Reason for Visit: Service
I recommend this dealer: No
My Review of Honda Redwood City:
My experience with the service at Redwood City Honda/Menlo Honda for over 20 years has been very poor. On simple repairs or standard maintenance as well as more difficult problems they have done very poor work. I have seen this not only on work on my vehicles, but also where I have discovered mistakes made on vehicles owned by others. I used to think the best service available would be by the dealer since they know the vehicles better than other shops and you pay a premium price compared to other repair shops, but now I've learned the quality of the work is simply dependent on the quality of the mechanics in the shop.
Here's some examples of the type of service problems I've had with Redwood City Honda/Menlo Honda:
1) They cross-threaded the tension bolt after replacing the alternator - returned several times because alternator light kept coming on (kept throwing belt). I finally had to fix the problem myself - removed alternator and repair threads on tension bolt.
2) Replaced front wheel bearing - they forgot to torque down the axle nut - almost lost the front wheel.
3) Replaced timing belt at 90k miles - now I have an engine oil leak that drips on the exhaust - always smells of burning oil. Scratched-up valve cover.
4) After an engine overheat problem - had the head gasket replaced and head resurfaced. When I picked-up the car it ran terrible - said there's a compression problem with the cylinders. I asked about the valves and they said they tested fine. I did a leak-down test myself and the leak was clearly through the valves. I returned the car for them to leak-down test and again they insisted the leak was in the cylinders. Now I knew they were lying as I could clearly hear the leak through the intake and exhaust - not in the crankcase. This time I had to threaten them with reporting to the BAR - so they finally agreed to do the valves.
After that the car ran much, much better. However they didn't bother to tell me the timing belt was bad after the overheating problem - so soon after the repairs the timing belt broke and smacked the valves. Sold the car for a few hundred dollars.
5) And the best for last. I bought a car with a "check engine" light problem so I couldn't pass the smog test here in California, and I couldn't register the car. I asked them to diagnose the problem - said the car needed a new cylinder position sensor, then a new crack angle sensor, then a new MAP sensor. All along I kept asking about the engine computer/ECU and they said it was fine. Now after $1k in parts and labor they called to say I needed a new ECU. Here is where I said stop and put everything back, but I was still stuck with the diagnosis fee since they now said the problem was the ECU. They kept the car so they could verify the ECU was the problem since this was an expensive part to take a chance on. After waiting several months they returned it in the same condition as it was in the beginning. Again I had to do the repair myself - the two oxygen sensors were cross-connected and confused the ECU.
I should have reported them to the BAR many times, but never did.
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