HONDA

My wife took her Honda Pilot to the dealership today for an oil change. I normally do all the service on our vehicles however with the Pilot we have an extended warranty and they recommend letting them do it. (yes of course they would......) however due to record keeping and price and convenience i let them do the first service. specifically asked for Mobil 1 full synthetic (which they charged me for). Noticed a few days ago when i looked at the sticker they put in the window while driving the car it had synthetic blend in it Honda brand. Today she took it in for an oil change before our trip down to the sjrr. i explained to the service writer about the confusion with the last oil change he reimbursed me $24.00. Then told me it needed its 15k mi service. I thought ok. well this guy told me that it would include full synthetic oil and filter. windshield wipers. Check the trans fluid. Belts and hoses grease the entire front end and grease points rotate tires adjust brakes and check pad wear. and top off all fluids. Now the part im pissed about. This guy told me that they would also change the rear Diff fluid for the 4 wheel drive because the pilot is front wheel drive but has a drive shaft with cv axles in the rear that locks when you engage. when i crawled under the car tonight. That plug has never had a wrench on it spare tire has to be removed to do this service and it had not been touched either. wife paid $328.00 for this and they weren't even courteous enough to use wiper fluid just water. now its got me wondering if they even did anything but change the oil which i know they did because the oil is clean. anyone else had this experience needless to say im pissed because i dont mind paying for the job as long as they DO THE JOB!!!!! what should i do

Call the regional service rep. Throw a fit. You'll get hooked up. Also, call the owner not he manager of the dealership. Last time I checked Honda usually used Mobile 1.

SN206 wrote: Call the regional service rep. Throw a fit. You'll get hooked up. Also, call the owner not he manager of the dealership. Last time I checked Honda usually used Mobile 1.

+ 1. I'd act like you just spent over $300.00 for nothing but an oil change.

Bri892001 wrote: sweet77 wrote: ...Belts and hoses grease the entire front end and grease points rotate tires adjust brakes and check pad wear. and top off all fluids. Now the part im pissed about...now its got me wondering if they even did anything but change the oil which i know they did because the oil is clean. anyone else had this experience needless to say im pissed because i dont mind paying for the job as long as they DO THE JOB!!!!! what should i do "Greasing the Front End" suggests that the front end has zerk fittings... which I'd be surprised if it did. I've never been under a Pilot, but I've been under more than a few Hondas and I've never seen a zerk anywhere. Zerks are getting rarer and rarer and live mostly on domestic full size trucks. You could check for yourself around the ball joints and tie rod ends. Sometimes drive shaft universal joints would have them. But I'm guessing on a Honda those would be sealed in a rubber boot more like a front wheel drive universal joint.

According to a Honda Pilot owners site the Pilot has CV joints, not universal joints both front and rear, just like most light duty SUVs. CV joints are sealed by a rubber boost and are not serviceable.

Hollywood wrote: I'm not so sure how much of a Honda issue this is, versus your specific dealership.

+1... but also I think that dealer saw you coming... I'd pitch a royal fit about the lube on the front end.   I currently own 3 hondas, and have had 5 others in the last few years... none of them had grease fittings on the front. Ditto on the CV joints... unless they pulled the axle, they can't service the joints properly.   

sweet77 wrote: what should i do

cut your losses, buy american

Yeah, I think a lot of places try to pull the old "adjust the brakes etc." You don't really adjust brakes on modern cars either. Maybe the emergency brake? They adjust themselves. All you can do is inspect the pad material and then replace pads rotors etc. if they are worn.

I would like to share this dealership story.
My friend called me three weeks ago to look at his daughters 88,000 mile Honda Accord. She is a young college student working to pay her way. She had taken the Accord to the dealership several times and had paid somewhere around $2,500 dollars for repairs, most recently they installed a new radiator, thermostat, flushed the cooling system and some other services because the car was losing coolant and running rough. When I looked at it the car was still losing coolant and running rough and the MIL was on. The exhaust smelled nice and sweet. No surprise, I found that #2 and #3 had compression of 65-75#. Diagnosis, blown head gasket. My friend is very skilled and runs an honest repair shop.$1,400 dollars later the car was fixed properly. Now let the dealership drama begin.

When I take my car to be serviced (usually only because I don't have the time to do myself) before I ever leave the lot I check their work. If it is a simple oil change, I check the oil and filter to make sure it is full to the line and the filter is new. Most of the time this kind of pisses off the workers, but I do not care and the next time I take it there, I know they will remember me and do it right.