Our 261K mile old Honda Element had its first serious failure
- Thread starter slo town
- Start date
At the end of the day, you're happy and that's what matters. Just my thought(s) here.... I wonder how experienced Honda techs really are at doing jobs like this ? They may not see that many vehicles with this mileage or needing these kind of repairs. They probably had one of their older techs doing that job. That engine is their 2.4L, right (I don't keep up with the As, Js, Ks, Rs, etc) ? If so, I'd bet independent shops have as much experience with these for "old age" repairs.
With all of the combined labor, were they fair with you on that ? I hope they didn't double-dip, like charge you the full labor time for replacing the spool valve since they were already there.
On that note, how do shops calculate labor on jobs like that ? Does the tech literally tell the service writer "no extra labor for this replacement, add 30 minutes for this instead of 90 minutes total" and so on ?
Makes you wonder if just replacing the broken bolt would have solved the leak
When I worked at the dealer, the customer paid for my time from the moment I clocked in till the moment I clocked out of that car. Book times were not used.
How did you or the service writer quote a cost of repair ?
Book time is a starting point. Tech gets to “bid” the job.
They did a lot of work and I think you absolutely made the right call. That element is remarkably well-kept. Keep driving it!
I had a friend you bought one, a manual 5spd, for his daughter. It needed some maintenance items, and then he really was a little slow to give it to her, because he liked driving it so much. He mentioned the same, very well-made vehicle.
I had a friend you bought one, a manual 5spd, for his daughter. It needed some maintenance items, and then he really was a little slow to give it to her, because he liked driving it so much. He mentioned the same, very well-made vehicle.
I think the issue is that the head had to come off in order to reach the broken bolt remnant stuck in the block. No reason not to refurbish the cylinder head at that point since the bulk of the labor is taking it off and re-installing it. I would have chosen to do the same on our 2003 Element under similar conditions. However, $5,500 would probably buy a low-mileage JDM K24 replacement engine. Hoping that I don't have to find out.
estimate. they know how long it took last time.
book times are useless, they are only used for warranty work and lowballing doesn't even come close to what they do. an 8 hour clutch change gets a 2.5 hour book time.
You have to remove the timing chain and cams to get to the bolts. But perhaps even more importantly, that bolt broke. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to get the broken piece out with the head in place.
Scott
Last edited:
I asked that very question. The tech who worked on our Element has supposedly done four or five K24 head gasket replacements in the last year. Understand, the K24 engine was used in Elements, CRVs, and 4 cylinder Accords; that's a lot of cars. And this is a Honda dealer so I'd expect them to do have done lots of these repairs over time.
I had originally scheduled the repair with someone else. The guy seemed knowledgable and I'm sure he would have done a good job, but my gut wasn't 100% comfortable. Bottom line, you have confidence in the person/shop you do business with.
Scott
Last edited:
I don't think the break was known anyway, so a moot point once you start the work and discover it, but I don't think it was a coincidence that's where you had the leak.
Good for you. Economics 101!
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I guarantee you, the tech that got the job to fix that one went around the shop and told all his buddies “see that Element? Guess how many miles it has”.
I'll add my two cents here, my question is, were there any qualified independent technicians to do the work or was the dealership a better choice because of warranties Etc.
Out west here it is a real questionable achievement to find a really qualified and caring technician to perform a task like that. We have a lot of fast Talking part replacers. Just wondered what made you choose a dealership? Good post and good luck with the repair job.
Out west here it is a real questionable achievement to find a really qualified and caring technician to perform a task like that. We have a lot of fast Talking part replacers. Just wondered what made you choose a dealership? Good post and good luck with the repair job.
I chose the dealership because I assumed they would be more familiar with the nuances of the repair process. Also too, they used Honda OEM parts. And lastly, should the job go south in the future for some reason, I felt like I’d have a better chance of getting things made right with the dealer.
Scott
100% agree. With that said, although this is a fairly simple repair, someone who has done this job hundreds of times at the dealer is more likely to have a higher success rate than an independent who has only done the job several times.
Strange as it may sound I’d feel more confident pulling the V12 out of my E-Type than I would pulling the head off the Honda.
Scott
I am not familiar with the engine you described, but pulling the head from a K24 is about as easy as it gets.
However, the biggest pitfall (IMO) is the timing cover. Officially, you don’t have to remove the lower oil pan to remove the timing cover. But as a result, the reinstallation process makes it more prone to leaks. Just my opinion.
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2025
- Messages
- 181
Those are awesome vehicles, they don't make them like that anymore. That is crazy that the headbolt broke, I wonder if it was broken internally for a while and it caused the head gasket leak. Good work, it wasn't cheap but that thing looks brand new and should go another 200k easily
Similar threads
