Honda dealership failure...looking for advice

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Ok BITOG, just looking for outside perspectives to pass on to one of my friends...

Subject car: 2018 Accord Hybrid with ~30k miles

Situation: "Joe" took the car to the dealership where he purchased it from. He has done this from the time he bought it to be sure to maintain the warranty, even though he does not particularly like it. Yesterday he picked up his car from the standard service (oil change) and within roughly 0.75 miles, the oil pressure light came on, and he saw a message to not drive the car. He pulled over, and called the dealership service center. They advised him to drive it back. When he returned, they promptly ushered him into the waiting area and his car disappeared. The service manager came out, and said all was "ok" that they did fill it with oil, but it had a "double O-ring" so the oil was blocked from circulating through the engine (MAJOR BS). They had already drained the oil, and all was well.

Joe asked to see his car and the technician. He asked the tech if he drained the oil, and he said yes. Joe asked how much oil came out, and the tech said about 0.5 quarts...at which point, the way he described it was that the managers face was all sorts of messed up ;-) He asked to see the filter, and it looked fine from his description...but get this...they would not let him take the filter with him.

Long story short, he and the service manager documented the story in the vehicle history, and Joe left with a fresh oil change done properly, with the intention to return.

So BITOG...what would you do?

My advice was to ask for a NEW short block and settle for a lifetime power-train warranty. Realize this is a hybrid car, and he drove the first part of the trip with engine off, and the return trip was also engine off...that is why he did not see an oil light until over half a mile down the road. I'm guessing he has literally seconds of engine on time during this fiasco.
 
Is the engine really ever off on an Accord Hybrid?
Since its not my car I feel like the car is likely fine given it didn't get too far.

If it was my car...absolutely would want some assurances in the form of super extended warranty.
Or to the extent I would see if they would give a good deal on trading it in...like practically original cost.
 
Not ok at all I'd be demanding a new engine personally. Then again I never take my cars to a dealer nor do I buy anything with a warranty so I guess I'm way off-base here.
 
Is the engine really ever off on an Accord Hybrid?
Since its not my car I feel like the car is likely fine given it didn't get too far.

If it was my car...absolutely would want some assurances in the form of super extended warranty.
Or to the extent I would see if they would give a good deal on trading it in...like practically original cost.

Yes, I have ridden in his car before. First starting off, it is Electric only, and on the trip back he switched it to "E-only" mode so was able to make it most of the way back under just electric power.
 
If oil pressure dropped and he then "disabled" the engine, it's not ideal but I wonder if it's a problem. How many cars have been run out of oil only to be filled up and run long lives afterwards? At least in this case electric-only was able to be used to limp back.

Not saying I'd be anything other than peeved about it.

How much warranty is left on this car?
 
While I would be extremely upset (even livid) if this happened to my vehicle, the engine very likely will be OK, and there is a very good chance that no damage has been done, if he shut down the engine as soon as the oil pressure light came on, and like you say used the electric only mode to get it back to the dealer. But who wants to have the kind of money a car cost resting on chance.
 
That former technician will move on to another dealership. So maybe the next closer dealer is not a good option.

Rod
 
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It sounds to me like the oil filter o-ring on the old oil filter stuck to the engine when it was removed, the oil change guy missed it and installed the new oil filter on top of it, hence the "double o-ring" explanation (which was a perfectly valid explanation if this is in-fact what occurred). When the engine was started, all of the oil was pumped out. They should have caught this in the service bay (but maybe the engine didn't run when it was moved to the lot). This is simply carelessness on the part of the oil change guy.
Pulling over immediately likely saved the engine.
First, I would ask for documentation (an explanation) of what occured in writing, then I would ask for an extended warranty on the engine.
 
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Ok BITOG, just looking for outside perspectives to pass on to one of my friends
So BITOG...what would you do?

My advice was to ask for a NEW short block and settle for a lifetime power-train warranty. Realize this is a hybrid car, and he drove the first part of the trip with engine off, and the return trip was also engine off...that is why he did not see an oil light until over half a mile down the road. I'm guessing he has literally seconds of engine on time during this fiasco.

Well, based on the account, it seems no permanent damage was sustained ( not obvious damage anyway) as others have stated.

This severely hampers any bargaining power for requests of that nature such as short block et al.

I would document it, get counsel to prepare a strongly worded account to corporate and ask for an internal investigation, a 3rd party vehicle evaluation and depending on that, then maybe ask for a lifetime warranty on the suspect engine. ( its doubtful any concession would go beyond the item possibly damaged so no point in asking for it)

Otherwise, carry on because I wouldn't expect them to volunteer anything ( could be construed as an acceptance of responsibility or admission of liability)
 
How was the issue documented? In the service ticket? Have you seen it and seen the wording?

I'd call Honda corporate and start a case file and to poopoo on the dealership.

In the end, I feel as if nothing is wrong and the dealer (and corporate) won't do a thing about it. Tell "Joe" to keep an eye on oil levels and for knocking sounds over the next OCI.

/

Why does your friend think he needs to go to the dealer to maintain his warranty. That's simply wrong.
 
I think the engine will be fine. It was not driven far, less than 1.5 miles total after the oil pressure message appeared, so ...yes it's annoying and not something I'd want to try on my own engine, but I really doubt the longevity will be hurt much.
 
Honda filters have P gaskets that are captured. A double gasket filter if both were Honda filters is HIGHLY unlikely.

Id say "Joe" is not getting the whole story.

Was the oil all over the place, because my guess is they didn't put oil in it...
 
After documenting everything very thoroughly and arguing for an extended warranty, I would drive on. My basis for this is that last summer my wife drove her 2000 Accord about 15 miles, in Georgia, in August with the balance shaft seal blown out (common in the F-Series engines). I traced her route and could see where the car quit pumping oil out (it was below the pickup). We refilled it with oil, fixed the seal, and drove on. I was in the middle of doing a few short changes when the car was totaled by a box truck. The car never made any noise, ran just like it did before. There were plenty of sparkles in the oil when drained, so there was damage done, but to what extent, who knows. The car died with 330k on it, and the last 5k were after the 'event'. The way it was running at the time, I am pretty confident that it would have carried on for some time yet.

I never would have thought that motor would have lived, not in a million years, but it did. Did we get lucky? Probably, but I think engines will put up with lots more abuse than we think sometimes.

I wouldn't totally let the dealership off the hook, but I don't think I would argue for a new engine. Longer warranty and many free oil changes perhaps.
 
Honda filters have P gaskets that are captured. A double gasket filter if both were Honda filters is HIGHLY unlikely.

Id say "Joe" is not getting the whole story.

Was the oil all over the place, because my guess is they didn't put oil in it...

You might be right on here. Two key points; how long did it take to get the person back on the road? Enough time to fill the crankcase?

Is there any oil mess in the engine compartment? That would take some time to clean up. I’m guessing these cars have a full shield underneath.
 
That sucks. I assume one reason he bought a Honda was for the piece of mind it would be reliable. Now he will always second guess the car as it is now "tainted". Unfortunately I bet he wont get much help with an extended warranty from the dealer. He may want to have an oil analysis done the next few oil changes to ensure nothing is happening.. If not, then it should be fine. Honda makes good engines, and it probably will be OK. I do agree contacting Honda corporate to ensure the story is documented and allow them the chance to make things right, whatever they see as appropriate. Rough situation, hope it all works out for him.
 
Update:

"Joe" took my advice and demanded a new short block. They ended up settling on a lifetime power-train warranty for the car. I think while it was not the most convenient thing in the world, it seems like a win in the end, as I do agree with most of you...most likely little to no damage was done to the engine.
 
So BITOG...what would you do?

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