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Car Won't Start

Their incompetence is frustrating me, and it's not even my car!

Have they had the inspection cover off to check the pump chain? Have they even done s compression test?

When I killed mine (pump chain failure), I purposely drive it home rather than pay for recovery as I knew swapping the motor myself was my cheapest option.

Clattery, sluggish, lost power, parked it up on the drive. (Sound familiar?)

Spun it over before I pulled the motor out. Wouldn't start, but no warning lights or codes.

No point hurling ancillary parts at it if they haven't even checked the essentials.

It's a diesel ffs, all it needs is fuel and compression and it'll run.
 
No, as far as I can tell the inspection cover hasn't been taken off (or if it has they haven't told me). It seems to me that if the ECU can't give them a pointer they're stumped (or at least that's the way it coming across to me).



Clattery, sluggish, lost power, parked it up on the drive. (Sound familiar?)
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Yes, that's a pretty good description of it. If it is oil pump chain, does that mean new engine? I've seen posts on other forums which pretty much say that the engine needs replacing if this happens.
 
It's generally not good. Depend if it's gone as far as scoring Pistons and galling cams.
I just put a replacement motor straight in mine.

If it gets to the point where it conks out, it's probably done for.
 
If the ECU reckons everything's peachy, but the motors got no compression (like mine once I'd purposely driven it home and really killed it) it'll spin over and the ECU will see everything as being fine, but with compression it wouldn't start.

If it is a dead chain and a dead motor, they've probably been washing the now ruined bores while cranking it.
It'll have a sumo full of diesel, which would show up if they dropped the oil into a container.

Nowadays, more and more main dealers just have fitters, you wouldn't call them mechanics.
 
*should say 'without compression', and of course 'sumo full of diesel' is a typo too - I've been autocorrected.
 
Goodluckmonkey said:
If it gets to the point where it conks out, it's probably done for.
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Yeah, it more or less did that when I broke down on the side of the motorway. I just had to freewheel over to the hard shoulder and then it wouldn't start at all.

Goodluckmonkey said:
If the ECU reckons everything's peachy, but the motors got no compression (like mine once I'd purposely driven it home and really killed it) it'll spin over and the ECU will see everything as being fine, but with compression it wouldn't start.

If it is a dead chain and a dead motor, they've probably been washing the now ruined bores while cranking it.
It'll have a sumo full of diesel, which would show up if they dropped the oil into a container.

Nowadays, more and more main dealers just have fitters, you wouldn't call them mechanics.
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Well the ECU did come up with all sorts of problems but none related to starting. The ones I noticed about were:

P1684 - Throttle Valve Return Spring Performance Problem
P1042 - Injector 2, supply voltage - circuit malfunction

Not really connected to oil pump or chain as far as I can tell, more with fuel supply, which did sort of fit in with the car turning over but not starting up.
You're right about them being more fitters than mechanics - either that or they know its goosed and don't want to touch it.

I did think about the recon engine route, there's a company in London that does supply and fit for £1800 (your old engine is exchanged in the process.


I have heard some horror stories from people about engines that supposedly had heads skimmed, head gasket, seals and pressure test only to find out that they've just been taken out of another car and thrown straight back in. Case in point being these con-artists:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5mzXMVhR19L47jS2SSrntBL/ideal-engines-and-gearboxes
 
Decided to cut my losses and get it out of the main dealers. It was pretty obvious they weren't interested in fixing it so I've arranged to get it picked up and taken to a place in Thanet that does engine reconditioning. At least that way of there's damage to the valves then they'll be able to sort it out there. As F6HAD said, I'm really starting to think it's a problem with the oil pump or chain.
 
Wise move. Keep us posted and fingers crossed the costs are palatable in the end
 
Right, just got a call from Thanet Engine Reconditioning. Apparently the oil pump failed in spectacular fashion (take a bow F6HAD for correctly diagnosing the problem from a simple description - something the main dealer couldn’t do with the car in front of them!).

The crankshaft is damaged, so are the valves and most of the rods too. In fact some parts are so badly damaged they can’t be re-machined and need to be replaced, including timing chain, oil pump, oil pump chain etc. His exact words were that the swarf from the damaged parts had gone through the whole engine and caused havoc in there. He’s quoted me just over 2 grand which included the recovery, a 12 month warranty and VAT. Ouch! I’ll pay it as I really like the car and hopefully with the recon engine will up it in value if I ever decide to sell.
 
I take no pleasure in being right when it's at the cost of someone's pride and joy like this.. Really sorry to hear it.

Fair play to you for deciding to have it repaired. And I'm glad it will finally get fixed.

This is perhaps the most incompetent Honda dealer I've heard of, and I've heard of a few now!
 
F6HAD said:
I take no pleasure in being right when it's at the cost of someone's pride and joy like this.. Really sorry to hear it.

Fair play to you for deciding to have it repaired. And I'm glad it will finally get fixed.

This is perhaps the most incompetent Honda dealer I've heard of, and I've heard of a few now!
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They are pretty terrible to be honest. As mentioned, I think they're only interested in servicing (which means a quick turnaround for maximum profit) and basically just fitting parts listed as faulty on the ECU. There doesn't seem to be any old-school diagnosis taking place with them for even the most basic problems.

I did laugh when the main dealers tried to charge me the mandatory £60 for hooking it up to the diagnostics computer. The conversation on the phone went something like this ...

Them: "... and that'll be £60 for the diagnostics check".
Me: You have got to be joking right?
Them: No, we did hook it up to the computer which ise automatic charge of £60.
Me: ummm ... OK. Please tell me what you diagnosed on hooking it up.
Them ... long pause ... "Yeah, I think I'll get them to scrap that charge".

:blink: :blink: :angry:
 
Haha

I hope you'll be registering a complaint with Honda. Even if not for compensation just to tell them the sheer incompetence of members inside their network.
 
Due to the nice pricing they offer, I guess worldwide, they will hardly g their hands on something rare as this case is. That automatically puts them away from the real issues, so they can only change a high beam bulb, but not the wedge side marker. And finally due to all of the above, no good and experienced mechanic will work for an official dealer that changes bulbs and does HDS/HIM diagnostics.
Good luck to the guy with the engine overhaul.
 
Got the car back yesterday. Engine all done (wasn't cheap :( ) and now have to run in for 1000 miles and have an engine service. Can't go over 60mph which is a real pain. Car runs OK, although no different to before if truth be told.

Got home last night only to find both headlights on the driver side are out. I really don't think this car likes me :(
 
Had a 1000 mile service which was compulsory for the warranty. Cost me a grand total of 50 notes which was oil and filter change, fixed the headlight (which was a loose connection deep within the engine bay) and a general check over. Car is running sweet. I can recommend Thanet Engine Centre in Kent for any engine work.
 
Crikey. What a story. Really glad you got there in the end and the car is running sweet. That's great news :)

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 
Hi Guys! I'm newbie here and I can't speak English well, sorry about it. I read the whole story and it is very disappointing one about the official Honda dealer.
Motorhate, I'm happy with your result, except it's cost.

OK, about my story:
I bought my first Honda Accord 2.0 Sport (2006, less then 90kmiles, manual gear box) one and a half month before but I can't drive it, because the car just crank and not start. After I bought it, I went to a car electric shop and they installed a new immobilizer (with hidden button, and RfID token) beside to the existing one. It is work good for an hour. After I changed the tires the car could start, but there wasn't any reaction for the throttle. After one more hour the car couldn't start.
There is no communication with the ECU, the key is blinking on the dashboard and no check engine and charge lamp. The car in official Honda garage and they told me the ECU isn't work so I have to get a new one.

The real problem is the air conditioning cleaner fluid went into the ECU box and ruined the electronic and the PCB. I don't know why this result takes more then one month? Everybody think the new immo made this problem, perhaps that's why the longer diagnostic time.

So, I would like to ask help about the ECU type. I found a used ECU from the same type/age/motor code(K20Z2) car but it is RHD and not LHD. And the end of the type number is different. My ECU type number is 37820-RBA-G21, the used ECU type number is 37820-RBA-E12. The Matsushita number (next to the zebra code) of my ECU is CY-EH2579A, the other is CY-EH2572A. Can I replace my ECU with the new one or not? I know Honda garage need to program it to my car but before I buy the ECU they can't tell me based on the ECU type it will work or not. Somebody says the end of the type number is just a region code and the electronic is the same but I don't sure about it.

If anyone have suggestion about my problem please help.
I drove my first Honda only half an hour and it was “love at first drive” so my baby is missing well.
 
You will need a matching part number I'm afraid. The part number dictates which software revision is running on the ecu, and the software revision is specific to the configuration and specification of your car.
 
F6HAD, thank you for the prompt response. OK, I'll seek ECU with complete same type number on ebay. The -E12 is in my country and I can get it quicker, that's why I hope it can work in my car.
If my car can move without trailer, I will post here the final solution and it's cost.
 
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