All we had in mind was a fun-filled visit with our friends Alec & Michele just after the roll over to 2008, but we got way more than we bargained for…

It all started on January 1, 2008, when we loaded ourselves into Dax, our faithful Pearl Black 1999 Honda Civic SiR, and headed for Bethesda, Maryland to visit Alec, Michele and the kids, all of whom moved down there in August for Alec’s new job at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The trip down got off to a rocky start as we battled a mild blizzard all the way from Ottawa to Syracuse, NY. The only vehicles exhibiting any confidence were those with some mass and all-wheel drive. All others were tippy-toeing and trying to maintain traction. It took a while to get there, but once we got past Syracuse, the precipitation changed to rain and it was smooth sailing.

Our time with Alec & Michele was a blast. We visited the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport where we saw an actual SR-71A Blackbird and walked under an Air France Concorde, the National Gallery of Art, the Natural History Museum, and the Canadian Embassy. We saw some of the picturesque countryside and crossed the Potomac River on a rickety old barge ferry on our way to an outlet mall in Virginia. The kids were great and we really enjoyed getting to know Jasmine better.

Departure day was Friday, January 4, 2008. We left Bethesda around 9:30AM and backtracked against our Google Maps directions. Everything was going well until we merged onto I-83N at Towson, Maryland. The ramp was a slowish 270-degree left-hander and we were going particularly slowly as were following a tractor-trailer. As I eased back into the throttle out of the turn, we started to feel a small, but noticeable vibration as the “check engine” light began to flash insistently. The shift lever was shaking giving me a sinking feeling that got worse as I slowed to exit onto Timonium Road. As the car slowed and the engine RPM fell, the vibration became absolutely violent, but the engine refused to stall. We pulled into a corner gas station, checked under the hood, but couldn’t see anything amiss – no blown hoses or shredded belts.

After checking with gas station staff and checking with a couple of nearby garages, we eventually found a Goodyear Service Centre that was able to look at the car. The $99 initial diagnosis was bleak: no compression in cylinder 3 and ‘please take the car to a Honda dealer as we aren’t equipped for such involved work‘. A quick call to our local dealer echoed this advice so we limped to Heritage Honda’s Service Center on York Road in Towson. They committed to check the car that day and called us a rental car, which turned out to be an absolutely monstrous Chrysler Aspen SUV. While we waited on a word on Dax’s condition, we decided to check out local car dealers in case repairs would be too costly to undertake.

We stopped at Valley Motors and learned that they could not sell us a new car from any of their brands — Audi, VW, and Subaru. The reason given was that we were Canadian residents and the American distributors had directed them not sell to Canucks. We got the same message at Heritage Honda, the sales arm of the dealership that was tending to Dax. Used cars were available to us, but we weren’t ready to take that kind of plunge. Moreover, finding a used car wasn’t going to get us home for work on Monday. We stopped back at the Service Centre to get an update and were told that compression was in fact gone in cylinder 3 and that the cylinder head would have to be removed at the cost of $157 to determine the cause. We told them to let us think it over.

We ended up spending the night with Alec and Michele who kindly invited us back and we will be eternally grateful to Jasmine for relinquishing her bed to us for the night. Over the course of the evening, we discussed what to do with Dax given that the repair bill could range from $500 to $5,000. We also had to figure out how to get home as the repair was going to take three to five days to complete. Flights weren’t cheap at $399 per person before taxes, the train was $174 per person and would have taken 15 hours to get us to Montreal, and the bus, at $125 per person, was going to take 20 hours! While we deluded ourselves for a bit regarding the viability of the bus, we eventually booked flights out of Baltimore Washington International Airport. We also decided to let Heritage Honda open up the engine and provide us with an estimate at the start of the following work week

The next morning, we went back to Towson and communicated our directions to Heritage Honda. Driving away from Dax, knowing we were flying home was really hard, like leaving a faithful, beloved pet to be put down. Obviously, I wasn’t ready to let my car go (plenty of people seemed to want one of their own).

We returned the Aspen rental at the airport depot, a divergence from standard practice that carried a small fee of $75 — more than the cost of the 24 hour rental! The flight was on time and we managed to sneak on to earlier flights and get home at 8:10PM on January 5th, rather than at 1AM on January 6th. We rented a Kia Rio at the airport at the rate of $200/week, including the taxes. We kept it for only two days as our most excellent friend Francis offered us Julius, his red Mazda Protegé 5, for as as long we need it.

Monday morning brought us the diagnosis and estimate from Heritage Honda — one of the four valves serving cylinder three of Dax’s 1.6L DOHC I4 with VTEC (Honda B16A2) heart had burned up, compromising compression. The service advisor, Alan Watts, also recommended changing the timing belt and water pump as the engine was already in bits and those repairs were coming due. Total bill was to be between $3,100 and $3,300 before taxes — thank heavens the loonie is at par with the greenback! I checked the “reasonableness” of the estimate and the advice to proceed with our local dealer and decided to go ahead. The consensus was the the rest of the engine was in great shape, that this power unit is generally bomb-proof, and that this was a freak event in a car that was in otherwise great shape. Fingers crossed!

Alan kept me advised of their progress and that of the machine shop that was doing the reconditioning on the cylinder head, leading me to book a flight to BWI on January 16, 2008, at a cost of nearly $400 after tax. Heritage Honda was very kind and agreed to pick me up at BWI shortly after my 2PM Air Canada flight landed. I paid the large bill ($3,306.63USD) and drove away noting that the engine sounded different — not bad, but different. Driving Dax again was like slipping into one’s old, comfy pyjamas — everything felt right, predictable, and comforting. But after getting some gas, I idled a bit and noted an odd rubbing sound. I drove back to Heritage Honda and was told that the belt just needed to break-in. That explanation sounded plausible so I set-off for home at about 4PM, noting a slight smell of fuel, which dissipated when I hit the highway. Incidentally, I rejoined I-83N at the same interchange where we broke down 12 days earlier. I started to feel really tired about 6PM and questioned my ability to get all the way home, but a stop for food and gas fixed me up, and I made it home at about 1AM without incident. After nearly 9 hours of high-speed running, I was expecting that belt to have “broken-in”, but it had actually gotten louder. I eventually fell asleep around 2AM worrying about my faithful car.

While I had planned to sleep-in and skip work Thursday (the 17th) morning, I dragged myself out of bed and took Dax to Hunt Club Honda to be checked over, while Ped took Julius to work for what was supposed to be last time. I described the situation to the senior engine tech at Hunt Club Honda and showed him the work order from Heritage Honda. He came out with me and asked me to fire her up. The second the engine settled to idle, he shook his head in dismay and said the belt should not make that noise. Popping the hood, he explained what would be involved in addressing the situation. As he spoke he glanced through the engine bay and noted missing bolts, heatshields and covers. The look of disgust on his face was remarkable — the look of man who appeared to take great pride in his expertise and the quality of his work confronted by the work of someone with unacceptably low standards. He committed to complete a diagnosis that day. He also explained that he would take careful note of what was deficient from the work done in the USA so that I could seek compensation from Heritage Honda. In his view, the missing parts were pure negligence on the part of the other technician, something he considered extraordinary and unacceptable for a Honda dealer. I contacted Heritage Honda to serve notice of the problems and was greeted in a courteous, helpful manner by Alan Watts, who asked me to keep them apprised.

The final diagnosis included:

1. the timing belt was too tight This was the rubbing sound and the reason for the new engine note — the accessory drive pulleys were under too much load;
2. missing power steering fixing bolt, which would have resulted in the belt never holding a tension setting;
3. leaking connection on the fuel distribution rail, which had the car leaking fuel all they way from Towson, MD;
4. missing exhaust manifold heat shield, the absence of which would be fire hazard in the case of an under-hood fluid leak; and
5. missing timing belt cover, which left my timing belt exposed to road debris for the whole drive home — had something hit it, the engine would have been toast.

Items 1 to 3 were addressed for $310.01, but items 4 and 5 will require substantially more. In addition, we’ve been forced to park Dax and get another rental in order to protect that timing belt. All told, it will cost about $1,083, including the car rental. All of these things were items that would have been touched in the course of Heritage Honda’s work. The parts have been ordered and work will be completed on Wednesday the 23rd. Until then we’re driving a Nissan Sentra from Enterprise Car Rental, which made us pay extra for a four-door when our reservation said we would get a four-door at the quoted price — I’ll be calling their customer service line later. :)

On January 18th, I spoke to the service manager at the Heritage Honda Service Centre, Tony Mantegna, who sounded upset that we had suffered this ordeal. He committed to speak to his staff, to review my documentation, and then get back to me on how Heritage Honda would address the situation. I heard back that afternoon by email that they would cover $920.01. The difference is roughly the value the rental car and an hour of labour, something that Tony had taken issue with when we spoke. He said that five hours was a little excessive given that they would only charge four hours for the same work. I’ve made a counter-offer to split the difference in recognition both the willingness of Heritage Honda to pick-me up at the airport and also the inconvenience and risk to which I was subjected — something for which he had apologised. I await his response which I expect on Monday morning. Look for updates in the coming days and check the calendar for key events!

Here are some images from the National Air and Space Museum: