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Scott MacLean

12-03-2003 12:01 PM

Ongoing saga with 2003 Accord EX Coupe MT

I know it's been a little while since I posted the last update, so I thought
I would post the entire history. Yes, it continues.

Aug 27 - Ordered car. They don't know where they can get one yet. Placed
$1000 deposit.

Sep 3 - Called dealership - have they found it yet? No.

Sep 5 - Called dealership - have they found it yet? Yes, they're trailering
it in from London, it will be ready on Tuesday Sep 9.

Sep 9 - Picked up car. Car has 35 km on it.

Sep 11 - Called Shawn (salesperson) about annoying continual creak/rattle in
left C-pillar. Said he would get Dawn Morris (post sales rep) to call.

Sep 18 - No call from Dawn. Called service department for service
appointment.

Sep 19 - Dawn Morris called. Told her about C-pillar creak and transmission
problem where it consistently pops violently out of first gear when
decelerating. Set up appointment for 23rd.

Sep 23 - Took car in. Demonstrated C-pillar creak and transmission problem
to Joe, shop foreman. Joe said he would order parts to replace 1st gear in
transmission.

Oct 2 - Call Dawn Morris to find out status of parts. Parts not in yet. They
now want to do more testing before replacing 1st gear. Set appointment for
Oct. 8.

Oct 8 - Take car in for the day. Take shuttle back to work. Joe tests
transmission linkage, determines problem is in transmission, not in linkage.
Says he will order parts to replace 1st gear in transmission.

Oct 17 - Call Dawn Morris - parts not in yet.

Oct 24 - Dawn Morris calls, parts not in yet, doesn't know when they will be
in.

Oct 28 - Dawn Morris calls, parts are in, set up two-day appointment for Nov
3, 4 to replace transmission parts and locate/fix C pillar creak.

Nov 3 - Take car in at 7:30 am, get rental car. Tell them about new loud
creak at base of windshield on driver's side when car is cold.

Nov 4 - Service adviser calls at 4:30 pm, says "the car is apart, still
waiting for transmission parts - bearings and stuff - to arrive." When I ask
why I was told the parts were in before I brought the car in, he says,
"well, we didn't really know what we would need to replace until we opened
it up."

Nov 5 - Service adviser calls at 4:10 pm, says transmission is almost
finished, waiting for a clutch fork. Estimates transmission will be done by
tomorrow morning, they will then start looking at the rattles.

Nov 6 - Dawn Morris calls at 4 pm, says they have finished with
transmission, and have confirmed noise coming from windshield, will be
looking at that and the C-pillar creak tomorrow.

Nov 7 - Nobody calls. At 5 pm, I call Dawn Morris. she says, "oh, yeah, I
meant to call you." No news on my car other than "it's not finished" and
that they "hope to have it finished early next week." She doesn't know the
status, doesn't know the progress, doesn't know when it will be ready. Two
day estimate has now stretched to seven days.

Nov 10 - Dawn Morris calls at 3 pm, says they have fixed the C pillar creak,
still working on windshield creak.

Nov 11 - Nobody calls. I call Dawn at 5 pm. She says that "three parts are
on order, bearings or something." Says that she has called Honda Canada to
try to "speed things up." When I asked why they would be ordering bearings
for a creak in the windshield, she said she didn't know. I asked her to have
Joe call me. She said she would try to get him to call me tomorrow.

Nov 12 - Joe calls at 1 pm. Explains that they stamped metal on rear of car
to get rid of noise. Says he hears noise in transmission probably due to
clearance or bearings, and has ordered parts to replace. Says car is
driveable. I call Dawn, she says two of three parts have arrived, the third
part is on back order with Honda Canada, she is waiting to find out when it
will arrive. Earliest it will arrive is Friday sometime, so earliest it will
be done is Monday. I tell her I will pick up car and wait until part
arrives, then bring it back in. I pick car up, it has 60 km on it since I
dropped it off. Receipt shows that a dent was fixed in left front fender
(dent was not there when I left it) and that alignment was done as it was
put out of alignment during removal of transmission. Rattling noise in back
is in fact gone.

Nov 13 - I notice that when cold, the 2nd gear synchromesh is now not
working - it is virtually impossible to get the transmission to upshift or
downshift into second gear without double clutching, and if it is really
cold, even double clutching doesn't work. It is physically impossible to
force the transmission past the synchromesh into 2nd gear. When the
transmission warms up, it works fine, albeit a bit notchy. I call Dawn
Morris. I tell her I am tired of transmission problems and would like them
to consider replacing entire transmission. She tells me Joe will call in the
morning.

Nov 14 - Joe calls. I tell him about the 2nd gear syncro problem. He says
they will look at it when I bring the car in next, and he will order some
parts. I call Dawn back, but she has left for the day.

Nov 15 - I notice that the car now drifts to the left slightly when driving
at highway speed, regardless of lane, road condition or wind
strength/direction. This did not happen before.

Nov 16 - Without warning, the reverse gear in the transmission now no longer
works. The transmission shifts normally into reverse, the reverse lights
illuminate, however the car acts as if it is in neutral - it does not move,
and the engine revs freely. I discover this while doing a three-point turn
on a road, and end up having to drive the car up over a curb to avoid being
hit by oncoming traffic. Later experimentation shows that if I shift the
transmission quickly from first sequentially through sixth, then quickly
into reverse, it will work until it is shifted out of reverse again, at
which point shifting into reverse exhibits the same problem once more.

Nov 17 - Called Dawn Morris, told her what happened. Told her I was tired of
being a guinea pig for their attempts to fix the transmission, and that I
wanted a new (not a remanufactured) transmission ordered and installed in
the car. She agreed, and said she would talk to Vic (service adviser) and
have him call me. Vic calls at 10:30 am and says they have ordered a
transmission from Montreal and expect it to arrive sometime tomorrow.

Nov 18 - Vic calls at 11:30 am, says the transmission is in. Book
appointment for Wednesday morning, says it will take "a day or two."

Nov 19 - Take car in at 8:00 am. Mention the alignment problem.

Nov 20 - Vic calls at 11:30 am, says the car is done and ready to go. I
arrive at 2 pm to pick it up, Joe (shop foreman) says he wants to take a
test drive with me to make sure everything is OK. Dawn Morris comes along
too, she introduces herself and says "glad to meet you" despite the fact I
have met her three times before and talked to her on the phone probably ten
times. As we start out, I can't get car into first gear, it goes past the
synchro, but not into gear. Letting the clutch out makes a grinding noise
and it pops back to neutral. I look at Joe, try it again, and it works fine.
Go out for a test drive, everything seems fine. Get back to the dealership,
Dawn wants me to sign a paper to say that everything was done correctly. She
leaves, saying, "it was nice to finally meet you." Joe leaves. I get in the
car to leave, and the problem with first gear happens again. I sit there and
get it to repeat three more times. I go inside to get Joe. He comes out to
the car, I demonstrate it to him three more times. He says it might be just
that the transmission is brand new out of the crate and needs to "seat" and
that if it continues for any length of time, to bring it back.

Dec 3 - First gear problem continues, as frequently as it did when I picked
up the car on Nov 20. This morning it was -10C, I went out to the car and
discovered that the electric locks no longer function - either using the
remote, or either interior lock button. Using the key in the door opened the
driver's door only. The locks moved freely - they were not frozen, just the
electronic part of them was not working. When it warmed up to -5C, the
driver's side lock began to work again, including using the remote,
passenger's side is still non-functional. Talked to Dawn Morris, she will
have Joe call to arrange an appointment to take car in - again. This will be
the fifth time in three months that this car has gone back to the dealer. My
last Honda (1998 CR-V) never had to go to the dealer for any reason.

Artfulcodger

12-03-2003 12:29 PM