Honda trying to duck warranty - any advice?

[krunchkin]

Potentially dull post so Ill keep it brief. Any advice would be appreciated before I call Honda and start the tedious phone conversations.

- bought s2000 2 years ago with 3 year extended Honda warranty

- engine management light comes on in s2000

- Honda tell me it is a faulty oxygen sensor and will order a replacement and fit under warranty

- they call me today and tell me that in fact the catalytic converter has broken loose
and that is what is causing the sensor to fail. However they have performed an emissions test on it and it still passes. Therefore the cat is not covered under the warranty and will cost £1100

do I have any kind of leg to stand on here if, as they say, the tedious smallprint in the warranty allows them to wriggle out of fixing the fault?

cheers

[mp3manager]

If a CEL is lit, then more often than not, it is a faulty sensor, had that before on my DC5. Have they put the car on a ramp to show you the broken cat? Because that's the first thing I'd ask to see.

[Joeguard1990]

so it passes the emissions test regardless of the CAT being "faulty"?

Save yourself money and also free up a few horses with a straight through and swap the CAT back on for when the MOT comes

[Crusoe]

Have a look at it on the ramp, might be able to weld it rather than getting a new part. Let them fit the new o2 sensor and have the exhause looked at by someone else.

[leefee]

When you say the cat has come away, i guess you mean internally? If this is the case you wont se it, you might hear it though, either way if the emission system is performing well enough to pass the mot, and you aren't getting any symptoms, then why would anyone spend that kind of money effectively putting out the eml? A wee bit of black tape is your answer.

[krunchkin]

well I agree. It's clearly classic dealer bullst. However I'd rather not have the EML light on - especially when it's time to sell it. I'm inclined to agree with earlier poster - get them to fix the o2 sensor under warranty and take it to a specialist or the mechanic who does my track car and see what they can do with the CAT.

[krunchkin]

Howevever what gets on my tits is that will cost me money. When it should be something that could be done by Honda, under the warranty I paid for, without them trying to fking wriggle out of it with some small print bullst. So I suppose my original question stands - if I call their warranty people on monday what would be my best line of argument?

[C. Grimsley]

You have to look at it another way, your car has a warranty, an exhaust is a a wear and tear item, they covered the sensor as it's an electrical component but have refused the exhaust, sounds fair to me in a way. Bet the warranty that you bought didn't cost the amount the cat will.

Go to another place or buy a good used cat and fit it yourself.

Carl

[Greengecko]

A decent catalytic convertor on an S2000 can be had for easily under £200