda will not pay as they shouldn't if that's the case. I'm all for the right course of action if guidelines have been followed.

Did you read the first post? It's been to the dealership multiple times for oil issues and has NEVER been in deep water. How can it be blamed on the owner? What more could they have done?

 

[texnnc]

Did you read the first post? It's been to the dealership multiple times for oil issues and has NEVER been in deep water. How can it be blamed on the owner? What more could they have done?

I can read just fine, thank you. I can add & subtract too. She purchased the van new in '09. Now let's see 9 minus 11, that's 2, yup, 2 years ago. Hmmm, oil light came on months after purchase. Oh my, was that at 5,000 or 10,000 miles. Well, gee, we don't know 'cos she didn't say. Did she even get an oil change. Was it recommended, was it declined. Makes you think or it should make you think. Now she's at 38k or 38,000 miles. I wonder how many oil changes she's had. WE DON'T KNOW! So while everyone is jumping on the bandwagon that Honda is the anti-christ, the original person that posted this hasn't even given additional information to support her cause.

And for the hydrolock. What one person thinks is high water is just a puddle It can be truly amazing how peoples' views on things and perceptions can be off, by a lot in some cases.

A dealership has no trouble covering a warranty repair if there is documentation showing that the vehicle has been maintained and there is not negligence or some act of God.

 

[dvpatel]

Can we please simmer thi down a bit? Honestly, the engine should NOT blow even if no oil changes were done for all of the 38K so I don't see how this is somehow OP's fault. Its OK to question here and there but I would be downright STUNNED if the OP had no oil changes etc while in warranty.