Bought a USED 2003 Honda CR-V LX AWD 5 Speed (build date 09/2002) in
December 2005. Paid for a 1 year full warranty on this Honda Certified
vehicle. Well, that is expired.

Going down the road at 40 Mph, March 25th, Sunday, the AC suddenly quit
with a loud BANG and saw the AC clutch fly out the rear under the vehicle.

Dropped it off at Courtesy Honda, Service on April 3, 2007.
they looked it over and saw that it would require replacement of
everything in the AC system due to contamination.

In Florida, one really needs AC. Courtesy Honda of Sanford called the
Honda Motor Company, who authorized full 100% payment!
Picked up a rental car, also! WOW!

The total of the work order was $1,892.50. Honda funded ONE THOUSAND
EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY TWO DOLLARS and FIFTY CENTS in Air Conditioner
Repairs and the rental vehicle!

Look, we have owned dozens of Honda cars and motorcycles, both of us
having retired from the US Air Force, and having served in Asia, Europe,
Japan, and, on Oahu, Hawaii.

I have owned car dealerships, and garages, over two decades. The
service we have received is exemplary!

We have owned over 100 cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Honda is the
first manufacturer of motor vehicles who actually cares about the
customer, in our experience of vehicle ownership, since 1964.

Over the past 14 months, four of our friends and relatives have bought
Hondas, on our recommendations.

We picked up our CR-V on April 4, and found that everything was great,
PLUS, Courtesy Honda of Sanford washed and detailed our CR-V!

WOW, again!

 

"Linuxiac" <"2"@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4614e9e1$0$8984$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Bought a USED 2003 Honda CR-V LX AWD 5 Speed (build date 09/2002) in
> December 2005. Paid for a 1 year full warranty on this Honda Certified
> vehicle. Well, that is expired.
>
> Going down the road at 40 Mph, March 25th, Sunday, the AC suddenly quit
> with a loud BANG and saw the AC clutch fly out the rear under the vehicle.
>
> Dropped it off at Courtesy Honda, Service on April 3, 2007.
> they looked it over and saw that it would require replacement of
> everything in the AC system due to contamination.
>
> In Florida, one really needs AC. Courtesy Honda of Sanford called the
> Honda Motor Company, who authorized full 100% payment!
> Picked up a rental car, also! WOW!
>
> The total of the work order was $1,892.50. Honda funded ONE THOUSAND
> EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY TWO DOLLARS and FIFTY CENTS in Air Conditioner
> Repairs and the rental vehicle!
>
> Look, we have owned dozens of Honda cars and motorcycles, both of us
> having retired from the US Air Force, and having served in Asia, Europe,
> Japan, and, on Oahu, Hawaii.
>
> I have owned car dealerships, and garages, over two decades. The service
> we have received is exemplary!
>
> We have owned over 100 cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Honda is the first
> manufacturer of motor vehicles who actually cares about the customer, in
> our experience of vehicle ownership, since 1964.
>
> Over the past 14 months, four of our friends and relatives have bought
> Hondas, on our recommendations.
>
> We picked up our CR-V on April 4, and found that everything was great,
> PLUS, Courtesy Honda of Sanford washed and detailed our CR-V!
>
> WOW, again!
>
>

That's great news, all right! Congratulations, and thanks for following up
with us.

Mike

 

Michael Pardee wrote:

> "Linuxiac" <"2"@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:4614e9e1$0$8984$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>
>>Bought a USED 2003 Honda CR-V LX AWD 5 Speed (build date 09/2002) in
>>December 2005. Paid for a 1 year full warranty on this Honda Certified
>>vehicle. Well, that is expired.
>>
>>Going down the road at 40 Mph, March 25th, Sunday, the AC suddenly quit
>>with a loud BANG and saw the AC clutch fly out the rear under the vehicle.
>>
>>Dropped it off at Courtesy Honda, Service on April 3, 2007.
>>they looked it over and saw that it would require replacement of
>>everything in the AC system due to contamination.
>>
>>In Florida, one really needs AC. Courtesy Honda of Sanford called the
>>Honda Motor Company, who authorized full 100% payment!
>>Picked up a rental car, also! WOW!
>>
>>The total of the work order was $1,892.50. Honda funded ONE THOUSAND
>>EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY TWO DOLLARS and FIFTY CENTS in Air Conditioner
>>Repairs and the rental vehicle!
>>
>>Look, we have owned dozens of Honda cars and motorcycles, both of us
>>having retired from the US Air Force, and having served in Asia, Europe,
>>Japan, and, on Oahu, Hawaii.
>>
>>I have owned car dealerships, and garages, over two decades. The service
>>we have received is exemplary!
>>
>>We have owned over 100 cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Honda is the first
>>manufacturer of motor vehicles who actually cares about the customer, in
>>our experience of vehicle ownership, since 1964.
>>
>>Over the past 14 months, four of our friends and relatives have bought
>>Hondas, on our recommendations.
>>
>>We picked up our CR-V on April 4, and found that everything was great,
>>PLUS, Courtesy Honda of Sanford washed and detailed our CR-V!
>>
>>WOW, again!
>>
>>
>
>
> That's great news, all right! Congratulations, and thanks for following up
> with us.
>
> Mike
>
>

Yeah... Try and get that consideration for GM, etc. I still think that
someone overcharged the system though...

JT

 

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:20:58 -0400, Linuxiac <"2"@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I have owned car dealerships, and garages, over two decades. The
>service we have received is exemplary!

Had a similar story about my Dad's Accord, oh, about twenty years ago.
Did have to appeal to the factory rep before Honda picked up the tab,
on a failed steering mechanism just out of warranty, but yes, they did
stand behind it.

I would guess it's especially in the manufacturer's interest to show
this extra care for problems that involve explosions, parts flying
around, or cars veering out of control ... but even so, even so.

J.

 

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:20:58 -0400, Linuxiac <"2"@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Bought a USED 2003 Honda CR-V LX AWD 5 Speed (build date 09/2002) in
>December 2005. Paid for a 1 year full warranty on this Honda Certified
>vehicle. Well, that is expired.
>
>Going down the road at 40 Mph, March 25th, Sunday, the AC suddenly quit
>with a loud BANG and saw the AC clutch fly out the rear under the vehicle.
>
<snip>
>
>We picked up our CR-V on April 4, and found that everything was great,
>PLUS, Courtesy Honda of Sanford washed and detailed our CR-V!
>
>WOW, again!

Glad to hear it. Do you think the fact that it was a "Certified" car
made a difference in the consideration you received? Or are they
covering this as a known problem on all low mileage cars?

Thanks for providing the build date also.

 

Gordon McGrew wrote:
> On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:20:58 -0400, Linuxiac <"2"@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Bought a USED 2003 Honda CR-V LX AWD 5 Speed (build date 09/2002) in
>> December 2005. Paid for a 1 year full warranty on this Honda Certified
>> vehicle. Well, that is expired.
>>
>> Going down the road at 40 Mph, March 25th, Sunday, the AC suddenly quit
>> with a loud BANG and saw the AC clutch fly out the rear under the vehicle.
>>
> <snip>
>> We picked up our CR-V on April 4, and found that everything was great,
>> PLUS, Courtesy Honda of Sanford washed and detailed our CR-V!
>>
>> WOW, again!
>
> Glad to hear it. Do you think the fact that it was a "Certified" car
> made a difference in the consideration you received? Or are they
> covering this as a known problem on all low mileage cars?
>
> Thanks for providing the build date also.

OK. There are two of you who have doubts or questions.

JXStern has a valid question, that it might have been overcharged. We
have absolutely no info on that, because I never put my guages on the
system, and we had good, cool air from our first view of the car,
pre-sale, in December 2005, until it blew suddenly, March 25th, 2007.


Then, Gordon, you wonder if it having been a HONDA Certified vehicle had
anything to do with anything. I have to say no, because there wasn't
any mention by the service advisor, about anything except that he stated
to the factory rep. that we were diehard Honda owners, which perhaps he
could see, in our sales files, as we have received rewards ($100) each
time we recommended someone buy a Honda, and they did.

There was no mention of anything except that the Honda Motor Co. would
pay the shot, including the rental of an Enterprise car, because we
are Honda 'promoters'!

In all honesty, I expected to have to pay the shot, and it would have
been a surprise to our budget, but, that was honestly how we do our
business.

I do know that word of mouth can make a corporation successful, or
bankrupt. And, as you know, now, I have a belief in sharing my
experiences.

I have seen a lot of business dealings with cars, houses, and computers,
and watched some of the businesses in those endeavors totally fail due
to poor public relations and word of mouth.

My honest opinion is that Honda is one of the foremost business
operations, with a stable record over several decades, of customer
service.

Others auto makers did have good fandom but blew it with crappy QC, or
shortcuts to save a nickel here or a dime there. I did at one time love
Mopar products, but their crappy fit, finish, and assembly cost me too
much frustration when I ordered their new trucks in the Air Force for my
own private vehicle, and I had to do the brakes, New Process Gear
transfer case (bent low range gear before assembly!), mis-configured
engine harness connector, and lived with broken parts, miserable paint,
all as delivered from the factory.

I had previously 'sold' 25 Dodge and Chrysler, Plymouth cars and trucks,
just through my like of them. Since 1980, I have dissuaded at least 200
sales of Mopar products, because they pissed me off. I spent over $2500
of my own money to fix major drivetrain problems, and that was for
parts, that I changed!

Gee, I sure miss my 1950 Hudson Hornet, my 1953 and 1954 Chevy Bel Air!
And, my 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe, with the 268CID hemi engine!
Those cars were built when American assembly lines had Quality!

It died about 1960, with the rise of the 'corporate cars' like when GM
dictated design of Chevy cars, etc. and only VW, Honda, Toyota, and
other 'foreigner Marques' building factories here in America actually
brought it back!

 

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:05:19 -0400, Linuxiac <"2"@yahoo.com> wrote:

>OK. There are two of you who have doubts or questions.
>
>JXStern has a valid question, that it might have been overcharged.

Pardon, I believe that was Grumpy.


>Gee, I sure miss my 1950 Hudson Hornet, my 1953 and 1954 Chevy Bel Air!
>And, my 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe, with the 268CID hemi engine!
>Those cars were built when American assembly lines had Quality!

OMG, not. Before my time, really, but the design and reliability of
all and any cars back in those days was horrible, compared to today.
Points and carbs and bias-ply tires and loose-tolerance builds and
dealer-prep final QA and pre-finite-element-analysis engineering and
solid rear axles and solid steering columns and horrible exhaust and
steel wheels and tube radios and no tapes or CDs much less video! And
drum brakes and external windshield visors and pushrod engines, and
you had to double the purchase price of the car on service, including
valve and cylinder jobs, to have a chance to see 100k miles.

OK, you got free service and maps at the gas stations, but that hardly
reflects on the quality of the cars!

J.

 

JXStern wrote:

> On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:05:19 -0400, Linuxiac <"2"@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>>OK. There are two of you who have doubts or questions.
>>
>>JXStern has a valid question, that it might have been overcharged.
>
>
> Pardon, I believe that was Grumpy.
>
>
>
>>Gee, I sure miss my 1950 Hudson Hornet, my 1953 and 1954 Chevy Bel Air!
>>And, my 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe, with the 268CID hemi engine!
>>Those cars were built when American assembly lines had Quality!
>
>
> OMG, not. Before my time, really, but the design and reliability of
> all and any cars back in those days was horrible, compared to today.
> Points and carbs and bias-ply tires and loose-tolerance builds and
> dealer-prep final QA and pre-finite-element-analysis engineering and
> solid rear axles and solid steering columns and horrible exhaust and
> steel wheels and tube radios and no tapes or CDs much less video! And
> drum brakes and external windshield visors and pushrod engines, and
> you had to double the purchase price of the car on service, including
> valve and cylinder jobs, to have a chance to see 100k miles.
>
> OK, you got free service and maps at the gas stations, but that hardly
> reflects on the quality of the cars!
>
> J.
>


I have a 1964 Studebaker T-Cab long bed with over 300K on it and it has
had one engine refresh (about 100K ago) which has never left me
stranded. Follow the recommended maintenance regimen and many miles of
trouble free driving would occur. The simplicity of build permitted a
"fix" on the road in case of failure which is not the case with today's
modern tin, er, plastic.

Change points every three years and plugs at 50K. Coils were good for
the life of the car. Oh, radiators back then were real as opposed to
the short life/immediate failure properties of today's plastic crap.

Not a thing wrong with steel wheels. Much less of a hassle than alloy
any day. Well maintained drum brakes are fine. Dual cylinder conversion
kits are available for most vintage cars.

Those "push rod" engines with solid lifters went a 100K between
adjustments. Alternator/generator change out; around ten to fifteen
minutes. Water pump change out (on a Studebaker V8); fifteen to thirty
minutes.

Now, I will admit that Japanese bodies are far superior, seats have come
a long way (for all manufacturers). The exhaust system on my '82/83
Civics is superbly designed. In fact, the engineering on the whole car
is excellent for ease of maintenance/repair.

My "fancy" car is a 1955 Studebaker President sedan with a 259 V8,
Studebaker Automatic Drive (later used by Mercedes and Jaguar), with
Lincoln Versailles seats (almost a perfect fit). This car gets 26+ mpg
on the highway and waits for no one.

I long for the simplicity of yesteryear coupled with today's comfort and
convenience but thanks to the guv'ment, never shall this occur...

JT

(Who believes computers belong on desktops and laps, not in cars!)

 

On Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:32:10 GMT, Grumpy AuContraire
<Grumpy@ExtraGrumpyville.com> wrote:


>I have a 1964 Studebaker T-Cab long bed with over 300K on it and it has
>had one engine refresh (about 100K ago) which has never left me
>stranded. Follow the recommended maintenance regimen and many miles of
>trouble free driving would occur.

Amid just how much blue smoke?

> The simplicity of build permitted a
>"fix" on the road in case of failure which is not the case with today's
>modern tin, er, plastic.

I drove my folks 1964 Buick, 1966 Mustang, friends had various cars of
1950s and 1960s vintage, but my first car was a 1971 Fiat Sport Coupe,
1600cc with nothing more complicated than an EGR valve. With
indifferent service from me and various garages, the Fiat gave 90k of
good service, even after I bought it used with a sticky valve, and a
chronic slow gas leak from the fuel pump membrane.

It was fun to zip around in, but engineering-wise it was like a
skateboard compared to a modern Honda, especially in terms of comfort
and handling.

And I (temporarily) fixed a broken accelerator linkage in a later Alfa
by using a shoelace. With immense amounts of scheduled service, not
to mention a quart of oil poured in the tank with every gas fillup,
the Alfa was fun, too, but I gasp at the technology's ugliness, in
retrospect.

Tell ya one thing, tho, the Fiat weighed barely 2000 pounds, compared
to even a Civic's 3800. Yes the Fiat was smaller, but hey it had wind
wings!

>
>Change points every three years and plugs at 50K. Coils were good for
>the life of the car. Oh, radiators back then were real as opposed to
>the short life/immediate failure properties of today's plastic crap.

My Honda has a plastic radiator?

>Not a thing wrong with steel wheels.

Unsprung weight.

>Much less of a hassle than alloy
>any day. Well maintained drum brakes are fine. Dual cylinder conversion
>kits are available for most vintage cars.
>
>Those "push rod" engines with solid lifters went a 100K between
>adjustments.

But didn't like to be spun much over 4k. Modern Accords are genius at
running a small engine at low revs, but they can still run to 6k
redlines no problem.

> Alternator/generator change out; around ten to fifteen
>minutes. Water pump change out (on a Studebaker V8); fifteen to thirty
>minutes.

How many?

>Now, I will admit that Japanese bodies are far superior, seats have come
>a long way (for all manufacturers). The exhaust system on my '82/83
>Civics is superbly designed. In fact, the engineering on the whole car
>is excellent for ease of maintenance/repair.

Handling and ride are much, much better.

>My "fancy" car is a 1955 Studebaker President sedan with a 259 V8,
>Studebaker Automatic Drive (later used by Mercedes and Jaguar), with
>Lincoln Versailles seats (almost a perfect fit). This car gets 26+ mpg
>on the highway and waits for no one.

No one wants to ride in your trail of smoke.

>I long for the simplicity of yesteryear coupled with today's comfort and
>convenience but thanks to the guv'ment, never shall this occur...
>
>JT
>
>(Who believes computers belong on desktops and laps, not in cars!)

Grumpy, you have driven cars of recent vintage, I hope?
Computer-controlled ignition is nothing short of a quantum jump from
the elder days ... even if it keeps you from opening the throttle,
really winding it out, and polluting a few daisies. But that's Honda,
Beemers have a lot less of that kind of problem!

J.