Are they all terrible or what? Having been a factory wrench for bmw and then a suburu/puegeot dealer
we were pretty hot on our cars and then some. When i started my apprenticeship for bmw i worked with wolfgang (wwII luftwaffe wrench) and hans (eastern front tank mechanic) what a pair and none better! plus specialist engine guys tranny guys. similar experience at the suburu/pue place except for the very different quality vehicles. in this thread "UPDATE about European Service Bulletin" there are a number of negative comments about honda doing work on s2k's for example.

 

They're not terrible, in fact they're all nice people. If you really look into the problem it goes all the way back up the food chain to Honda's headquarter.

Each task/job is given a certain amount of hours and fix rates. Honda seem to think that doing work on the S2000 is the same as any other Honda, say the Civic - but the fact of the matter is the S2000 is a lot more complex than a Civic. So you see whenever a mechanic get assign to an S2000 he'll roll his eyes, sigh and say "ooh god let there be only one today."

The next time you're doing warranty work, think of the mechanics and drop a 6packs for him before you pick up your car. You can bet your baby will be look after the next time you're in

 

The S2000 is a totally different car than any other that Honda has produced previously. Some Honda mechanics (I'd feel safe to say most) aren't trained properly on the S2000, RWD aspects, or performance cars in general, because 99% of their time is spent on mass produced FWD sedans. As a result, S2000 owners foot the bill for the ignorance in terms of repeat visits, defending themselves when accused of abusing the vehicle, and in some cases, providing the education that the mechanics should have but do not.

 

I posted something about a great Tech(Dave Sanders of Miller Honda in Culver City Calif) awhile back and how he really helped me with a problem late one afternoon when I drove in fifteen minutes before closing time.Super nice guy.

 

A lot of people have had problems with work done at particular dealers. However over in the Mid-Atlantic forum we have a thread for people to list the dealers they go to and their impressions. Many of us in the Washington D.C. area take our cars to Eddie at Jim Coleman Honda because he has a great reputation for his work on the S.

 

Great idea!!!

 

Does Honda send techs to any type of special training to work on the S2000?

 

In general it seems most mechanics, Honda or else where, have become parts changers rather than problem solvers. Personally, I feel that REALLY knowledgeable mechanics are EXTREMELY unpaid for what they need to know. The dealerships generally make a nice profit in their garage but it doesn't get passed down to really good mechanics like it should. When my evening auto shop teacher many years ago told me what he made (and he was the local Ford dealer's no. 1 guy), it was sad. It was about the same as a meter reader at a utility would make.

When a top notched Nissan mechanic who had been servicing my car for a number of year's went on sick leave for back surgery for almost two year's it was truly an eye opener for me. His replacements continually screwed up my car, whereas I had never had a return problem previously.

I too would be interested in knowing if Honda does anything special as to S2000 training.

 

The shops seem to make their money primarily with routine maintenance shuffling as many cars as they can using as few trained mechanics as possible. Even when you get a capable mechanic, the environment doesn

 

Mine is great, i tip him $20 just to change the oil