[Nail Grease]

Welp, I've had the 2004 Civic a while after buying it at auction. Just to have a cheap beater car as a back up, if we should ever happen to be down a vehicle. I swept through the whole engine bay, including power steering rack replacement. Hadn't done much with it since the pandemic, so I decided to give it away to a young relative who just learned to drive (Ok'd by the parents). The only thing that was left to do is get a 4 wheel alignment. It was taken to a dealership for this service. I about died in my chair when the dealership told them they needed to replace the spark plugs, brake fluid and coolant, LOL! It was all done and new!

 

[Nail Grease]

The dealer probably took one look at the green Prestone coolant and figured that the vehicle's maintenance had been totally neglected.

This vehicle came with green coolant as OEM back in 04. Besides, the Aisin timing belt water pump milage sticker with date is quite visible. Dated last year. smirk

 

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But was the green OEM coolant made by Prestone?

The Aisin sticker, the Aisin sticker.

 

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They can tell by the shade of green that you didn't use genuine Honda coolant.

Just like they checked the brand new spark plugs and my flushed clean brake fluid reservoir?

 

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The Aisin sticker was the dead giveaway.

More than that, you take a vehicle in for a very specific service, a 4 wheel alignment. No one asked you to touch anything else. The engine runs silky smooth.

 

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I think your issue was taking it to a dealer for a 4 wheel alignment.

They quoted me $110 yesterday for that at my local dealer. I laughed....

Of course that was the recommendation of the 'trusted mechanic' who also recommended a rear differential service.


Why not go to your Sumitomo tire shop and get it done there? Maybe even make sure your nephew or niece can lead the pack???

Our local tire shop has the alignment machine. The ole feller that used to do it isn't there anymore. The machine sits there collecting dust.
The next closest thing was Firestone or the dealership. They chose the dealership.
¯\(° °)/¯

 

[Nail Grease]

The rear wheels on a 04 civic have adjustments locations?

No, I installed adjustable control arms.

 

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Only way to take those turns and lead the pack...

Well it's not like it's set up to run at Daytona. It has seen better days. I didn't get to drive it much because of the pandemic. I found 4 alloy Honda Civic rims that came off an EX. (Not pictured)

 

[Nail Grease]

Typical BS from MANY shops- too many. Especially if they've never seen you before, or you're female.

Total BS scam crap.

One time I took my Mazda truck (it had a bed on it, not in the bed, a real, little truck LOL) in to have a tail pipe welded on the muffler at a Midas. They did that OK.
They took the wheels off too.
The Mechanic gets a new rag- wipes some brake fuild on it (I didn't see him- I just know the scam) and tells me one of my wheel cylinders was leaking, they can rebuild it, yadda, yadda. I tell them, no, I'll keep an eye on it.
Years later, I traded that truck in on the one I have now- with nothing EVER needing to be done to the brakes!

So many total scam artists in the auto industry! That's why I HATE to take my stuff anywhere. I do, I have one shop that knows I know something, so they don't BS me- usually.

When I got this Civic, it had some big oil leaks. The valve cover was in bad shape. I found a really good used one at Pull-A-Part. Put new a new gasket and spark plug tube seals along with the infamous head plug cap that will leak oil all over your transmission if you dont replace it periodically. Installed a new cam and front main seal. It dryed up nicely. I sure hope they didn't mess up my work by removing the valve cover, nosing around the engine bay. I've seen shops cram the valve cover on without working the tube seals over tubes causing a leak.

 

[Nail Grease]

Did you remember to replace the turn signal fluid and put genuine Honda air in the tires???

Yes and muffler bearings.
Parts were very inexpensive for this vehicle. Not much that I didn't replace.

 

[Nail Grease]

While everybody knows that painting stripes on it will make your car go faster, a well-kept secret is that removing an unused front license plate holder adds a couple of HP (or is it MPG, or ft-lb or newton-meters?).

I hadn't registered the vehicle when the photo was taken. Texas requires a front plate 😖. This was right when I rolled it out of the Nail Grease restoration facility. New headlights, if you didn't notice 😁. There was talk about doing the dip.

 

[Nail Grease]

Most dealers will perform a "free multi-point inspection" anytime you bring a vehicle in for any type of service.


There's preventative maintenance and then there's wait until it breaks maintenance.

Right.
They said it needed spark plugs. They were brand new.

 

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How could you tell unless you removed the plugs and examined them?

Right. Why?

 

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Don't worry, they are training this guy to take his place on the alignment machine.
View attachment 147264

Yep,
After alignment was done.

 

[Nail Grease]

They just want to help you keep your vehicle in peak operating condition.

Do try to contain yourself.

I don't believe that being up sold parts and services that you don't need (because they are wanting your vehicle in peak condition), is the motivating factor.

 

[Nail Grease]

Why the hate towards mechanics?
I don’t blame them for up selling. They make so little money off of oil changes and let’s face it, most people do the bare minimum maintenance so it’s not like the things they suggest are unreasonable (most of the time). I know people who go to the dealer and appreciate being up sold because they know nothing about what kind of service their cars need. Maybe they pay a little more for some stuff they don’t need, but it’s better than no maintenance.

Being told that you need spark plugs when you got a brand new set with less than 100 miles on them in the engine is not having your best interest in mind. In fact it makes me very suspicious.

 

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It’s possible they are just making assumptions. It’s not unreasonable to assume that on old Civic wouldn’t have had the spark plugs changed. Perhaps it would have been best if they took a plug out and checked, but time is money and the odds are pretty high they would need changing.

I’m not defending deceptive practices, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

I took my Pilot to the dealer around 200k to get an oil change because I was out of town. They recommended the timing belt (which had been done less than a month before). It was solely based on mileage. They would have had no way to easily check if the belt and associated parts were new.

Finally found my under the hood photo. Here's what the mechanic would have seen.

I hear what your saying about what you can't see.

 

[Nail Grease]

I'm not 100% sure of course, but I do believe you have a loose connection to the Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster.

View attachment 147290

Perhaps that was what the mechanics were referring too.

Is that right near the hyperdrive?

 

[Nail Grease]

You're trying to reason with a guy who buys a cheap CV axle from the local auto parts store and doesn't seem to mind having to do the work all over again when that cheap CV axle fails almost immediately.

It was an inexpensive rebuilt OEM CV axle with a lifetime warranty from O'Reilly's Auto Parts.

No, what really frosts him is having to pay the exorbitant dealer price for an OEM Honda part that won't fall apart.

True, I like to save $. What's funny is you finally decide to buy OEM and you get sent one with the boot installed incorrectly. Or you have OEM fuel injectors that need replacing at 34k miles, or Gates/Unitta timing belts that are necessary to recall. I'm sure I can add more if I think long enough.

 

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Did that "lifetime warranty" cover your labor cost? Or, was that just a fun afternoon out in the garage?

I may have lost an hour and a half or two doing the DIY again. It certainly made for interesting reading on Piloteers.org .

If you won't buy a Mitsuboshi timing belt, then I can't help you.

Gates/Unitta comes from the factory as OEM. My Aisin kit comes with a Mitsuboshi belt. Mitsuboshi is an OEM supplier, but obviously doesn't have the current contract with Honda. If they did, there wouldn't be a recall.