Anyone do a lot of work on Hondas?

[tigeraid]

Anyone been a Honda tech, or done a lot of work on them? Got kind of a weird one I'm struggling with.

Bought a 2007 Ridgeline, fixer-upper. Done a bunch that it's needed already to get on the road. At first I thought for sure it's a bad ignition switch (Hondas are known for it), but the more I play with it the more I'm unsure.

Truck starts and runs fine. About two times out of ten after starting and running it, the shifter moves, works fine, put it back in Park, shut it off, it goes all the way off and the key comes out. But the other eight times out of ten, the shifter won't move out of Park, and after shutting it off, the key will not go to the final OFF position and can't be removed.

100% of the time, if I unhook the battery, I can turn the switch the last tick, and pull the key out. Every time.

100% of the time, I can use the manual override on the shift interlock, and move it manually.

I have no warning lights on the dash, no DTCs. Fuses have all been checked, backup lights and brake lights are working.

I've taken the column apart to look around it, nothing appears to be obviously wrong, nothing bent, no wires melted, nothing obvious.

In addition, and I just realized this last night, I don't hear the Shift Interlock Solenoid "CLICK" when stepping on the brake pedal. So I changed the brakelight switch just in case. No difference. Checked Mitchell and found three possible fuses involved, changed all of them, no difference.

I've ordered another Shift Interlock Solenoid, it's only $30, can't hurt to try. But if that doesn't do it I'm kinda lost.

I will say I also noticed the PRNDL display is very intermittent and weird, usually the only ones that light up are R or N, and even wiggling the shifter a bit as I go through the motions can make those blink. Occasionally I see P as well. So this makes me think the Range Sensor might be an issue, or the wiring to it, possibly?

[George]

I do almost no work on Hondas, which is why I like Hondas. :D

I have a 2009 Ridgeline. I can't answer any of your questions but here is an owners' forum:

https://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/

There's a section for first-generation Ridgelines here:

https://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/first-generation-ridgeline-1g-2006-2014.103/

[tigeraid]

Oh nice. How've you liked it?

This one is a bit of a basket case, but what can I say, I got it cheap, and it's relatively low miles.

[George]

I'm very happy with mine. I have the RTS model, between the base RT and the luxury RTL. It has 96,000 miles / 154,000 km now. There is nothing wrong with it, I'm pleased to report. Everything works as it should, inside and out.

I had the 90,000 mile service done a few months back and brake pads in the rear maybe a month ago. They told me to be ready to replace the fronts the next time I bring it in for an oil change. Just in the last couple of weeks, the driver's side window has started to let out a loud squeak when it first starts to roll down, but it sounds more like glass squeaking on rubber than metal parts grinding together.

Also, once in a while, the glove compartment door will squeak like the lid on a styrofoam cooler for no apparent reason while driving. It took me a while to figure out where the noise was coming from. It happens at highway speeds and when it does, pushing up on the door from below stops the problem...at least until I let go. I moved the large, heavy owner's manual from the glove compartment to a door compartment in case the weight was causing that, but I wonder if maybe it's a vibration while holding a certain RPM up around 65 - 75 mph / 105 - 120 km/h. It's a rare occurrence and not really worth mentioning, except to another Ridgeline owner in case you're hearing a mysterious squeak.

I haven't pulled a trailer or done any real "truck" work such as hauling heavy loads or off-roading more strenuous than dirt roads, and I'm not likely to. The dashboard mileage indicator says I'm averaging 16.x miles per gallon. I was prepared for 15 mpg from reading about these before I bought one, so I can't complain.

I bought Weathertech floor mats and highly recommend them for the front. They fit well and trap melting snow as claimed. The rear ones seem a bit more flimsy because the lips that stick up around the edges are easily bent down a little (not completely, but enough to notice) by rear seat passengers' feet in the corners. That doesn't hurt the functionality of trapping mud and water but it makes them look more worn out than they are. That's a minor compliant though, and not Honda-related at all.

You mentioned Honda ignition switches. For what it's worth, my wife's 2006 Pilot will occasionally not crank with the gear selector in Park. It's just dead, as if there's no battery installed, when this occurs. If she pulls it down into Neutral, it will start right up. This happens a couple times a year, perhaps. I assume there are worn contacts somewhere, but I'm sure you know more about that stuff than I do. She has close to 200,000 miles / 322,000 km on the Pilot so we probably will just live with it until it's time to replace the car.

[tigeraid]

Sorry, forgot to check in on this thread.

I'll be mostly highway miles, so expecting to hover around 20 mpg, I hope.

Her problem sounds fairly similar, yeah. I've narrowed it down to either the Interlock, or the Range Sensor not telling the Dash it's in "P."

[tigeraid]

FWIW, it was the range sensor. Working smoothly now.

Onto body work. :/

[George]

Cool.

Speaking of body work, if I were a serious car nerd with more money and free time, I'd want to replace the front grille on mine. The grille is surrounded with "chromed" plastic and it has tiny rust spots all over it, if one looks closely enough. It'll probably never happen, but sometimes I daydream about that and removing the huge OEM roof rack, too.

[George]

dodint posted his van with summer and winter tires and wheels recently. I figured I'd do the same here in the Honda thread now that I've finally got it properly set up for ski trips and whatever other trouble I can get into.

I bought a set of Bridgestone Blizzak tires for the Ridgeline just before we got thirty inches (76 cm) of snow last weekend. Two days later I was in the mountains with the family and glad to have them on snow-packed roads. Today is more snow and we'll get more mid-week and again this weekend, they're saying. March is our snowiest month and this one is living up to expectations.

With my last car, an Accord, I paid the tire store to swap tires for me twice a year. I bought the car when it was nine years old and figured I wouldn't keep it long enough to justify the cost of a second set of wheels. Eleven years later, I got the Ridgeline and was determined to do it right this time. Last winter the snow never seemed to fall enough when it would have affected my travels, so I put off buying them until this year.

I bought a 3-ton floor jack, too. Harbor Freight had rubber wheel chocks on sale also, as if they knew I was coming. Nice. What's not so nice is my iPhone 7 Plus has started taking blurry pictures. Oy, that's gonna cost me, I'm sure...

https://i.postimg.cc/Cx09MRnT/IMG-6469.jpg

I bought the wheels on craigslist and the center caps online. It turns out the lug nuts that hold the center caps in place are different than the ones for the aluminum wheels, so I had to buy twenty of them from the local Honda dealer. They had them for me the next day and didn't ask for me to pay in advance, which seemed like a flashback to a nicer time in the world.

Suddenly my $40 (for all four) used wheels are more expensive than I had planned, but still cheaper than buying generic black steelies from the tire store. I did the Honda fanboy thing and pointed the bottom of the H toward the valve stems, but you can't really tell in this blurry photo.

https://i.postimg.cc/DZhSBd8p/IMG-6470.jpg

I took this picture this morning after I dropped the kids off at school. I used a camera, not my blurry iPhone.

https://i.postimg.cc/GtS6hKDX/IMG-0081.jpg

Here are the aluminum wheels it came with on the day I bought it. I'm grateful to have two sets of wheels now and the ability to quickly change them whenever I like.

https://i.postimg.cc/d3XSK1MX/IMG-8009.jpg

[George]

Sharp-eyed viewers will notice the center caps on the alloys in the picture above are darker than the rest of the wheels.

Before I swapped back to what are now my summer wheels, I installed some brand new center caps for the alloy wheels - official ones from Honda, not aftermarket. Sorry, no pictures, but it's a little detail that makes the whole car look newer...or maybe my eyes are just drawn to the new parts now. Either way, I like 'em.

Last week both of our Hondas hit milestones as shown below. The Pilot is now the third Honda my wife and I have owned with more than 200,000 miles.

My wife uses her trip odometer. I never do and have it set to match the main odometer as if it was never touched. I've done that with my last four cars, now that I think of it. Yeah, I'm weird.

https://i.postimg.cc/WbZkMvRZ/IMG-6724.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Y01y91G0/IMG-6750.jpg






I do almost no work on Hondas, which is why I like Hondas. :D

[Yw-slayer]

In around 1.5 months our Stepwgn has done around 430km.

[George]

Opinions requested. Is it time to change repair shops?

I've been going to the same auto repair shop for perhaps seven or eight years. A year or two ago, they moved to a new location and have a new owner. They also have at least two service writers. So, it might as well be a completely new shop since I no longer have a service guy who remembers me when I come in. And that's fine.

I took my Ridgeline in for an oil change and decided to have the timing belt and related services (water pump, etc.) done while it was there. I was only 2000 miles away from when Honda recommends having the belt changed: 105,000 miles, according to them. I didn't bother to look it up since I really like this car and want to keep it. And, it's twelve years old and I've heard timing belts should be changed at ten years, regardless of mileage.

When I picked it up, I noticed it seemed louder. I thought maybe it was just my imagination. I also thought I heard a rattling noise.

The next day, my son rode with me and immediately said the car sounded louder and was rattling. We popped the hood and found a universal joint socket adapter up above the weatherstripping at the top of the hood, near the windshield. That solved the rattling problem. This was on the weekend. On Monday, I stopped by the shop on my way to work to drop off the tool and Service Guy A asked how the car was running. I mentioned that it seemed a little louder, but that I hadn't driven it enough to be sure.

Service Guy A said it might be the exhaust gasket or a loose bolt on the exhaust. He didn't use the word manifold, but I assumed that's what he meant...unless they don't call exhaust manifolds that anymore. I told him I was on my way to work and he said to bring it back when I could and they'd take a look. He said they have to remove the exhaust (manifold) to change the timing belt and perhaps it wasn't re-installed correctly.

A couple days later, I called first and then dropped by and spoke to the Owner. I relayed the story from Service Guy A and he said, no, they don't touch the exhaust when doing a timing belt change, but that they'd take a look. Hmm. Conflicting stories.

I returned a couple hours later after they called and said it was ready. Service Guy B was there this time, and he said there's a hole in my exhaust flex pipe (I wrote this down) and it needs to be welded. He said they don't do welding, but any muffler shop could fix it and he thought it would cost me around $150, and said he was just guessing and couldn't say for sure.

So, here's my question: does this sound like a reasonable situation or are they giving me a bunch of bullsh!t? I'm not looking to argue with them, but it seems to me if the problem didn't exist when I took the car in for service but does as soon as I picked it up, they are responsible. It's not about the $150 (which will probably become $500, because that's just how these things work) and the extra time it will take to have another repair done - it's about trust.

I'm wondering if I can continue to trust this shop. I want to, because they're conveniently located, but there are other independent shops around and I value trust above convenience.

Tangential but similar story regarding home repair:

Lived in current house for fifteen years. Sprinkler system never leaked. Had some minor landscaping done in the back yard. Landscaping company changed around some underground sprinkler lines. Paid landscaping company. Discovered leak in the sprinkler system. Called landscaping company, asking them simply to send someone out to take a look and tell me what's wrong and if they did it or if it's up to me as a homeowner, because I understand things wear out. I tried to make it clear that I wasn't blaming them but could they just send a guy by for five minutes to look and advise me.

Nope. Can't do it. Too busy on other jobs.

"So you can't just have a guy come by on his way home from another job? What about the sales rep who came out to quote the job originally?"

Sorry. No one is available. We're fully booked. Very busy. Goodbye.

Translation: "You paid us in full when the job was done and therefore you'll never see us again"

At least the auto shop was nice enough to take a look.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I think the pandemic has definitely hurt us consumers. The body shop that repaired and repainted my S2000 luckily finished the job prior to the pandemic, but there are some minor issues with the paint job that require them to fix... so far they just have not reopened the shop yet. whenever I called, one time the owner said he got Covid... and then the 2nd time I called he told me his staff went on a long vacation and is still at mexico... Anyway, I think I'll have to expect to live with these minor blemishes on my S2000 for a while... or maybe just do it myself.

I also scheduled roofers to come repair my roof before the pandemic. The contract is already signed, but luckily nothing paid... they just never showed up and didn't even call me when the pandemic hit. Again, luckily I don't really have a roof leak, just preemptively trying to take care of my old roof. I was trying to do the cheapest possible fix by just have another layer of shingles on top of my older shingles. Local code allows for overlay on top 1 additional layer... Anyway, so I contacted another roofer, they don't even want the job. They'd only do it if I choose to tear out the old shingles... and doing more repair work underneath if necessary... Well, I didn't want to roofers to discover any surprises and I didn't want to spend additional money..., but they just thought covering more shingles over is too small of a job for them...

Moral of the story is that there's a labor shortage. They have plenty of work to do so they can be choosy and ignore customer service...

Anyway, if a business doesn't care about doing business with you or doesn't care if you're satisfied after the job, it's probably a good idea for us to continue to search for other businesses that do care.

Of course if there are absolutely no businesses out there who cares, then maybe we'll just have to settle for the closest and the most convenient lame business. :p

[George]

^ Have you contacted roofer? Maybe he'd do some long-distance consulting. :p

I've had similar replies when calling for roof repairs and fence repairs. Roofing and fencing companies will come running for full replacement jobs (both of which we've done over the years), but they aren't interested in fixing parts of older roofs and older fences.

"Hire a handyman!" everyone says. Okay, fine. Tell me who and I'll call him. Nobody ever has an answer.

Well, sometimes they do. I hired a handyman that someone recommended once when we first bought our current house to run a new dryer vent since the old one had too many twists and turns and I wanted it DONE RIGHT. It eventually was, but the guy was about eighty and took forever to show up and even longer to finish the job. It was years ago, but I remember multiple visits before he was done. He left an invoice with a mailing address and then his daughter started calling and asking where the check was. I told her the guy had taken X number of weeks to do the job and I would pay accordingly. My wife ended up mailing a check but I was going to make him wait a couple weeks, at least.

Then I hired a fence repair guy who, I kid you not, replaced a section of fence and left about two inches between the the bottom of the fence and the ground! This is a six-foot-tall privacy fence that should touch the ground everywhere, except maybe on the hilly parts of the yard where slight gaps in some boards are understandable. This was on a perfectly level part of the yard. He told me "They didn't have long enough boards". I paid him to go away and we later replaced the whole fence through a fence company.

Sometimes it works out okay, though.

We've had squirrels burrowing into our siding under a roof overhang in a corner in the winters. It was in a place that I just couldn't reach. My arms aren't long enough to reach from a ladder and I wasn't about to lie on my stomach, head downhill with my feet uphill on the roof to reach into an area with one hand and hold a flashlight in the other, which is needed there even in broad daylight. And, the spot where they got in was at the pointy end of a long triangle and I don't know how to patch that, even if I could reach it. Most roofing companies said "no thanks" immediately. A couple of them referred me to our county's animal control folks who could come trap the squirrels. I don't need them; I've had a trap for years. Traps are good for getting rid of the current squatter(s), but each time but another squirrel found the spot eventually and there I was again with my Hav-A-Hart trap baited with delicious peanut butter. Pro Tip: squirrels love peanut butter.

My wife finally found a guy through Next Door and he fixed up our squirrel hole really well, I think, and charged much less than any big company would have, I'm sure. While I usually try to do business with reputable companies who have insurance rather than just some guy with a pickup and a ladder (or that HVAC guy with the 15-year-old minivan), in this case, the young guy we hired seems to have done a good job and asked me to keep his number in case I have more work for him. I did.

[FaultyMario]

The shiny button the shift lever broke in the Accord. is it a pop it and fahgettaboudit repair?

[Crazed_Insanity]

We do have a pretty good handyman for small jobs… I swear to God he could almost fix everything… only thing he doesn’t like is painting… from electrical, plumbing, framing walls doors to tile work… heck, he can probably fix the button on the Accord!

The old man works fast and on schedule and probably charges half of going rates because he is unlicensed! I always ask him 1st whenever I need help, but unfortunately the guy can be fully booked and may need to wait for a long time! ;)

He can probably do roof too, when he was few years younger?

Anyway, there’s no urgency to redo my roof, I guess I can wait til the pandemic is over when things truly return to normal…

[George]

Here's a YouTube video, complete with a rockin' soundtrack! :rawk:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSLvwMyeDXw

And another. Don't know what year yours it, but I bet they're all pretty similar, having had three automatic Accords between my wife and me.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRPG8D7Pa-U

[JoeW]

Just an addition to your timing belt story…unfortunately all you can do is tell the owner your story and ask them to address it. If it isn’t resolved to your satisfaction then just move on in this situation.

You can’t prove they did it and they aren’t volunteering to accept responsibility so fuck it. Just move on. I personally would find another shop at that point because once you mildly accuse and they mildly redirect then it just got awkward. If you stay then you end up doing extra things before taking the car to them in the future to prove things like marking bolt heads etc so you know they are doing the work. If your trust is that low then just move on.

I took my 4Runner to a shop for something. When I left the abs and stability lights were on. They broke an abs wire but had to order it. I brought it back for them to fix it the next day. When I picked it up and got home I noticed a crack under the front bumper where someone may have hit something in the shop. I took it back, of course they denied. So now I’m fucked. Not worth lawyering up so I never went back.

I'm sure the owner/manager went to the tech, who then denied (because he doesn't want to be fired or docked future pay). So now it's my word vs theirs. I lose.

[Crazed_Insanity]

We need to defund these shops… or force auto mechanics to wear body cams!

Sometimes these shops managers try to make things up… I went to one of our local EZ lube place for a quick oil change… and they forgot to put the cosmetic plastic engine cover back… but I wasn’t paying attention sitting in the driver seat and also didn’t notice…

So it was after I went home, they called and informed me of their carelessness…

No biggie. They popped the piece back and manager gave me a $20 discount for next time… that wasn’t too bad.

However, had they screw up something that causes major damage, maybe the manager won’t be as nice? But who knows, if they can admit to small screw ups, maybe they’ll admit to bigger ones too?

If they never bothered to call me back I probably won’t even noticed my plastic engine cover is missing! ;)

[FaultyMario]

Here's a YouTube video, complete with a rockin' soundtrack! :rawk:

[videos]

Thanks, monkeeng!

[George]

Hey tigeraid, how's your Ridgeline doing?

Mine has been great except for minor stuff...or if not minor, at least I haven't needed tow trucks or side-of-the-road repairs as I used to have to do in my Volkswagen-owning days.

Back in July of last year, in post #11 above, I wondered if I should change shops. They installed a timing belt but loosened something in my exhaust system while doing so and gave me conflicting stories about whether or not they had caused it. I wasn't looking to place blame or get anything for free, but it left me thinking I didn't like that shop nearly as much as before they changed ownership, moved, and now have different service writers than the two who had been there for years who I liked and trusted.

Fast forward to August 2021. I took the car back for a routine oil change and check-up but also asked them to check my CV joints, as they were clicking during sharp, low-speed turns (in my parking garage at work, especially) like other high-mileage front-wheel drive Hondas and a Toyota that my wife and I have owned. When I picked up the car, I had somewhere to be right afterwards, or maybe I was just tired from a long week at work and wanted to get home without going back and arguing.

I paid for the front right axle they installed and the oil change and whatever else. I just kept driving after getting in and realizing the clicking hadn't gone away and also my steering wheel was no longer centered. It's not way off, but I notice it often...like when driving in a straight line. :lol: I've always driven old cars and couldn't afford to fix stuff like that, but now that I finally have a car that I like and want to keep and have a little more change in my pocket than at most times in the past, I'm willing to pay to have these things be as they should be.

So, on Monday morning of this week, needing an oil change and tire rotation (service code B-1, but I did the rotation, which was a seasonal tire & wheel swap with my son at home) at least, I took it to the shop my wife has been using ever since she felt she wasn't treated well either by the new owners of the shop we used to go to. I've called "her" new shop before but was told they had a two-week wait and I should make an appointment for the future. Well, this time it was less than a week wait so I chose early Monday morning so they'd have all week, if necessary, to work on it.

One of the owners, with a pretty good mullet haircut, by the way, talks even more than I do. He recited the Unabridged History Of CV Joints And (trans?)Axles when I dropped it off for service. He suggested that perhaps the shop that worked on it installed a generic part that might be a tiny bit short or long compared to the Honda part and that could have not fixed the original problem. Dude seemed to know his stuff, or maybe I was just impressed that said, "oh, you must have a service code B-1" before even seeing the vehicle when I mentioned I did NOT want my tires rotated, since I had just done so and wanted to keep the wear even (I switched 'em from how they were last winter). He's an older guy, in his fifties at least, unlike the "kids" working now at the shop I used to use.

After they did the oil change and checked out the whole car, he called me and suggested that perhaps my timing belt hadn't been changed after all. He said the outer belt was cracked and dry-rotted and the water pump sounded older than a brand new one should when listened to with a stethoscope by the tech doing the work and himself. He recommended tearing it down just enough to evaluate it fully and that the labor would apply toward replacing the belt and pump if they weren't new. I told him to do it, as I don't want to mess around trying to save a couple bucks at the cost of getting my family stranded in the winter in the mountains or just me trying to get home from work in Friday evening traffic. I guess I just want to know it has been done right...at least as much as anyone who isn't a mechanic can be sure of anything that's not visible.

He asked me to email him the receipts showing the work the other shop did so he could see exactly what they said they did. I did. He said all the parts they installed were from Car Quest and said something like, "I have a Chevy truck and I use those parts for that, but on a vehicle that'll last as long as these do, you don't want those." He did say he owns five Hondas in his family, and the word "Imports" is in the name of the shop, so hopefully he's sincere. He didn't seem like a sleazy used-car salesman type, but he does have a business to run. I like the guy, but time will tell if he's a straight shooter or a bullsh!tter.

I just called this afternoon (Thursday) to find out if our Saturday trip was going to happen. My guy wasn't available then, but the man who answered went and checked and said it would be the middle of next week before they'd have the parts in hand and installed.

So what's the point of all this? Heck, I don't know.

I hope it's good news that the shop is so busy, and I was impressed with the detail-oriented nature of someone wanting to review receipts from previous work. I don't think I've ever had a vehicle in for service and been asked that before. And I guess this weekend will be a good time to clean up the garage with one car missing rather than doing what we were going to.

Oh, and this new guy told me exactly where to go and who to see to get my exhaust flex pipe replaced with an aftermarket one that lasts "forever". He said flex pipes wear out and a 10+ year old one with 100,000 miles might not seal back to the exhaust system as it had when new. I plan to get that done as soon as I can, although it did pass emissions in July as is.

[dodint]

Sounds like you found yourself a decent shop.

[George]

I hope so. Mullet-Man just called me and said they found the problem with the timing belt: It is in fact new, but was installed two teeth off, so the timing wasn't right. I guess they adjusted the existing belt that my old shop installed in July, and he said the belt was new. It sounds like I got the parts I paid for at the old shop, but a poor installation. He said I'll notice smoother and more powerful performance now and should be good for another 100,000 miles. I'm guess that explains whatever noises they heard from the water pump that they didn't like.

Apparently they installed some front drivetrain parts as well. I didn't ask for specifics about those over the phone. He said they want to keep the car overnight again and check something in the morning with the timing again to make sure everything's just right before I pick it up tomorrow.

[XHawkeye]

Had a timing belt go on my '88 Integra while I was on vacation. Pep Boys fixed it but it idled only at high idle. My back home shop said it was a couple teeth off. Pep Boys did pay for the repair of the repair.