So to start I want to share a little about the adventure that has been caring for my car over the last month. It all began in the beginning of June when my car refused to start one time while I was visiting my family in California. I figured that even though I checked the lights and knew that I hadn't left them on that it was my fault that the battery could not start my car. We jumped it and I drove around for a while to make sure the batter was charged. A little while later while I was visiting my friend's house, my car decided it didn't want to start again. Luckily, that friend's house is built in close proximity to the Honda dealership I normally take my car to for routine service.
Now going back months earlier, in the fall, I had my battery replaced when my car wouldn't start. So about six months later my battery appears to be failing... Now I don't know much about cars and batteries, but from my limited knowledge, six months seems to be too short for a battery to fail. Returning to the story, I took my car in to the service center the next day when it opened and they decided to replace the battery after, as they claim, doing some tests on the electrical systems in the car. This service was performed on the fourteenth of June.
A few weeks later, my family had left on vacation and my car wouldn't start again. I noticed the problem late in the day, so I had to drive another car to my destinations and the following day, I jump started my car and returned to the Honda dealership service center to report the continuing problems. They once again claimed to do tests on the car and, in the end, just recharged the battery and told me to come back if it has problems again and to expect a longer check up at that point.
Believing that my car might be working well enough, I set off on my trip to return to my home in Utah. My car ran okay for a while until one day it once again needed a jump start. Being as this occurrence was in the weekend when most service centers are closed, I had to wait for Monday to take my car in. Once again, I chose to go to a Honda dealership expecting the warranty on the battery to still be effective among licensed service centers. They kept my car overnight to replace the alternator and to fix a broken engine mount for a hefty price and sent me home with a recharged battery on Tuesday the seventh of July.
Wednesday came around and I went about my business as usual and as I was leaving my work to drive home, I discovered that my car once again would not start. As with every other time, the service centers were closed, so I had to wait until the morning to address the problem. Luckily, I was able to enjoy a leisurely stroll home from my place of employ to my chilly basement living quarters. The real frustration came in the next day when I walked back to work and called the dealership to leave a request for help that was not answered that day at all. Once again I got to walk home with thankfully pleasant weather.
Friday morning, and I once again returned to where my car tarried. To add to the journey I called the dealership and once again got an answering machine. Refusing to use the same method that had failed to procure any results the day previous, I called again to a more general number at the same service center. After speaking to a representative there, my call was redirected to the service person assigned to dealing with my case. I was given the number to a towing company that came and picked up my car after arrangements were made. I ended up waiting longer than I would have wanted to be towed, but that was to be expected.
So now I sit in the Honda dealership waiting to see what they discover to be the "problem" this time. My Civic is resting a mere ten yards from where I am and I've seen them apply various instruments to the machinery and electrical systems under the hood. It appears that they are doing something and I can only hope that the talented and capable personnel certified to deal with my car figure it out and fix the real problem. It's already been nearly a thousand dollars and I still have a non-functional car.
I have some theories with respect to the methods used by such mechanics. I've dealt with two different dealerships with similar results thus far and it is this experience on which I base my thoughts. I present the following as a checklist for what to try when a car won't start based on the order I've seen:
Car won't start? replace the battery (don't necessarily check the previous battery first).
New battery and car still won't start? recharge battery and hope it works.
Recharged battery fails again? replaced the alternator and hope it was the problem (costs about $500).
Car won't start again after 2 days? don't answer the phone when the customer calls for help.
Customer is persistent and calls again? claim you were getting to the message that they left and maybe help.
I guess any more steps in this checklist will become clear as I get reports on my car. For now, that's all I know about dealing with a car that won't start. Seems pretty effective although I think I'd personally change my phone number when the customer was persistent in calling so that I wouldn't have to deal with it any more. That's probably part of the reason I'm not an auto-mechanic.
An update on the status, this last trip resulted in a new battery free of charge and a promise to tow the car again when it won't start the next time... It's really encouraging...
