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Brand New 2015 Cars - Dealer Replaced Spark Plugs?

6K views 27 replies 12 participants last post by  dshan189 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I am looking to purchase a 2015 Honda Accord Coupe, V6, EX-L w/ Navigation, Automatic Trans. I have been trying to find the right car for a couple months now and I am set on this vehicle. We have owned at least 5 Hondas so far and are very happy with them.

I found a great deal on this configuration with the colors that I want. I was set to go purchase the car this weekend. Right before we left for the dealership, I ran a CarFax report on the VIN #. The CarFax showed that even though it's a brand new vehicle with only 10 miles, the dealership replaced the spark plugs. I called the dealership and asked why; they said all vehicles, new or old, go through a service inspection before they are put on the lot. He said for whatever reason, this car came from the factory with its engine misfiring. As a result, they replaced the spark plugs for it. However, I also ran CarFax reports on the other cars they have with the same config (just different colors), and every single one had its spark plugs replaced.

I am wary now because I read about the lawsuit for the V6 engines from 2008-2012. Was the 9th generation engine updated to fix this? Can anyone shed light on whether the 9th generation's V6 still has oil consumption issues? By chance, could the dealer be proactively replacing the spark plugs to something new to fix the 8th generation V6 issue?

Any info on this topic would be much appreciated. I am really interested in this car.
 
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#2 ·
Mine need the first 2 oil changes early. I expressed my concern and they said it was my driving habits. I don't drive crazy, but I do drive a lot in stop and go traffic. Anyway after my 3rd oil change at 8k I told them this was crazy, because my girls car was still on the break in oil at 7k and was only at 30% they found a blown valve cover gasket to be the cause. Since then I have had good oil life.
 
#3 ·
The earth dreams v6 of the 9th gen is a totally different animal. The rings were updated with some type of coating to address oil consumption. The VCM is either 6 or 3 not 6,4 or 3 of the prior gen.

See if you can find a car that's not touched. I would be concerned why it left the engine factory that way. You will never get to the bottom of it. Maybe the plugs were bad but why bother jumping into that hornets nest and move on to find another car. You will never be satisfied if something else goes wrong after you own it. Yeah it will be under warranty but do you want to deal with all of that inconvenience. My 14V6 turned out to have a oil leak that fortunately came from the valve cover and was fixed under warranty and so far so good but I am spending way too much time in Honda dealerships lately for recalls and warranty work for my other Hondas. (2009 CRV steering rack failure and belt tensioner failure at 47 thousand miles. Fortunately covered by extended protection plan.

When you pick up a brand new Honda there is a pre delivery checklist that you sign off on that the dealer keeps. I'd be interested to know if the spark plug change is referenced on the checklist.

That was a good catch with the carfax I'm going to do that with the next purchase.
 
#5 ·
They prolly pulled the OEM plugs, and stuffed in some copper plugs, which should wear out at around 37,000 miles, and tell you you need to buy Honda Original Plugs, which were, as they said, the Plugs Honda Originally put in your car in the fist place.

What?

Could happen. :paranoid:
 
#7 ·
The manual V6 doesn't have VCM so it's just the pure V6. The VCM was related to the oil consumption. The J series engines are true gems. Obviously, the manual will not get the MPG of the auto with the VCM. It's really easy to get 30mpg combined with the V6 auto VCM. Anyway, here is a video of the V6 manual. Love the sound of that engine. If you can deal with driving a manual in traffic go for it.

 
#8 ·
Good idea about the Carfax. How did you get so many? How much did that cost you to get all those reports? Does the dealership you went to give them away for free. Did you (hush) steal (hush) them.

Were you able to get them through your dealership?

You should post the name of the dealership you went to since they appear to be the most honest dealership I've seen or read about. Good publicity for the Honda dealer.

Since it's your first post you can't post pictures but if you can later, send the copy of the carfax you received for the multitude of cars you requested.


Neat idea about the Carfax on a brand new car. Who knew only 10 miles on the clock the dealer was honest enough to enter immediately the sparkplug change.

What part of the country are you located?

TIA
 
#10 ·
The 6,6 is the Q car of the decade. If you can get one, (can drive it, and sell it to the significant other), you have a very hot car that nobody knows you have. You should be able to beat nearly anyone to a spot, unless he is the kind of jerk that goes ten tenths all the time. In the real world, you have dynamite under your right foot, if you have the requisite driving skills.

You are not gonna beat a Boss Mustang heads up. But, on the road, you can already have taken position while that 302 driver is saying, WTF, a Honda is there?
 
#12 ·
Thanks again everyone for all of the replies. @cournot, I replied to your message. Let me know if I can help you.

Strongly considering the 6spd manual now. I really like that the idea that it's more or less an unassuming performance car. I am reading elsewhere on the forum that there are folks who have the V6 VCM automatic with no problems. Mostly similar posts - that they had to do an oil change early, but after that the oil life has been fine. It just seems to be a tough call. Maybe I should sit on it for a little longer.
 
#15 ·
Hi All,

I am looking to purchase a 2015 Honda Accord Coupe, V6, EX-L w/ Navigation, Automatic Trans. I have been trying to find the right car for a couple months now and I am set on this vehicle. We have owned at least 5 Hondas so far and are very happy with them.

I found a great deal on this configuration with the colors that I want. I was set to go purchase the car this weekend. Right before we left for the dealership, I ran a CarFax report on the VIN #. The CarFax showed that even though it's a brand new vehicle with only 10 miles, the dealership replaced the spark plugs. I called the dealership and asked why; they said all vehicles, new or old, go through a service inspection before they are put on the lot. He said for whatever reason, this car came from the factory with its engine misfiring. As a result, they replaced the spark plugs for it. However, I also ran CarFax reports on the other cars they have with the same config (just different colors), and every single one had its spark plugs replaced.

I am wary now because I read about the lawsuit for the V6 engines from 2008-2012. Was the 9th generation engine updated to fix this? Can anyone shed light on whether the 9th generation's V6 still has oil consumption issues? By chance, could the dealer be proactively replacing the spark plugs to something new to fix the 8th generation V6 issue?

Any info on this topic would be much appreciated. I am really interested in this car.

Has the dealership actually printed the service history of the car for you? Honda is pretty tough when it comes to warranty claims for dealerships, there should be some pretty specific info on the service report that the dealership has that should show which tech worked on the car, the troublecode if it was thrown, and what symptoms they saw.

IMO, someone is imputing the wrong code when PDI'ing the cars and its hitting the carfax that way.

Jay
 
#17 ·
Jay (karfreek), I actually just called the service department. Service was not open the day I was going to purchase the car, so I had to ask someone in sales about the spark plugs. The Service Representative searched the VIN # and told me there has been no work done on the car! He said he would check again and call me back. But you might be right here - could it be the wrong code inputted? It looks like the same code was done for all of their cars with this configuration.

I will let you guys know how this goes.
 
#19 ·
Just got off the phone with service. Indeed, they told me that they have no records of replacing the spark plugs. They said they completed the pre-delivery inspection on the vehicle and that was it. I let them know that every EX-L V6 w/ Navi on their lot has the spark plug replacement on the CarFax. They said they would look at it.

As 14v6 said, they also offered to give me the Pre-Delivery Inspection Book for the car. Since it's a book they said it is hard to transmit electronically, over e-mail or text. However I could stop by and take a look.

Any other thoughts on this? At this point, I am still inclined to go with the 6spd manual. This is one heck of a car with an amazing engine, great tech. The only hesitation I have on it now is the VCM's oil consumption. Manual solves that.
 
#20 ·
I'm certain the VCM issue has been resolved as the 13+ accords use a completely different implementation.

I have a manual and I love it--fast, fun, and decent on fuel. Not as good as a VCM car--I'm getting 29-30 mpg highway while those get 35 mpg.

The misfires I mentioned are likely not a thing actually--just tested a new V6 on the lot and it had a rougher cold idle like mine as well so all is okay with my car.
 
#22 ·
Thanks 14v6. I actually test drove both the auto and manual. I didn't feel the vibration that everyone is mentioning. I gave the car some good acceleration during the test drive but maybe it wasn't sitting idle long enough for me to notice. Or more likely, I was just excited.

Either way I'll give it another drive and see how it feels.
 
#25 ·
V6 yeah must be fun... But you have still a Timing belt. Must change every 120Kilometer, 6 Spark plug to change. Higher oil change cost etc. I like my I4 6speed way over the V6.
i heard the V6 don't have good trottle response when you only press a little and if you press to much tires spin everywhere. Im able to make my tires Spin enough on the I4 already. I could not imagine having a 6
 
#26 ·
Hi guys,

Thanks again for all your help during my car purchasing decision. Does anyone know if the PDI report has information on spark plugs? To give you an update, I checked the CarFax and the dealership indeed had the error removed. Instead of "Spark plugs replaced", the record now shows "Vehicle serviced".

I am still confused though. After Googling online, I'm finding that "Vehicle serviced" could mean any number of things: from routine, scheduled checks all the way up to a warranty claim.

My confusion is that there is a code for Pre-delivery Inspection. I have seen it on many other CarFax reports: "Pre-Delivery Inspection completed". Is there a reason why the error was not just updated to this code instead?

I contacted CarFax for support, and I think they should get back to me next week. There are 2 cars in my area that meet my criteria with config and color choice. For the other one, the dealer quoted me about $1200 more, and said she could not go any lower than that. In fact, she said go with the price that you've got as it is a great price.

Any advice or experience with this? Thanks again everyone.
 
#27 ·
I think you're overthinking this. This sounds like a clerical error of some sort where someone along the chain has input a code that carfax is interpreting as something else or vice versa. I've seen this numerous times with carfax reports.

In short, I would rely on carfax reports for two things. The first is the number of owners the vehicle has. The second is whether any accidents have been reported. Other than that carfax isn't 100% reliable for other information.

I would go with dealership service records which for a new car should be nothing more than the pre delivery checklist which is in the books of the car. Every new vehicle should have this filled out by the service tech who did the PDI.
 
#28 ·
Thanks @Bond-007. Yes, I have definitely been trying to analyze every detail on this one. It's just such a big purchase, but it's also for the exact car that I want. I have been in this constant state of wrestling between my rationality and my enthusiasm for the vehicle.

I did receive an "overall" report of the PDI (1 pager). There was nothing added under "Defects" or "Warranty Claims". The dealership did say that they will give me the full book when I come in. I will also try to confirm with the service department in-person when I go there.
 
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