So I brought my car into T&T Honda because I haven't had enough time to learn how to tinker with my s2. The drivers side headlight had the condensation problem and the headlight wasn't lighting up. I get a call back saying I need to buy a new bulb for $270 and a new headlight housing for $750. Labor will be another $90. I asked the tech if the ballast was okay and he said yep, its fine the bulb is burnt out. Interesting... I told him politely that the prices were ridiculous and that I will fix it myself and thanked them for their time. Total Cost: $0.

So today I finally had some time to find out whats wrong. I took off the wheel and popped off about 12 plastic clips to reveal the back of the headlight and began searching for where the water was getting in. After failing to find any visible cracks or rubber seals not in the right places I decided to remove the ballast from the bottom of the headlight to relieve the pressure to get rid of the condensation. When I pulled the ballast off the car I was so shocked to hear water in my hands splooshing around INSIDE the ballast. It was like I was carrying a bottle of water in my hand there was so much water. According to the tech at T&T honda my ballast was fine! LOL

At this point, I figure my suspicions about the dead bulb should be tested. I hooked up an extra known working ballast to the bulb in the s2000 headlight and fired it up. voila! both headilghts fired up. Now why can't the dealer actually spend 30 - 45 minutes to actually TEST the components before asking customers to spend about $1000 to fix a headlight that isn't turning on.

Phew! I feel better after typing that but I definitely wont be going back to T&T for anything.

 

hahaha

Nicely done Kenny

 

sweet!
some techs are just lazy!

 

Any S2000 amateur shadetree mechanic would have had the Service manual in hand and gone through the recommend series of "checks and balances" to determine exactly where to pinpoint such a headlight problem. This only shows that the tech that dealt with your car was either VERY LAZY or (as I suspect) LESS than any S2000 amateur.

 

Further proof of my theory that the majority of mechanics have no idea how to deal with automotive electrical systems. And in the grand scheme of electronics, they are not complicated.

Chris.

 

This is why I try to do the work myself, or ask Dave

 

Ugh. Who hands out the licenses in this province? Sheesh.

 

No suprise there of local dealerships...

Maybe you should go back and tell the tech what exactly you found out so that you can make a fool out of him?

I've done that before (not with my S but another car)...

 

Happens out here in MB as well. Right when i got my car the DRL light and the SRS lights were on. The guy i bought it off of told me the DRL light was on because he had pulled the fuse to that. So that was no big deal and the SRS just needed a reset. So shortly after i got the car i sent it into honda for an oil change and just another look over to make sure everything was a-ok. I figured seeing as they were already working on it they could go ahead and do the SRS reset and put the fuse in for the DRL's. Anyways, i didn't have time to bring my car in so i sent the car in with my mom. I phoned ahead to let them know what to do including to just replace the fuse for the DRL's. So when i get home that evening my mom hands me the bill for my car and tells me that Honda said i had to replace the DRL relay for like $150. I look at the print out from honda which lists on there what to all do and i see it says replace DRL fuse, so i figured that the relay must be shot as well. That evening i decided i would just wedge myself under the dash and just check to make sure that the relay was really the problem. Once under there i look and theres no bloody fuse in the DRL slot. I go and find another fuse and pop it in there and bang, got DRL's. Like what the hell?? Went to honda the next day and talked to the manager there, whom i know quite well and complained about it. Needless to say, that servicing was free

 

QUOTE:
Maybe you should go back and tell the tech what exactly you found out so that you can make a fool out of him?

Making a fool of the mechanic does nothing to solve the problem of lousy diagnostics. He should be sent packing.

I recommend sending your letter to the manager of T&T and request an explanation of their actions and what they intend to do to ensure this doesn't happen again. A wrong diagnosis costing you $1k is unforgivable. In most lines of work if you wrongly cost a customer $1000 (and it could be traced back to you), there would be some serious explaining to do.

Believe it or not they may be idiots in the service department but Management does indeed care about their performance and an eventual reputation for poor customer service.

Of course remembering past posts about deals in general at T&T; Management may all be idiots too.