If you have had an AC compressor fail on a 2016 to 2021 - cvolk96
If you have had an AC compressor fail on a 2016 to 2021 Honda Civic , then please read this.
My wife’s car stopped blowing cold air a couple of weeks ago. Then very shortly after that the ac compressor was totally locked up, smoking and making noise. She works away from home and this is her only vehicle. She ran the car with the system turned off for another week and then made the appointment at cape Honda for a time when she could get the car there. It is about an hour from where we live but we wanted to take the car to where it was bought new.
They ended up changing numerous parts in the cooling system and the ultimate big break was the AC compressor. They mentioned that the shaft seal was warrantied, my bill reflected this (its a cheaper part). I totally understand that things break and knew that this wouldn't be cheap and I really did not question as to why the seal was covered. I pick the car up around 5 days later and pay the almost $2500 bill.
Then I get a letter in the mail the next day saying that certain civics have a warranty extension on the ac compressor shaft seal. The letter even states that parts such as the compressor could be covered attributing the failure to this seal. I thought this was strange that the dealer made no mention of the seal being the root cause of the failure. I have some mechanical background and quickly realized what probably happened. The faulty seal was leaking, the system soon after ran out of refrigerant (which includes oil that lubricates the system), then with no lubrication the compressor finally bites the dust. This explains why the cold air went away and then the compressor finally failed shortly after.
Today I called the dealer and explained all of this. I was told quickly that the seal had nothing to do with the compressor. They said and I quote " the seal was not leaking, the ac system was full". I still did not believe this to be totally accurate and the service guy only offered the explanation of " the compressor failed internally". Well duh I know it failed internally, due to it having no lubricant because of the seal (Not rocket science). He would not admit this and said that someone would call me back when they came back from lunch. 3 hours later I still had not heard a word, so I call back. I get passed around multiple times, lost the phone connection 3 times ( I think someone hung up on me once), sat on hold. Then I had 2 different guys tell me again that the seal was fine when they replaced it and it did not cause my issue.
Finally I get through to the service manager. He says the same thing the others said. Then I start asking him specific questions. Was the refrigerant low ? Was this documented? What was the low and high side pressure? Then he admits the system was low. I asked him where the refrigerant went ? It doesn't just vanish. Where was the leak at ? Then he admits there was a leak somewhere. I asked him point blank if it was the shaft seal leaking. Then moment of truth.... he said yes. It proved everything I said to be right. He apologized, talked in circles and made excuses. Typical stuff.
Now I am having to jump through all these hoops with Honda in California to be reimbursed. I should not have paid a dime in the first place because they knew dang well that the faulty seal caused that system to fail. My conclusion is that they didn't want to deal with the paperwork on their side, they didn't want to wait on Honda to reimburse their dealership and they thought my wife wouldn't know any better since she was the one who dropped the car off and spoke to them initially. $2,472.59 is alot of money and now they have it and we don't. They should be paying us interest as this could take 6 to 9 weeks to recover.
I really hope other people see this so that you do not get worked over like we did. I will never suggest or do business with this dealership ever again. They 100% lied to me multiple times.
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