Bend Over

[Timmah!]

Have a 1 year-old Vtech solenoid, the gasket was leaking oil.
The gasket cost $9.00 after taxes.
It took me under 30 minutes to replace that gasket.

There was nothing wrong with the solenoid. 
Honda dealership wanted to sell me a new Solenoid for $400, then charge me $330 labor.

Edited May 7 by Timmah!

[TBB]

That's cause they knew you are an >IDIOT< 

[Nycz]

i could give you an oriellys quote tomorrow for the part

[Timmah!]

21 minutes ago, Nycz said:

i could give you an oriellys quote tomorrow for the part

It was the $9.00 gasket that needed replacing; there was nothing wrong with the solenoid. 

Again, I removed the solenoid, replaced the gasket & reinstalled the solenoid in 24 minutes. 

The job is done.

It cost me $9.00 for the gasket & 1/2 hour of my time.

They wanted to sell me a $400 replacement solenoid when there was nothing wrong with the one I had.

Then charge me $330 labor to do that 1/2 hour job.

Edited May 7 by Timmah!

[major-mark63]

Thats the problems with dealer ship sometimes they what to sold new  parts no repairing them.

i suggest to change garage...or maybe high prices of parts are affected already with tariffs....

 

[BUDMAN]

It's called cover your ass...

[KaptCrunch]

16 hours ago, major-mark63 said:

Thats the problems with dealer ship sometimes they what to sold new  parts no repairing them.

i suggest to change garage...or maybe high prices of parts are affected already with tariffs....

 

Just out right thivery when that happeneds,  Tim  should check the spool moves freely for sometimes the casing warps or dirty spool area making it stick.

also  surface the mating surface  sand it flat on marble/glass with give better sealing presure on the 0-ring. 

make a mark on it so you know if are getting back same part, will fix them from screwing you, take before and after pictures  needed with newspaper date in pic a day before going garage.

funny you see on UTube they always look at the part carefuly looking for your mark. 

[Timmah!]

38 minutes ago, KaptCrunch said:

Just out right thivery when that happeneds,  Tim  should check the spool moves freely for sometimes the casing warps or dirty spool area making it stick.

also  surface the mating surface  sand it flat on marble/glass with give better sealing presure on the 0-ring. 

make a mark on it so you know if are getting back same part, will fix them from screwing you, take before and after pictures  needed with newspaper date in pic a day before going garage.

funny you see on UTube they always look at the part carefuly looking for your mark. 

Turns out that the check engine light came  on after replacing the gasket, so I went to AutoZone & had them do a free diagnostic & printout. 

Went online & found a replacement VTEC solenoid made by Hitachi just like the Honda part, but for $80 instead of $400.

And yeah, I did a mild sanding of the mating surface to smooth & remove debris before installing the new part.

[KaptCrunch]

5 hours ago, Timmah! said:

Turns out that the check engine light came  on after replacing the gasket, so I went to AutoZone & had them do a free diagnostic & printout. 

Went online & found a replacement VTEC solenoid made by Hitachi just like the Honda part, but for $80 instead of $400.

And yeah, I did a mild sanding of the mating surface to smooth & remove debris before installing the new part.

then  seems spool stuck or the coil went dead was the issue,  if still engine light still on with new part, can check oil pressure when hot

 (Ozhonda.com) VTEC system requires 25 to 30 psi to kick in, but it is recommended to have a good 50 to 70 psi for reliability. At idle, the oil pressure should be about 15-30 psi, while at 3000 rpm, it should be around 55-70 psi. The VTEC oil pressure switch would only be ON when pressure is something above 40 PSI. If the oil pressure is below the recommended range, it may indicate a problem with the oil pump or a clogged oil passage, which can affect the proper functioning of the VTEC solenoid.

and the fuel pressure pump is putting  38-40 PSi on fuel rail.

[KaptCrunch]

6 hours ago, Timmah! said:

Turns out that the check engine light came  on after replacing the gasket, so I went to AutoZone & had them do a free diagnostic & printout. 

Went online & found a replacement VTEC solenoid made by Hitachi just like the Honda part, but for $80 instead of $400.

And yeah, I did a mild sanding of the mating surface to smooth & remove debris before installing the new part.

note:  over torquing the screws may distort the valve body, this why i surface the mounting area to get a good seal @ 15 inchLBs torque.

see dealer is 400% mark up on the part 

[Timmah!]

57 minutes ago, KaptCrunch said:

note:  over torquing the screws may distort the valve body, this why i surface the mounting area to get a good seal @ 15 inchLBs torque.

see dealer is 400% mark up on the part 

104 inch-lbs for my model year.

Edited May 8 by Timmah!

[KaptCrunch]

1 hour ago, Timmah! said:

104 inch-lbs for my model year.

 you clear the codes, question is the engine light out ?  i like duedillance  there Tim  for me for me on hydraulic spool bodys i go under the spec, your @ 24 Ft-LBs. total of the 3 bolts.

best is  Surface the body when grooved  for 0-ring will allow more tension on 0-ring an let viscous seal take over without distorting the valve case. note when machined isn't at engine tempureture. 

[Timmah!]

5 hours ago, KaptCrunch said:

 you clear the codes, question is the engine light out ?  i like duedillance  there Tim  for me for me on hydraulic spool bodys i go under the spec, your @ 24 Ft-LBs. total of the 3 bolts.

best is  Surface the body when grooved  for 0-ring will allow more tension on 0-ring an let viscous seal take over without distorting the valve case. note when machined isn't at engine tempureture. 

104 inch-pounds is 8.667 foot pounds; I torque each to 9 ft.-lbs.

Edited May 8 by Timmah!

[GhostfaceJim]

Wish I was more mechanical.  I usually do more damage than good.

[Timmah!]

5 hours ago, GhostfaceJim said:

Wish I was more mechanical.  I usually do more damage than good.

It's not that difficult. 

Especially when a motherfucker starts telling me they want $750 for taking 1/2 hour to install an $80 part. 

Plenty of great mechanics showing the procedures step-by-step on YouTube. 

Subreddits dedicated to particular make & model year vehicles.

Mechanic forums. 

Chat gpt.

$750 is more than enough motivation to take a day off work to learn & do it myself. 

In this case it was a 7 minute YouTube video & 1/2 hour to do the job.

Same with the PCV valve I replaced the day before that. 

They wanted $250 to take 15 minutes to replace a $10 part.

Literally as simple as removing a hose, spinning the old part out with a deep-well socket- just like you would a spark plug- & replacing it with the new part.

Oh, & a 30 cent crush washer if you want to be extra super careful. 

$1,000 dollars for $90 worth of parts & 45 minutes of work.

Fuck that noise. 

 

Edited May 9 by Timmah!

[KaptCrunch]

5 hours ago, GhostfaceJim said:

Wish I was more mechanical.  I usually do more damage than good.

you already is for can cook ?  only  no heat just a good toolkit, OBD2 read tool with clear codes option and a troque wrenches inch and Ft LBs, baggies  to place and tag parts/bolts/screws to keep order,  note book to keep what order  taken parts off to get to the issue  and a camera  as the stages of disasymblely go and a good pair of gloves to keep clean and no knuckle busters, as Tim say YouTube is good heads up on the task of repair.  south main auto is good one to watch and  you gotta have lots patience like playing black jack, a tip on rusty parts spray  oil penetrating/anti-rust  on 3 days  before taking apart an oil threads after.  

Edited May 9 by KaptCrunch

[Timmah!]

5 hours ago, GhostfaceJim said:

Wish I was more mechanical.  I usually do more damage than good.

Here's the 7 minute video I watched. 

Very basic steps.

Surely you could do it in 3 hours, if not 30 min.  Still well worth saving $330 labor. 

 

Edited May 9 by Timmah!

[Timmah!]

34 minutes ago, KaptCrunch said:

you already is for can cook ?  only  no heat just a good toolkit, OBD2 read tool with clear codes option and a troque wrenches inch and Ft LBs, baggies  to place and tag parts/bolts/screws to keep order,  note book to keep what order  taken parts off to get to the issue  and a camera  as the stages of disasymblely go and a good pair of gloves to keep clean and no knuckle busters, as Tim say YouTube is good heads up on the task of repair.  south main auto is good one to watch

Yup.

Can go to AutoZone here & they will do the OBD2 reading, print-out the results, & explain what it means...for free.

Can get a torque wrench for $20 or again, get free loaner tools to borrow from AutoZone. 

People don't give themselves enough credit, but rather talk themselves out of doing something they can likely accomplish, before they even try.

The way I see it, & in my experience: If someone else learned how to do it, so can I.

Edited May 9 by Timmah!

[KaptCrunch]

10 minutes ago, Timmah! said:

Yup.

Can go to AutoZone here & they will do the OBD2 reading, print-out the results, & explain what it means...for free.

Can get a torque wrench for $20 or again, get free loaner tools to borrow from AutoZone. 

People don't give themselves enough credit & talk themselves out of doing something they can likely accomplish, before they even try.

The way I see it, & in my experience: If someone else learned how to do it, so can I.

its very rewarding when you can do it as  seen here  savings of $ 1,000 plus a big smile of accomplishment

Edited May 9 by KaptCrunch
world need more auto zone way of life instead of kicking you for money

[Timmah!]

11 minutes ago, KaptCrunch said:

its very rewarding when you can do it as  seen here  savings of $ 1,000 plus a big smile of accomplishment

It is a really nice, helpful service. 

You can take basically all the time you need & return it to any AutoZone store when you're done.

The local one here hasn't even charged me a deposit the few times I've used the service over the past 30 years.

 

 

[Timmah!]

Took 5 drive cycles for the on board computer & sensors to verify the issue was fixed & recalibrate settings, then turn-off the check engine light.

Noticeable additional improvement after the light went out.

Good times!

Edited May 13 by Timmah!

[KaptCrunch]

All set now an save on FUEL happy travels and less oil changes for no gas being wasted.  hench the get up an go for the timing is correct for Max power 

 

[rexbowan]

Good catch!

[M!dg3t]

* Actual Footage of Timmah changing part.

[KaptCrunch]

plumbers crack  warning  need here  LoL or was it your magical guitar like a fluke and snake trick, was it the crack of dawn song played? or Timah just back fired with nerve gas to keep you away while he works

Edited May 18 by KaptCrunch