Dont go to tampa honda

Civic17siYAY

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So fun story. When I was going through all that fuel injector bs the dealership told me they pulled the plugs and they looked fine. Fast forward about 6 months and I hit my 100k spark plug change reminder. So me being the cheap ass I am, i buy new OEM replacements and decide to do it myself. Well... come to find out Tampa Honda used an impact gun to put them back on when they removed them. They were all torqued to what felt like 200 ft lbs.

Also one of the ceramics had a crack in it and while I was pulling it out, it came off. The plug is still in there because I'm scared it's going to drop into the cylinder if I fully remove the plug. Any suggestions on how to safely remove it? The only thing I can think of is to use a vacuum. Please help!
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amirza786

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You'll need a plug remover. Here is some information that may help you: https://www.championautoparts.com/Technical/Tech-Tips/Removing-Broken-Spark-Plug.html

I would doubt they used an impact gun, that would have broken the plugs then and there. They probably just torqued them to tight. Since they re-installed the plugs, you can maybe try and get them to tow the car and have them remove them, as if you break anything, you know what they say....
 
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Civic17siYAY

Civic17siYAY

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You'll need a plug remover. Here is some information that may help you: https://www.championautoparts.com/Technical/Tech-Tips/Removing-Broken-Spark-Plug.html

I would doubt they used an impact gun, that would have broken the plugs then and there. They probably just torqued them to tight. Since they re-installed the plugs, you can maybe try and get them to tow the car and have them remove them, as if you break anything, you know what they say....
Unless they used a breaker bar, there is no way they torqued this by hand. I'll check put the spark plug removal tool.

And as far as them covering it, they won't cover shit. They've always been a pain in the ass.

Also, the plug can be removed, its just I dont want the broken ceramic to drop in the cylinder.
 
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Civic17siYAY

Civic17siYAY

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Update: used compressed air to blow out all the pieces of the ceramic. I called a different dealership and the dude was awesome and gave me some suggestions. I've been working on cars as a hobby for 10 or so years and not once have I ever seen a cracked plug.

Also, for what it's worth, he mentioned that he has seen multiple hondas with cracked plugs in the Tampa area... Before I mentioned what I thought happened, he said "yeah, they probably zipped it on with an impact gun and cracked it". Confirms my suspicion that some lazy jackass at tampa honda is using an impact gun to change plugs.
 

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Update: used compressed air to blow out all the pieces of the ceramic. I called a different dealership and the dude was awesome and gave me some suggestions. I've been working on cars as a hobby for 10 or so years and not once have I ever seen a cracked plug.

Also, for what it's worth, he mentioned that he has seen multiple hondas with cracked plugs in the Tampa area... Before I mentioned what I thought happened, he said "yeah, they probably zipped it on with an impact gun and cracked it". Confirms my suspicion that some lazy jackass at tampa honda is using an impact gun to change plugs.
If it were me, I wouldn't let them get away with such incompetence
 


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Civic17siYAY

Civic17siYAY

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If it were me, I wouldn't let them get away with such incompetence

The issue is, its my word against theirs. They could easily say someone else did it or even I did it and what proof do I have other than the fact that no one has touched the spark plugs since they did.

This is the same dealership that made me come back 3-4 times to figure out that my injectors were causing issues. Which at that point I was over my 36K warranty so they refused to cover me. They knew I drove a ton for work and so they basically just had to wait it out and keep clearing the codes till I was past warranty. When the problem first popped up, one of the service advisers told me that unless the engine light is on when it comes in, they cant check to see what it is.

When I stopped in on the second time for the same issue, the only thing they did was the Climate control recall, then tried to charge me for a diagnostic fee. After I voiced my concern, they acted like they were doing me a huge solid by not charging me.... THIS WAS RECALL WORK!!! I didn't find out later until I requested a service history of everything done on the vehicle. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that they didn't even attempt to fix the problem that I originally came in for. They replaced the Climate control unit then just cleared the codes.

While Im on the topic, they refused me a rental car on the last trip saying that I put too many miles on the other one. Again, they knew I drive a ton for my job, they held onto my car for over 3 days at one point and still didn't fix the issue leading me to come back and and have to take more days off work. They are complete and utter scumbags over there. Oh and their dealer mark up on the Type R is like 20K so theres that. Also, the "unlimited oil changes for $7.99/month" yeah they are full of shit. You only get 4 or so oil changes a year then it is no longer covered....EVER! I get my oil changed every 3 weeks so you can imagine why I purchased the plan. its a scam.

Only thing I can really do at this point is tell everyone to stay away from that place. Unfortunately for them, they lost a good customer. With my current job, I go through cars every 2-3 years. If they treated me with respect they would have made a ton of money off of me. Sucks for them for being so short sighted and scummy. Ill take my business else where.

TLDR: Dont go anywhere near Tampa Honda.
 

amirza786

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The issue is, its my word against theirs. They could easily say someone else did it or even I did it and what proof do I have other than the fact that no one has touched the spark plugs since they did.

This is the same dealership that made me come back 3-4 times to figure out that my injectors were causing issues. Which at that point I was over my 36K warranty so they refused to cover me. They knew I drove a ton for work and so they basically just had to wait it out and keep clearing the codes till I was past warranty. When the problem first popped up, one of the service advisers told me that unless the engine light is on when it comes in, they cant check to see what it is.

When I stopped in on the second time for the same issue, the only thing they did was the Climate control recall, then tried to charge me for a diagnostic fee. After I voiced my concern, they acted like they were doing me a huge solid by not charging me.... THIS WAS RECALL WORK!!! I didn't find out later until I requested a service history of everything done on the vehicle. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that they didn't even attempt to fix the problem that I originally came in for. They replaced the Climate control unit then just cleared the codes.

While Im on the topic, they refused me a rental car on the last trip saying that I put too many miles on the other one. Again, they knew I drive a ton for my job, they held onto my car for over 3 days at one point and still didn't fix the issue leading me to come back and and have to take more days off work. They are complete and utter scumbags over there. Oh and their dealer mark up on the Type R is like 20K so theres that. Also, the "unlimited oil changes for $7.99/month" yeah they are full of shit. You only get 4 or so oil changes a year then it is no longer covered....EVER! I get my oil changed every 3 weeks so you can imagine why I purchased the plan. its a scam.

Only thing I can really do at this point is tell everyone to stay away from that place. Unfortunately for them, they lost a good customer. With my current job, I go through cars every 2-3 years. If they treated me with respect they would have made a ton of money off of me. Sucks for them for being so short sighted and scummy. Ill take my business else where.

TLDR: Dont go anywhere near Tampa Honda.
That's kind of strange to hear, because dealerships don't do warranty repairs out of their own pockets, a warranty repair is just like doing work for a walk in customer except they are paid by Honda (or whoever the manufacturer is). I know for sure that is the case for Toyota, as a friend of mine works for Piercy Toyota in Milpitas, CA and that's what he told me when I brought in my Sienna for a warranty issue with the electric sliding door motors. Also last month Lexus just changed my dashboard for a new one on my 2010 IS350, the warranty was extended to 10 years for an issue called "sticky dash". My Lexus only had a small area that was affected, so small that it's not even noticeable, yet they not only changed the dash to a new one, but gave me a loaner for 24 hours.

I guess it's time for you to find a new dealership. I would still file a complaint with 1) Honda of American and 2) The Consumer Protection Bureau. Wont hurt to try. Anyway, sorry you are going thru this
 
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Civic17siYAY

Civic17siYAY

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That's kind of strange to hear, because dealerships don't do warranty repairs out of their own pockets, a warranty repair is just like doing work for a walk in customer except they are paid by Honda (or whoever the manufacturer is). I know for sure that is the case for Toyota, as a friend of mine works for Piercy Toyota in Milpitas, CA and that's what he told me when I brought in my Sienna for a warranty issue with the electric sliding door motors. Also last month Lexus just changed my dashboard for a new one on my 2010 IS350, the warranty was extended to 10 years for an issue called "sticky dash". My Lexus only had a small area that was affected, so small that it's not even noticeable, yet they not only changed the dash to a new one, but gave me a loaner for 24 hours.

I guess it's time for you to find a new dealership. I would still file a complaint with 1) Honda of American and 2) The Consumer Protection Bureau. Wont hurt to try. Anyway, sorry you are going thru this
Thank you. They were just trying to hustle me for money with the diagnostic fee. Tampa Honda is beyond shady.

I dealt with the same "Sticky dash" in my Lexus Is250. It got to the point that I could peel off pieces with my finger nails. Tampa Lexus replaced it for free and gave me a loaner for the day. The service department at lexus dealerships are second to none.
 

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Civic17siYAY

Civic17siYAY

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Just thought I should add another reason why you shouldn't give this dealership your money. Im in the process of trying to cancel my "car care" program (which is pitched as lifetime oil changes for 7.99/month..... BULLSHIT! See above) and no one from finance will return my calls. Its been over a week and 5 calls later. They sent over a cancellation form with ZERO information attached. I need multiple things from the dealership that is impossible to find out without going through the finance department. Keep it rolling Tampa Honda, your scumbagery knows no bounds. FWIW, I've had multiple people come up to me asking where I got my car and I made sure to tell them how much of a nightmare Tampa Honda has been to deal with.
 

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Just thought I should add another reason why you shouldn't give this dealership your money. Im in the process of trying to cancel my "car care" program (which is pitched as lifetime oil changes for 7.99/month..... BULLSHIT! See above) and no one from finance will return my calls. Its been over a week and 5 calls later. They sent over a cancellation form with ZERO information attached. I need multiple things from the dealership that is impossible to find out without going through the finance department. Keep it rolling Tampa Honda, your scumbagery knows no bounds. FWIW, I've had multiple people come up to me asking where I got my car and I made sure to tell them how much of a nightmare Tampa Honda has been to deal with.
I hate to suggest it, but if you go in the dealership and loudly announce that you've been trying to cancel it because it's a lie, especially on a holiday weekend or something, they'll probably help you pretty quickly.
 

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So fun story. When I was going through all that fuel injector bs the dealership told me they pulled the plugs and they looked fine. Fast forward about 6 months and I hit my 100k spark plug change reminder. So me being the cheap ass I am, i buy new OEM replacements and decide to do it myself. Well... come to find out Tampa Honda used an impact gun to put them back on when they removed them. They were all torqued to what felt like 200 ft lbs.

Also one of the ceramics had a crack in it and while I was pulling it out, it came off. The plug is still in there because I'm scared it's going to drop into the cylinder if I fully remove the plug. Any suggestions on how to safely remove it? The only thing I can think of is to use a vacuum. Please help!
congrats on a 100k, sorry to hear the DAs at Tampa honda dont know how to work on cars.
 

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So fun story. When I was going through all that fuel injector bs the dealership told me they pulled the plugs and they looked fine. Fast forward about 6 months and I hit my 100k spark plug change reminder. So me being the cheap ass I am, i buy new OEM replacements and decide to do it myself. Well... come to find out Tampa Honda used an impact gun to put them back on when they removed them. They were all torqued to what felt like 200 ft lbs.

Also one of the ceramics had a crack in it and while I was pulling it out, it came off. The plug is still in there because I'm scared it's going to drop into the cylinder if I fully remove the plug. Any suggestions on how to safely remove it? The only thing I can think of is to use a vacuum. Please help!
I’m sorry to hear about your experience at this dealership. I would have gone up the leadership ladder to let the main owner know about it, and how dissatisfied you are with this and experiences in the past. Many times, the senior guys don’t know what is happening, and your experience could be the piece of a puzzle for a decline in sales or service. If they give you the deaf ear, then do your best to encourage other people not to take their cars there because they will receive the same poor service and damage to their car.

In retrospect, you removing it yourself was probably a good thing because the tech most likely would’ve pulled out the plug and allow all the ceramic chips to enter the cylinder. The techs could care less. Then, you would’ve returned the next day for serious engine problems ...
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