Well, I took my S2000 in to Curry Honda in Atlanta last week for a routine (and overpriced) 7500 mile service -- oil change and tire pressure check for 89 bucks. Two things that I'm sure most of us here can do ourselves.

So I'm driving along today, and I hear this POP! Smoke was pouring out the back and look at my pictures to see what happened.

The car's at the dealer right now. They admitted the mechanic (if you can describe the person's skill level as such) probably didn't tighten the drain plug and it vibrated loose. I told them this was inexcuseable (well, I used a lot of expletives when I first called, but I had calmed down afterwards), and they agreed. I'm waiting on the service manager to call me. Anyone ever had this happen to them before? What recourse do I have against the dealer?

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/trackm3/lst?.di...=/S2000&.view=t

 

Pretty straightforward... Seems like they have assumed responsibility, so just a few measures to protect yourself, just in case....

1. Call your insurance company to notify them of the incident... just in case the dealership pulls some crap and denies the whoe thing tomorrow.

2. Get the dealership to acknowledge resposibility in WRITING... along with other converage points you want... Also, it helps to have a friend be there as a witness to any exchanges you might have...

3. Getting a comparable vehicle from them for you to use while the car is getting repaired.

4. Get them to comp you services for the next, say, 15,000 miles... to compensate you for your time and energy lost...

but you won't get any $ out of this... just a new engine... good luck...

 

trackm3; Sorry to hear of this! Were you able to kill the engine before it locked up? Was it making any death noises before you turned it off, or was it already too late?

 

For track3's sake, I hope he just let the engine die... nothing like paying for someone's inadequacy by forcing the owner to keep the car with a damaged engine that the dealership won't replace...

 

inexcusable is right - especially at that price. honestly, I'd be picky as hell and re-check those tire pressures to make sure you got your 89 bucks worth!

 

Rick -- thanks for the advice.

They plugged it back up, filled it with oil, and detailed the car. I told them I wanted them to put in writing -- that they accepted responsibility for this, and that they would repair any future engine damage resulting from this event. Apparently that "put it in writing" part necessitates keeping the car for more than one day, since I *still* haven't heard from the service manager. They did offer me a free oil change and a free 15,000 mile service. At this point, I'd rather they refund my 7,500 mile service cost, as I probably won't be visiting Curry Honda again.

I was on a fairly busy road with no pulloffs when the drain plug popped out, so I drove about half a mile before I was able to pull over in a relatively safe spot to inspect the car. I figure there were maybe 2 quarts of oil left in the engine by the time I stopped. Other than the aromatic odor of burning oil in the cabin, the car seemed fine when I shut it down. I'll be sure to test drive it with the service advisor before I pick up the car and definitely ONLY after they put EVERYTHING in writing.

Schatten - I'd be pretty surprised if they actually did check the tire pressure. Probably a sales gimmick

 

Looks like this isn't just something cut and dry. The service manager got back to me, and wrote a diagnosis of the situation on the invoice, which he claims is legally binding in a court of law. He wrote:

"A CUSTOMER STATES CAR LEAKS OIL AFTER SERVICE CHECK AND ADVICE"
"SEE STORY SECTION BELOW"
<then a list of parts/tech name that performed service>
"7669 TECH FOUND DRAIN PLUG MISSING PROBABLE CAUSE NO T TORQUED PROPERLY AT SERVICE REPLACED AND FILL ED OIL LEVEL NO ABNORMAL NOISE FROM ENGINE. ENGINE. SHOP FORMAN REINSPECTED TEST DROVE ALL OPERATIO NS NORMAL AT THIS TIME. CURRY HONDA TO PROVIDE NEXT OIL AND FILTER AND THE 15,000 MILE SERVICE AT N/C"

The service manager says that, with what he has written on this invoice, it's "obvious" that the fault lies with the dealer, and that any engine problems that occur from this event, they will take care of. He says that if there were engine problems from running the car with low oil, that there would be IMMEDIATE noise and it would be IMMEDIATELY noticeable. Isn't it possible that running the car low on oil would cause abnormal wear and tear to the point that it might cause premature engine failure? I've driven the car 130 miles, and it's been 6 days since they serviced it. I don't know how much oil I was running on during that time. I suppose the only 100% way to guarantee the engine isn't damaged is to tear it down, and I'm not sure I want to go that route. I'd imagine that would probably void the factory warranty. What's reasonable for the dealership to guarantee the engine to? Certainly not the entirety of its existence. To the end of the factory warranty? Beyond? How much beyond? I don't want to get screwed here, but I also don't want to make UNreasonable demands from the dealer. This car is on a 3-year lease, but I had planned on selling it instead of returning it after the 3 years. The resale value is undoubtedly already affected where I might not even be able to sell it.

I even called American Honda anonymously, and they told me they could document it on my record. I'm not even sure if I want to do that. For all I know, they could DENY me warranty repair to my engine in the future because of this event. They said they could also "help" me negotiate a resolution with the dealer in the future in case something did happen to the engine.

 

I would expect more in writing than that. Something along the lines of:

--------
On this day _______, Curry Honda and the undersigned have come to a mutual agreement that the following is a legally binding document. All the statements on this document have been witnessed by the _________________ as truthful and therefore cannot be revoked for any reason.

The undersign, hereon referred to as the customer, requested a 7500 mile service on their 200# Honda S2000 VIN: (JHMAP11428T00####) on December ##, 2002. The vehicle was serviced and returned to the customer. Shortly after, the vehicle's oil drain plug fell off while the engine was in use. The vehicle was towed to Curry Honda for inspection. The following conclusions and statements have been drawn in agreement between the customer and Curry Honda:

1. CURRY HONDA ACCEPTS FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR IMPROPERLY TORQUED OIL DRAIN PLUG.
2. CURRY HONDA AGREES TO PROVIDE THE NEXT OIL AND FILTER AT N/C.
3. CURRY HONDA AGREES TO PROVIDE 15,000 MILE SERVICE AT N/C.
4. CURRY HONDA ACCEPTS FULL LIABILITY FOR ANY FUTURE ENGINE DAMAGE DUE TO THIS INCIDENT. THE CUSTOMER RESERVES THE RIGHT TO TAKE THE VEHICLE TO ANY AUTHORIZED HONDA DEALERSHIP FOR REPAIR IF THE CUSTOMER CHOOSES TO DO SO OR IF CONVENIENCE DICTATES. CURRY HONDA WILL FULLY COMPENSATE THE REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT OF THE DAMAGED ENGINE.
-----

sign it, have it witnessed by someone else at the dealership as well as someone who accompanies you... of course you may want to have a lawyer edit it so it doesn't sound really amateur should you ever have to bring it back up for legal purposes.

 

What I personally would do would have them put a factory honda 7yr / 100k powertrain warranty on your car. That way if anything does go wrong you're covered.

That shouldn't be too much to ask for because if they are so confident that your engine is fine then it costs them nothing, if something does go wrong then they are obligated to pay for their mistake. In either case you have the piece-of-mind that you are going to covered in the event of a failure.

 

One thing that the Japanese have (I think -- I am not oriental) is proper customer service. I believe the 7yr/100K warranty is your best bet.
If the dealer gives you trouble, mail a copy of what they signed for you, together with an explanation to Honda US and Honda Japan. It may take a month or two, but I would be _really_ surprised if you didn't get what you wanted, and if the dealer didn't at the very least get tainted by Honda.
Tell your dealer you are thinking of going that route if they do not cooperate.
The legal document is a good idea too, although even the part that they scribbled down looks pretty binding to me (I'm not a lawyer though).

Yiannis