Emissions warranty question

Mr. Pockets · #1 01-30-2008, 08:10 PM

My 2005 Outback has a bad post-cat oxygen sensor. The car has 49k miles, so it's outside the Federal Emissions warranty.

Story time: my brother lives in DC and has an Acura RSX. He had pretty much the same part go bad on his car last year. He showed them the warranty booklet, specifically the CA emissions warranty page, and they covered the repair.

Now, looking through the Outback's warranty booklet, there are pages that cover the CA emissions warranty, but only Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine have adopted those standards.

Short version: I see no reason why a dealer would honor the CA emissions warranty outside of CA. I think my brother just got lucky with his Acura dealer. Anybody have any insight?

Thanks.

Crazy_pilot · #2 01-30-2008, 09:14 PM

Do you have bumper-to-bumper coverage that is still good? If so, I would think the exhaust system is part of that.

Mr. Pockets · #3 01-30-2008, 09:25 PM

Bumper-to-bumper is 3/36k. The car has 49k on it now, so that's out.

Crazy_pilot · #4 01-30-2008, 09:26 PM

Ah, that sucks.

TomsSVX · #5 01-30-2008, 10:49 PM

bumper to bumper is everything except the power train and the emissions. My sister learned all about that when her intake gasket sprung a leak and she had to battle to get them to honor the emmissions warranty that I had to dig up because they "couldn't" find records of it... Warranties are a mess unless you have all of your paper work available and notorized

Tom

Landshark · #6 01-30-2008, 11:19 PM

i could see if you exploded a transmission, but how much is an O2 sensor, like $50?

LetItSnow · #7 01-31-2008, 05:51 AM

Yeh, being outside the base warranty, it's time to crack open the wallet.

Mr. Pockets · #8 01-31-2008, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landshark

i could see if you exploded a transmission, but how much is an O2 sensor, like $50?

The dealer wants $168 for the sensor. Okay, that seems steep, but I was willing to pay them that just to get the car fixed that particular day (Tuesday, when I took the car in). The total installation, however, comes to $450. Apparently they have to push some magic $150 button after the installation.

It's a long story that included them hanging up on me. It resulted in us taking our car back after two days without them having done anything to it, and I had even asked them to nicely. They were simply incapable of replacing an o2 sensor. I'm serious. Suffice it to say that I'm not interested in giving the dealership any more money than I have to. I've emailed subaruparts.com for a quote on the part, and if I really can't get the ECU to behave after I install it myself, then I'll pay them to press their magic button. Better yet, I'll drive the four hours up to Milwaukee, where I bought the car, and have that dealer do it.

TomsSVX · #9 01-31-2008, 07:39 AM

for the outback?? You should just get an OBDII code reader/eraser. They are dirt cheap nowadays. Replace the sensor, erase the code... Done

Tom

Mr. Pockets · #10 01-31-2008, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomsSVX

for the outback?? You should just get an OBDII code reader/eraser. They are dirt cheap nowadays. Replace the sensor, erase the code... Done

Tom

I have an OBD-II reader. Okay, I'll tell the story.

The car keeps registering 2097, bank 1 post-cat running too rich. It always stores this code twice, which seems odd. I scheduled the appointment and told them what the code was. When I dropped the car off on Tuesday, I told them what the code was. In my opinion, it was a slam dunk; the car has 49k miles on it and was just in a $12,000 accident. It has a bad sensor.

They called me Tuesday afternoon and said, big surprise, that the sensor was bad. They said that they had to charge me a $100 diagnostic fee to tell me that. I argued, saying I told them what it was. Anyway, the whole price came to $450, because they claim they might have to re-flash the ECU or run through 'adaptive strategy.' Whether or not they have to, I have to pay them for it. That's their story. I told them I could clear the code myself, for free, and they claimed that wouldn't be enough. I was just calling them crooks when they hung up on me.

I decided to have them do it anyway, because I needed the car fixed. They told me they had the part in stock, and that they'd do it. I explained to them that they could stick to their story, but that it would probably be the last dime they got from me.

Then they called me back and said that they were mistaken, that they didn't have the part. They would overnight a new one.

Then they called me yesterday afternoon and said that they still didn't have the part, but that the car should be done the next day. That would have been today, but I took the car back from them. If they can't get an o2 sensor replaced on a current-gen car after two days without pissing me off, then they don't get more chances. The car was given back to me without charging me. I'm sort of surprised by that - I figured they'd want to get that $100 diagnostic fee.

Mr. Pockets · #11 01-31-2008, 08:18 AM

Oh, and the punchline is another story in itself. We had the car detailed last October. The detail shop broke off the trim around the fuel door release handle. They agreed to pay for the replacement, and the dealer ordered the part. Before we could get the car in there, the car was in the accident. I called Worden Martin to tell them what happened, and that we'd come get the part when the car was repaired. They said they'd hold the part.

About a month and a half later, the collision shop had to take the car to the dealer to have an airbag fault figured out. I called the dealer and asked them to take car of that trim piece while the car was there. They promised me they'd do it, but did not.

When I called last week to make the appointment for Tuesday, I asked them to do it again. They assured me the part was still there and that it would be done. When I dropped the car off on Tuesday I reminded them again, and they said it would be done.

See where this is going? When I picked the car up yesterday, they still hadn't done it. They claimed that the part sat there long enough that they sent it back. Why they didn't tell me that, and then order the part again, when I called them last week is obvious - they're lazy and incompetent.

I don't like having to hold a service department's hand to make sure they do their jobs and I don't like being ripped off. Therefore, I don't think this is the shop for me.

Landshark · #12 01-31-2008, 09:26 AM

since when does an ECU need flashing or re-programming for an O2 sensor replacement? i would think disco'ing the battery for a short time to reset the ECU would be enough, as long as the new part is the same.

it couldn't be that hard to do yourself.

if you're extremely lazy, you could just cut the wire on the old sensor and splice in the new.

i replaced my uppipe, downpipe, and valve cover gasket (damaged while removing
UP

) myself, and i'm an idiot.

i'm guessing the O2 sensor would be fairly easy to do yourself.

Mr. Pockets · #13 01-31-2008, 10:07 AM

It is easy to do myself, I just needed it done quickly.

Lesson learned, and without having to spend any money.

Landshark · #14 01-31-2008, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

It is easy to do myself, I just needed it done quickly.

two days sitting in shop is quickly?

so you ended up doing it yourself? how much is an '05 O2 sensor anyways? good thing i removed one of mine.

Mr. Pockets · #15 01-31-2008, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landshark

two days sitting in shop is quickly?

so you ended up doing it yourself? how much is an '05 O2 sensor anyways? good thing i removed one of mine.

Yeah, well, quickly was the original plan. Turned out to not be the case, did it? They were both slow and ineffective.

I haven't done it myself yet. I sent a request for a price quote to subaruparts.com and they haven't gotten back to me yet. I may call my local asshat dealer to get the part number.