[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I have not seen the leakage but the damage has been done and i have got the car back with repairs with a massive bill of 29K probably the highest of any t-bhp civic owner for repairs and service.

I will post the 'what happened when i went to the dealer' story in the Honda Civic Long terms do's and dont's thread later.

Please share the breakup and the spare part/ labour costs. I would be interested in comparing the same with other cars in the segment.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Please share the breakup and the spare part/ labour costs. I would be interested in comparing the same with other cars in the segment.

There were no parts replaced but only pure labor.The costs are as follows

10.5K for PS overhaul
12K for rack overhaul.

Rest was the routine service,VAT and service tax etc.


I would love to know what these guys do if such a job where no parts are replaced.How the hell do they fix something which they do not replace anything with ?

[sumeethaldankar]

I got the hose pipe fixed last week from my trusted mechanic joe for around 7K.More details here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post2862085

When joe had the leaking hose removed he found that it was not a Honda original but a replaced one.I guess the previous owners(s) had it changed to a non genuine one.Anyways the one i got is original (made in Thailand) and cost 5200 buck and am hoping and praying that it last atleast 3-4 years without issues.Also got my dual tone horn fixed from Joe . As usual the thugs at Solitiaire recommened a change but Joe got if fixed.The horn is back to it's usual loud self.

All in all i had a bad month in july for the car.The accident and the PS related robbery by Solitaire made me think twice about keeping the car.But as i look back at my 800 in the last 15 years it faced similar issues in the beginning too.Sai service charged a bomb of 5k for its 5000Km service.Back in 1998 5k meant a huge amount.My 800 also suffered from total brake failure due to leaking brake seals in the rear much similar to my power steering leaking hose.If i had written off the 800 just going by those 2 incidents i probably would have never had those wonderful 15 years (and she is still with me) with the car :-).So i guess the Civic is going to be with me for the long haul.

All in all i have decided to keep my 'Independence' maintained by well..Independant garages.I don't know what part of my brain ceased to function when i took my car to Solitaire for repairs.I may only go for HASS for something like a HDS scan at the most once a year and i plan to get it serviced twice a year from my trusted garage man Joe (Nakita motors).

I would like to know what grade mineral oil i can use from the after market as i may not be able to source Idemitsu etc. Will a 10W 40 Total quartz do ? The service is 6 months away but i just wanted to know.My 800 feels great after i had switched to Total Quartz.

[manim]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

When joe had the leaking hose removed he found that it was not a Honda original but a replaced one.I guess the previous owners(s) had it changed to a non genuine one.

Ha, so that is why the problem occurred!
(Now Honda cannot be blamed, but Solitaire is at fault for not finding this earlier?)

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

So i guess the Civic is going to be with me for the long haul.

Wish you keep her for ten years or more!

[jatinpatel]

the proper grade of Mineral oil for civic is 10w-30 and its available in Mobile its some 850rs for 4L can civic needs 4.7L
Get it from opera house you will get it as this rate.

DO NOT use 10w-40 as its thicker grade of oil, which doesn go well with the VTEC valvetrain.

[sumeethaldankar]

The car has breached the 39K figure on the odo and i am expecting the 40K to come up in the next few months.At the 40 K service a major expense is the fuel filter which costs around 3-4K. Will not be sending the car to any HASS and instead will plan to source a original from oustide and get it fitted by my garage.I may only send the car to a HASS for a HDS scan once a year and leave the rest to be taken care by my independant garage.Also bought a new battery Amaron pro for 5.4K after exchange ,60 months warranty.

The car's front chrome grill had a cracked from day one i had bought the car.I had covered it with a T-Bhp sticker which recently gave way.So i cleaned up the area of the accumulated dirt and used a cut up portion of another t-bhp sticker to cover it up.Below is how it looks.




Also below are a couple of random pics i took while i was driving around.


The battle tank at Kalina.



A dashboard view.

[sarthakgupta]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

There were no parts replaced but only pure labor.The costs are as follows

10.5K for PS overhaul
12K for rack overhaul.

Rest was the routine service,VAT and service tax etc.

I have read that this power steering and rack issue haunts a lot of Civics. Does this problem occurs in All new Honda City also? I am asking since I am expecting delivery of my ANHC within 3 - 4 days.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by sarthakgupta

I have read that this power steering and rack issue haunts a lot of Civics. Does this problem occurs in All new Honda City also? I am asking since I am expecting delivery of my ANHC within 3 - 4 days.

I haven't heard about the City having PS issues , maybe ANHC owners could clarify same.You could read up ownership reviews of ANHC on the forum.If it's a brand new car you are getting(congrats on the same) i don't think you would have to worry about it for the 1st 4-5 years atleast with respect to same.These problems creep up after the car gets older.All you have to do is keep checking fluids etc on a regular basis say atleast once a fortnight peek under the hood and check all the levels etc.I do this my for car but unfortunately i never checked the PS fluid that had gone down and this spiralled the problem to a greater extent.

[jatinpatel]

ANHC dont have a hydraulic steering like civic they have Electronic power steering which generally dont fail but when they do they cant be repaired they have to be replaced which is expensive.

The rack of Honda City ZX Vtec is 49k at Honda so for ANHC should be bit more.

[sumeethaldankar]

Small update and a couple of pics.I was facing some issues while driving in the correct poisition.Since the car has many ways to adjust the seat and steering i was finding it diffcult to find the most comfortable position along with the best view.The position i usually adjusted to found myself straining over the dashboard while making tight corners and also found that it caused back aches and neck pains after spending a hour or more behind the wheel.So i decided to get this wooden bed seat cushion thingy for 531 bucks from Reliance mart.I haven't yet driven the car with same but tried it out in the parking and it feels better and i do not have to crane over the dashboard as it feels high enough.



Also a pic of the car.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

When joe had the leaking hose removed he found that it was not a Honda original but a replaced one.I guess the previous owners(s) had it changed to a non genuine one.Anyways the one i got is original (made in Thailand) and cost 5200 buck and am hoping and praying that it last atleast 3-4 years without issues.

So, that was the culprit that bugged you throughout July. To think that Solitaire Honda didn't find that out and charged you a bomb for replacing something that didn't solve the problem, they should be some clueless chaps. Anyway, its good that all is well now and you have an independent mechanic who you can trust.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

All in all i had a bad month in july for the car.The accident and the PS related robbery by Solitaire made me think twice about keeping the car. If i had written off the 800 just going by those 2 incidents i probably would have never had those wonderful 15 years (and she is still with me) with the car :-).So i guess the Civic is going to be with me for the long haul.

You are right, these kind of issues dents our confidence in the car and prompts us to think of a change. But we will end up losing more money if we do that rather than spend and keep the car for long. You have taken a right decision Sumeet. The Civic will serve you long and serve you well too.

By the way, I had to tell you that a host of Power Steering related problems faced by you and a few other Civic owners in the forum gave me jitters as my car is nearing the 50K mark too. Somehow, I have managed to get over that and started enjoying the car back again.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

The car has breached the 39K figure on the odo and i am expecting the 40K to come up in the next few months.

Congrats on reaching the 40K milestone. The 40K service is a major service and I spent 11,000 Rupees in March this year for the same. Keep us posted on the expenses that you incur with your garage.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

These problems creep up after the car gets older.All you have to do is keep checking fluids etc on a regular basis say atleast once a fortnight peek under the hood and check all the levels etc.I do this my for car but unfortunately i never checked the PS fluid that had gone down and this spiralled the problem to a greater extent.

Thanks for the advice. Somehow, I don't have the habit of opening the hood often. I guess I need to develop it from now and start observing things atleast once in a week.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by arvi86

By the way, I had to tell you that a host of Power Steering related problems faced by you and a few other Civic owners in the forum gave me jitters as my car is nearing the 50K mark too.

All you have to do is keep checking the oil level for signs of leakage etc.Nothing will go wrong without any indication or sign etc.After long drives and before long drives check all fluid levels.My problems escalated as i went on driving merrily unware of the loss of PS fluid.

Originally Posted by arvi86

The 40K service is a major service and I spent 11,000 Rupees in March this year for the same. Keep us posted on the expenses that you incur with your garage.

I plan to get only the fuel filter replaced from my independant garage when i hit the 40k mark.That way i would distribute the cost of the 40K service.I went through your thread where you have posted the 40K bill breakup.The Fuel strainer itslef costs 4K.Minus that and the painting cost and the bill comes to a decent 5K amount.But i still feel we unncessarily pay extra in the form of service tax and vat which is not charged by independant garages.Even if i decide to go to a HASS i would only ask them to do a standard service and give me a report on any issues etc with car.After getting the report i would prefer to take the car to my garage to address those issues.

[jatinpatel]

@sumeet

You bought the Amaron battery from Pai eletricals in santacurz right ?

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

@sumeet

You bought the Amaron battery from Pai eletricals in santacurz right ?

Yes Jatin i did thanks to you.It seems i arrived at the shop just a bit later after you had come as mentioned by Mr Raju when i gave him your reference.He said you had just come in a little while ago :-)

BTW i have also noticed that Pai auto does HDS scanning,injector cleaning and throttle body cleaning , something i can make use of later on.They had quoted 3-4K plus materials for doing the same.If you think they are good with this then i could try them whenever i need to get those things done though i found their pricing at par with HASS but the good thing is that one can hang around while they go about their job.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

All you have to do is keep checking the oil level for signs of leakage etc.Nothing will go wrong without any indication or sign etc.After long drives and before long drives check all fluid levels.My problems escalated as i went on driving merrily unware of the loss of PS fluid.

I don't know since when this happened, but my hood wouldn't open at all. It seems that the latch that has to move away to release the hood once we press the black lever has gone kaput. Keeping my fingers crossed until the next service that is due later this month.