Replacing Shark Fin Antenna Cover

blvckj

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Has anyone had experience replacing just the shark fin antenna cover on 10th gen hatchback?
It got knocked off during a car wash. There's a lot of shark fin covers on Amazon/ebay but I haven't ran into anything online on someone using one of those to replace a missing cover. Honda wants $80+ for the whole antenna assembly and I don't really want to go through uninstalling and installing it.

Any help is appreciated.

Honda Civic 10th gen Replacing Shark Fin Antenna Cover IMG-7442
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KitKat

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Has anyone had experience replacing just the shark fin antenna cover on 10th gen hatchback?
It got knocked off during a car wash. There's a lot of shark fin covers on Amazon/ebay but I haven't ran into anything online on someone using one of those to replace a missing cover. Honda wants $80+ for the whole antenna assembly and I don't really want to go through uninstalling and installing it.

Any help is appreciated.

IMG-7442.jpg
I took my 2019 Civic EX into the local Honda dealer for an oil change and to have the battery replaced. It only has 2,500 mi on it. I became very ill after I first purchased it brand new and that is why the mileage is so very low. I was going to replace the battery myself as it's simple enough to do but it was the same price at Walmart as it was at the dealership so I figured I'd save myself to drive to Walmart and just have the dealership do it.

Driving home from getting the oil changed and the battery changed, a truck driver started honking at me and told me to pull over and he picked up the fin off the roof of my car and told me that it was ready to fall off. I was three blocks away from the dealership and turned around and went right back with it.

They attempted to glue it on and put a bunch of masking tape on the roof and I got back into my car and the seat was pushed back so far... I didn't even know that the seat could go back that far! I tried to readjust it to my normal position and it turns out they broke that too!

When I push the up position for the front of the seat it makes a big loud clinking sound.

I took the car back to them as they said I needed to make an appointment even though I came right back with these problems. The second time I didn't even leave, when they broke my driver's seat.

They denied any liability. I have to go through my insurance company and my insurance company has to sue the dealership.

I am pissed off royally and my review for them is it's going to be royally glowing with seething anger and how sloppy they are and irresponsible.

I have learned that you have to take the whole internal compartment apart in order to get to the antenna. The entire seat has to be replaced because some big tall guy got in it and put the seat way too far back and broke it.

This from a Honda dealership.

Absolutely despicable...
 

SethNES

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Almost all dealerships regardless of brand will try to get out of any warranty work. I'd have to say I feel sorry for you but you made me glad to have manual seats in Si. What I learned from my 05 civic ex was the inner electronics went to shit (sometimes real quick) and never properly fixed under warranty like rear automatic locks. I forget what doors wouldn't go down but was probably passenger also eventually because remember many times leaning over and pushing it down.

Ah yea I remember correctly. The key fob would unlock driver door but couldn't open passenger. So I always had to reach over.

Masking tape on roof from dealership? Where the fuck do you live Georgia or Alabama? Let me guess... Florida
 
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gtman

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I took my 2019 Civic EX into the local Honda dealer for an oil change and to have the battery replaced. It only has 2,500 mi on it. I became very ill after I first purchased it brand new and that is why the mileage is so very low. I was going to replace the battery myself as it's simple enough to do but it was the same price at Walmart as it was at the dealership so I figured I'd save myself to drive to Walmart and just have the dealership do it.

Driving home from getting the oil changed and the battery changed, a truck driver started honking at me and told me to pull over and he picked up the fin off the roof of my car and told me that it was ready to fall off. I was three blocks away from the dealership and turned around and went right back with it.

They attempted to glue it on and put a bunch of masking tape on the roof and I got back into my car and the seat was pushed back so far... I didn't even know that the seat could go back that far! I tried to readjust it to my normal position and it turns out they broke that too!

When I push the up position for the front of the seat it makes a big loud clinking sound.

I took the car back to them as they said I needed to make an appointment even though I came right back with these problems. The second time I didn't even leave, when they broke my driver's seat.

They denied any liability. I have to go through my insurance company and my insurance company has to sue the dealership.

I am pissed off royally and my review for them is it's going to be royally glowing with seething anger and how sloppy they are and irresponsible.

I have learned that you have to take the whole internal compartment apart in order to get to the antenna. The entire seat has to be replaced because some big tall guy got in it and put the seat way too far back and broke it.

This from a Honda dealership.

Absolutely despicable...
Look, I'll be the first to tell you I'm no fan of most dealerships. But it's hard to imagine a dealership would have broken off a shark fin antenna and broken the seat while doing an oil change/ battery replacement. I mean if the tech adjusted the seat all the way back because he was taller, that shouldn't have broken it. Anything's possible I guess.

And are you saying they tried to permanently repair the shark fin antenna with masking tape? Or was that a temp fix when you came back and said it was falling off?

Is it remotely possible the antenna was already loose and you didn't realize it because you rarely drive it?

Side note: @SethNES. His 2019 car is out of the 3 year bumper to bumper warranty. Also why are you guessing his State? It's right in his profile. Illinois.
 
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SethNES

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Just fuckin around but I bet it was built in southern plant. If it was built in Ohio where I was born then I'll bite the bullet.

Also they might as well used a superior tape like duct tape which might have let the glue settle better. Masking tape is shit.
 

KitKat

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Look, I'll be the first to tell you I'm no fan of most dealerships. But it's hard to imagine a dealership would have broken off a shark fin antenna and broken the seat while doing an oil change/ battery replacement. I mean if the tech adjusted the seat all the way back because he was taller, that shouldn't have broken it. Anything's possible I guess.

And are you saying they tried to permanently repair the shark fin antenna with masking tape? Or was that a temp fix when you came back and said it was falling off?

Is it remotely possible the antenna was already loose and you didn't realize it because you rarely drive it?

Side note: @SethNES. His 2019 car is out of the 3 year bumper to bumper warranty. Also why are you guessing his State? It's right in his profile. Illinois.
There is no way on Earth that that shark fin antenna cover was loose. I baby my vehicle and it's ALWAYS in the garage.

I actually thread a hose through from my laundry room all the way out to my garage because I have a water softener to wash the car. Because it's winter I have been using Car Guys Waterless Car Wash and Black Light on it and that fin was NOT loose. To be completely honest I couldn't figure out how it was attached to the car and figured that it must be formed into the roof somehow until this happened.

I watched through the service window as the guy kept on putting more and more gorilla glue on the fin and trying to push it on. She finally gave up trying to push it on and started covering it with masking tape and then drove it out to me and told me to leave the tape on for a couple of days. I could see, at that very moment, that the fin was not flush with the roof. He told me to leave it for 3 days and then come back. I went to get my car to drive home got as far as into my car to drive home and the seat was pushed so far back that I didn't even think that the seat could go back that far. I pushed the power to move it forward and then adjusted the lumbar and then went to adjust the height and that's when the clunking started. I immediately went right back in and told that guy that something happened to my seat. He came out and just kept grinning like a possum eatin' shit. He never stopped grinning for a second. He told me to make an appointment to bring the car back and that they would take complete care of it. The whole time smiling like a freaking possum eatin' shit.

When I brought the car back, per appointment, they took about an hour and a half and told me that the entire seat needs to be replaced and that the roof has to be totally taken apart in order to install a new fin assembly as they cannot repair the broken one.

There is no way on Earth that my car was like that when I brought it in. IMPOSSIBLE as I baby it and notice every single solitary little smudge on it and keep Car Guys spot cleaner and black light in my trunk at all times and the car looks perfect absolutely every living moment.

These morons at this dealership did this.

I had to contact my insurance company and it is almost $4,000 to take the roof assembly apart and replace the antenna and over $2,000 to replace the seat and they are not certain if they are going to replace the seat or not as I have to do a police report for "malicious vandalism" to get it paid for. It wasn't malicious vandalism at all. It was just the case of a stupid ass mechanic that plunked his ass down into my driver's seat and push the electronic seat control too far and forced the seat way too far back and stripped something.

In the case of the shark fin antenna cover, I would venture to guess that they probably drove it through a freaking car wash. I would never let my car anywhere near a car wash. To reiterate, I use Car Guys Waterless Car Wash and Black Light on the car throughout the winter months and I know for a fact that that antenna was completely intact because I recall thinking about how on Earth they mold the metal in the shape of a shark fin on top of the roof as I could not see any lines whatsoever of how it was attached and didn't even know that it was a separate entity until that day that they broke it.

EDIT/ADDITION: Not that it's necessarily relevant but I am a 63 year old 120 lb female who purchased the car as a reward after I completed cancer treatment. I became very ill after completing cancer treatment which is why the car was hardly driven but it was the first car that I purchased brand new after 25 years so I managed to baby it. My previous car was a 1994 Honda Accord EX, which I purchased brand new in February of 1995 and it had 88,836 miles on it the day I traded it in in May of 2020 on the new 2019 Honda Civic that had either 12 miles on it when I drove it off the lot. I learned a long time ago that is best to purchase the last year's vehicle because you get the best price because they need to get it off the lot and it is essentially the same as the current year. My point in adding this is that there is no way that that car was like that when I brought it in there. It has been perched in my garage and babied and driven only once or twice a week since I've had it and I had polished it that week as I was preparing to purchase and install the battery myself so was paying attention to it.
 
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KensBlueGenX

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Well now that your thread has been hijacked into a rant about dealers, sigh, to answer your actual question - yes, the aftermarket caps work just fine.
 

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I'd take it in to the dealership and possibly get some good will help. Also I wouldn't mention anything about the car wash.
 


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Just fuckin around but I bet it was built in southern plant. If it was built in Ohio where I was born then I'll bite the bullet.

Also they might as well used a superior tape like duct tape which might have let the glue settle better. Masking tape is shit.
Indiana as per tag

Honda Civic 10th gen Replacing Shark Fin Antenna Cover PXL_20240128_230015852~2
 

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I'd take it in to the dealership and possibly get some good will help. Also I wouldn't mention anything about the car wash.

I took it in on Thursday per my appointment about it and they told me that I needed a whole new seat and the roof assembly had to be dismantled in order to replace the shark fin.

Their service advisor denied all liability. The service advisor told me that he was going to appeal to Honda to extend the warranty on the seat.

After coming home and thinking it over I decided to contact my insurance agent and they told me that, if they don't make it right, that they are going to sue the Honda dealerships insurance company for reimbursement. They are uncertain whether they were cover the broken power seat or not because they require me to file a police report claiming malicious vandalism... It wasn't malicious vandalism.. it was the case of a stupid mechanic stalking his big butt down into my seat and pushing it back way too far and stripping the motor.
 

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And this giant rant about a dealer answers the OP's question about replacing just the shark fin antenna cover how again?

The shark fin cover cannot simply be replaced. It is an entire assembly and they have to dismantle the whole interior roof in order to put a new assembly in.

The driver's power seat motor was stripped by the service person pushing it back way too far and somehow managing to strip the motor.

These repairs come to over $6,000, per my insurance company. It is not piddly crap.

That car was absolutely perfect when I brought it in. I baby it.

I had the one before it, a 1994 Honda Accord EX, that I bought new in February of 1995, and was absolutely perfect when I traded it in at 88,836 miles in May of 2020 for this. I keep my cars absolutely pristine from bumper to bumper.
 

KitKat

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Almost all dealerships regardless of brand will try to get out of any warranty work. I'd have to say I feel sorry for you but you made me glad to have manual seats in Si. What I learned from my 05 civic ex was the inner electronics went to shit (sometimes real quick) and never properly fixed under warranty like rear automatic locks. I forget what doors wouldn't go down but was probably passenger also eventually because remember many times leaning over and pushing it down.

Ah yea I remember correctly. The key fob would unlock driver door but couldn't open passenger. So I always had to reach over.

Masking tape on roof from dealership? Where the fuck do you live Georgia or Alabama? Let me guess... Florida
Chicago suburbs. It is a gigantic enterprise that owns many dealerships and has been around for almost a half of a century. The Bob Rohrman empire.
 

sbace_hamb

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Chicago suburbs. It is a gigantic enterprise that owns many dealerships and has been around for almost a half of a century. The Bob Rohrman empire.
The one in Schaumburg? That doesn't surprise me at ALL after having read your account of what's happened so far. Bob Rohrman group is always eager to sell and hesitant to repair. Just a peak at their reviews online, and every positive review is exclusively about the sale being easy and salespeople being nice. Every negative review has something to do with some kind of negligence, incompetence, or just downright maliciousness after the initial sale. Sounds like it wouldn't be the first time they've received legal action. And it also sounds like you may have a better chance getting this resolved if you reach out to the GM of the area, as someone cited their problem was immediately fixed by superseding the on-site sales manager. Hope you can get this figured out and I'm incredibly happy to hear you're out of cancer treatment, so congratulations there.
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