$700+ Ouch!!

I have had my 2003 Accord Sedan now for just over 5 months. I purchased with it an extended 3 year, 36K warranty.

Well, last week my A/C started blowing hot air. Worked fine the day before, but now it does not. I called the company that the extended warranty was through and they listed off all the components associated with the A/C that was covered. Basically, from what they told me on the phone, the only thing that would not be covered was any rubber hoses.

So I took it to my local dealer and it turns out that I somehow got a small hole in the condenser which of course, is another item that they forgot to mention that is not covered under the extended warranty. $700+ dollars to replace it. Are you kidding me?

I mentioned to the service guy that I guess I needed to figure out some way to reduce the risk of this happening again since the Accord does have some large openings. He said that he does know that there are some aftermarket inserts that can be added to the Accord to help with this problem.

So, my question is, has anyone else seen these inserts and do you know where I might find them? I'm not looking for any fancy chromed out inserts or anything like that. I'm not a big fan of chrome except under the hood. I'm just looking for some kind of mesh insert that will fit in the openings preferably black in color to help reduce debris from damaging anything again.

I thought about getting some kind of mesh material from Home Depot or Lowe's, but I'm not sure how I would attach it without having to drill any holes or use gawky screws to attach it. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

You prob. could've bought the compressor online to save some money. :(

you probably shouldnt change anything. This isnt too typical for this to happen... If you put something over it, and the holes are small enough, it will effectivley block the air at speed.

You prob. could've bought the compressor online to save some money. :(

It wasn't the compressor, it was the condenser. The "Radiator" type coil in the grill. I'm sure I could of found it online for a lot less. Heck I could've even purchased the part from them and did the work myself. However, with all the labor involved in removing the bumper, replacing the condenser, vaccuming down the system, recharging and anything else that I may be forgetting at the moment just didn't feasable at the moment. I have replaced the whole a/c components myself on my Ranger before and it was not fun. Plus if I did do this myself and something were to go wrong with the compressor or some other part of the a/c system afterwards, they would probably find a way to void the remaining warranty I do have since the service was not done by an authorized dealer.

Current Hondas are like that. I know the Odysseys have a huge problem with it. What I did with my parents' Ody is putting in a wire mesh into the bumper. I don't have pics of it but I'll take some when I get back to NC later this weekend. It's basically a wire mesh for gutters from Home Depot for $3. I painted it black and drilled a few holes in the bumper then zip-tied it. Extremely easy to do. I did the same thing with my car as well so I won't have to worry about it.

The old gutter grill mod. I did it to my Rangers top grill

ABSOLUTELY, ABSOLUTELY, ABSOLUTELY contact Honda Customer Relations on this! I forked over the $700 for a new condenser, too, and I was furious. They didn't want to honor my warranty.

I called Cust Relations and was assigned this guy Kai. To make a long story very short, I was reimbursed $600 of the original $700 (because that's what honda corporate actually pays for the repair -- the other $100 is strict dealer profit. I could have pursued the other $100 but I really don't have the energy).

The whole process took about 2 months but I'm glad I pursued it. I have the original condenser in my garage, and you can't even see any visible damage...it looks perfect.

Oh, my dealer said he sees it on CR-V's more than anything else; that's why they keep the condensers for the 2.4L I4 in stock :thumbsdow :thumbsdow

Oh, and they'll try to tell you it was road debris. But you just have to stand your ground. Something as small as a pebble can cause this, apparently. Can we say 'design flaw'? They should expect small rocks will get flung at the front of the car...

We had this happen to a 96 Acura RL once, and found the place where the rock had been launched thru the condenser - was a great fog show when they tried to add some R134a :D Now, it's been a few years, but I think I was able to place a claim through our insurance - and I think they covered it under the comprehensive, not collision - but I'll be honest I can't remember. But if there's a spot that shows outside intrusion of a rock, etc, warranty won't cover it - I know our RL only had 20k on it at the time and they wouldn't cover it....

As far as covering the opening, there are a few places on eBay that sell fancy gutter guard-based grille inserts that have varying sizes of openings to protect against this. Most are custom cut and have different snap or wire-tie in installations - so that's an option, and shouldn't impact the airflow to the lower bumper area.

andy

Oh, and they'll try to tell you it was road debris. But you just have to stand your ground. Something as small as a pebble can cause this, apparently. Can we say 'design flaw'? They should expect small rocks will get flung at the front of the car...

True, but this happens on all kinds of cars, from Hyundais to Lexus's (elantras have a big issue with this). And he's not with HondaCare - It's another warranty company - Therefore, disputing with Honda isn't going to do much. :(

Plus, he knew (or should've) that the warranty he bought did not cover these components.