2001 Silverstone / Black
88,019 miles. owned for 3.5 years (2/1/03). sold June 2001 to 1 previous owner.
purchased "Certified" + Hondcare 7/100k miles
only significant equipment mods: ASA wheels, Comptech intake, Fujitsubo exhaust, and stereo


well, it all started when i heard a whine just before i took the family on vacation (late July). i feared differential. came back mid August and almost immediately had to take a business trip to Dallas (~1000 miles) - and it whined the whole time... louder and louder.

last week it got worse. i limped it along and made my appointment for Friday w/ TEAM Honda.... Thursday night before taking it in, on the way home from work, it started buzzing/clunking along w/ the whine.

Friday, i gingerly drove it to and from work, brought it in and took a test drive.

Monday, they pulled the drain plug and found "chunks of metal" "the size of your pinky fingertip" in the differential. (i'm not sure what that means, and work has been very busy this week.)


Today (Wed) the dealer called and gave me the bad news:

denied.

reason? cold air intake = modification to drivetrain, which they claim nullifies the warranty.

i called HondaCare and they basically stuck to this line of reasoning. regardless of how i argued. i am pursuing an appeal. (i'm about 60% optimistic)

i'm getting some quotes now (new diff and rebuilt diff w/ 4.57r), but i'm not taking this standing down. going to appeal the decision ASAP. gotta get some documention, etc. together.

----------------------
what i'm posting this for is this:
is anyone "legally" familiar enough w/ the Magnuson-Moss Act? they're giving me this line of (what sounds like) BS that it doesn't apply to extended vehicle service contracts.

Warranty documentation states:
[QUOTE]
Section IV:

 

sucks to hear man, im glad i didnt purchase that warranty. It seems like they dont wanna cover anything ever..wut good is it..

 

Short answer is no. This would only apply to the factory warranty because of some "Act" you guys have in the US. The clause you quoted is from your "HondaCare" warranty, which basically, is a 3rd party insurance policy. That "Act" doesn't apply to extended warranties. If you so much as change to aftermarket lugnuts, they've got you.

Just out of curiosity, what has been the history of the fluid changes on your diff? And what type of fluid has been used?

 

The lesson seems to be, if you want the warranty to apply leave it stock. Even then coverage seems to be a crap-shoot. I'm semi-on honda's side on this. As far as I'm concerned any power adders void the warranty even if they don't add much. That clause in the warranty seems pretty clear. Mod your car and lose the warranty.

At the very least people should put the stock airbox back on when they go back in for warranty work. I wouldn't let the dealer see any mods.

 

[QUOTE=PJK3,Aug 30 2006, 06:08 PM] 2001 Silverstone / Black
88,019 miles.

 

[QUOTE=PJK3,Aug 30 2006, 06:08 PM]


honestly?

 

I don't understand why they would have covered the rear inner cv joint and bearings for the transmission and not the rear diff. It doesn't make sense to me and I am a service writer. How would the cai effect the diff., but have no effect on the rest of the driveline parts you have had replaced under warranty? Have you talked with the service manager? If the only person you have dealt with is the writer (only) then I would say this guy is seeing dollar signs and is trying to screw you. If this is the case then you definitly need to see or talk to the service manager. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

quickag, if you read xvipers post, hondacare is a contract that is voided according to the terms of the contract. they dont care if the cai caused it or not, the cai violated the terms of the contract. you are a service writer so i'm guessing you just didnt read through the whole thread.

 

No, he read it and understood it. His question was, why was the diff repair denied but the CV joint repair done? As in, who is making these decisions and why are they inconsistent?

 

It's the stereo.
Stereo Kills Diffs!
(didn't you know that?)


Anyway..
PJK3 Posted on Aug 31 2006, 04:08 AM
Did you buy the car with the mods?
If so, you may have a point, you bought the "Certified" + Hondacare with / on a car with the mods.
If the mods were put on afterwards...

Succes.


(maybe you have driven around with a faulty, whining diff for too long.. an oil change may have prevented it.. MAY! But that doesn't help you at all anymore)