Bad morning for cars in my life.. long
Got in the 2001 Prelude this morning (40K miles). Started it and hit AC
button about the same time and the bugger stalled and all the lights came on. Cranked but wouldn't start. Sounded a bit weak as well. Did the 'if you had a carb & flooded it routine' i.e., floored it and cranked. It limped alive but weakly. Let it build up some rpm's then hit the AC button (80deg & 91% humidity at 8AM). No joy. The AC was dead. The night before I went to pick my daughter up at the mall. The mall lot was flooded from downpours (police, emergency, fire, camera crews, etc.). Some cars had water up to their windows. I skirted the flood (did hit some shallow water at speed that splashed a bit (noted a strange ping)and drove on. Took her home w/o incident. I decided to leave the the Prelude in the garage and got in the '91 Integra (AC repaired last month). Drove a few blocks and the oil light came on. This car has 140K miles and never burned a drop of oil. Called my 18yr old daughter and asked her if she noticed a light on her r/t to Chicago 2 weeks ago (388 mi). She said no, nor on the brief errand she ran the day before. Stopped at Jiffy lube and they added 2-2.5 qts (they had changed the oil 1000 mi earlier). There was a bit of oil around the valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket. I drove it to work. I'll follow the oil on this one just to make sure they hadn't underfilled it the first time. What's this gasket work gonna cost me at a dealer? Cheers. p.s life is good on other days. |
Get the VC gasket fixed first... will be expensive at the dealer, maybe
$150-200? Not sure. Any shade tree mechanic should be able to do this job in 20 mins easy. VC gasket leaks are notorious for getting blown all over the engine making you think it's leaking from several places. The oil pan gasket is a more difficult and expensive fix... might have to remove the cross member (not too familiar w/ 'ludes), then you have to let the gasket material cure overnight, etc. Figure several hundred at a dealer for that one. Hope this helps, Good luck. |
I always expect some pain when going to a dealer. They usually do a
proper fix though (hte one I've been using at least). All the money I've saved not going to dealers for their expensive check-ups is the fund I use to pay to fix things that go wrong. I usually come out ahead with this approach. Thanks for the heads-up. I do a lot less myself these days. No time. No desire. |
finding z0 wrote:
> Got in the 2001 Prelude this morning (40K miles). Started it and hit AC > button about the same time and the bugger stalled and all the lights > came on. Cranked but wouldn't start. Sounded a bit weak as well. Did > the 'if you had a carb & flooded it routine' i.e., floored it and > cranked. It limped alive but weakly. Let it build up some rpm's then > hit the AC button (80deg & 91% humidity at 8AM). No joy. The AC was > dead. The night before I went to pick my daughter up at the mall. The > mall lot was flooded from downpours (police, emergency, fire, camera > crews, etc.). Some cars had water up to their windows. I skirted the > flood (did hit some shallow water at speed that splashed a bit (noted a > strange ping)and drove on. Took her home w/o incident. > I decided to leave the the Prelude in the garage and got in the '91 > Integra (AC repaired last month). Drove a few blocks and the oil light > came on. This car has 140K miles and never burned a drop of oil. > Called my 18yr old daughter and asked her if she noticed a light on her > r/t to Chicago 2 weeks ago (388 mi). She said no, nor on the brief > errand she ran the day before. Stopped at Jiffy lube and they added > 2-2.5 qts (they had changed the oil 1000 mi earlier). There was a bit > of oil around the valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket. I drove it to > work. I'll follow the oil on this one just to make sure they hadn't > underfilled it the first time. What's this gasket work gonna cost me at > a dealer? > Cheers. > p.s life is good on other days. > both gaskets are cheap. you can change them yourself. but i doubt they're the issue - if this car had leaked 2.5 quarts, there would be oil all over the place, including the floor of your garage, all under the car, it would be a real mess. if it had burned 2.5 quarts, you'd see the smoke. /much/ more likely the jiffy-monkey did not fill it properly. |
That's what I was thinking or they overfilled it and she burst a gasket
on the Chi. trip, or it was just time for the gasket to let go. This eve leaving work, I was looking for an oil spot. I wasn't disappointed. I could see the oil stream from 75 ft away. At least a qt.or 1.5. I tried to get a tow. Would've had to wait too long (AAA). Decided there was enough oil to drive to the dealer (closed). Ended up driving home. The oil was just above the bottom mark. The oil light stayed off on the way home. Taking it in Thurs. The Prelude started and the AC came on? We'll see in the morn. Cheers |
finding z0 wrote:
> That's what I was thinking or they overfilled it and she burst a gasket > on the Chi. trip, or it was just time for the gasket to let go. > This eve leaving work, I was looking for an oil spot. I wasn't > disappointed. I could see the oil stream from 75 ft away. At least a > qt.or 1.5. I tried to get a tow. Would've had to wait too long (AAA). > Decided there was enough oil to drive to the dealer (closed). Ended up > driving home. The oil was just above the bottom mark. The oil light > stayed off on the way home. Taking it in Thurs. The Prelude started > and the AC came on? We'll see in the morn. Cheers > check under the oil filter. if the jiffy-monkeys forgot to make sure the old gasket was removed, you'll get double gasketing and dramatic "streaming" failure like you describe. |
Interesting. I never changed the oil on this baby as it was hard to get
to the bolt. I have til thurs. to check it out. Minus picking up my 10 yr old, cooking dinner, work, etc. Thanks! Hey JB, ever tried single malt? |
It turns out the Jiffy-boyz overtightened and stripped the oil pan
bolt. Honda will write this up when I get the bill for what will probably be a new oil pan. How to I get the lube-boyz to pay for this? |
finding z0 wrote:
> It turns out the Jiffy-boyz overtightened and stripped the oil pan > bolt. Honda will write this up when I get the bill for what will > probably be a new oil pan. How to I get the lube-boyz to pay for this? > call local management and ask them to reimburse you. if that doesn't work, call their corporate offices. if that doesn't work, call your local paper's consumer affairs reporter - they usually love stories like this. bad publicity is way more expensive than the cost of seeing you right. |
The local guy seems to be cooperating. They send a report to corporate
with the bill I give them (when I get it). I told Honda to describe what they found in some detail. I'll keep you posted if yer interested. I've used J-L since I bought this car in '91 (and couldn't reach the oil filter) w/o any issues other than the price. Cheers |
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