vImpostor

Hello! I hunted around for a few weeks, and about a month and a bit ago wound up replacing my 2004 Mazda 3 with a certified pre-owned 2012 Honda Civic LX from the Honda dealer at the Richmond auto mall. A week after I bought the vehicle I had an amp + sub + front speakers professionally installed. All seemed good with the car until yesterday when a bunch of strange things happened...

First, as I pulled out of my parking, I became aware of an odd "hum"... Not sure how to describe it otherwise, but it faintly sounds like a jet engine ramping up RPM. Almost like the sound a weed whacker would make if you gradually spun it up. Gets higher pitched as I speed up, and is most notable when accelerating at low speed, or decelerating from high speed.

Second, when I make right-hand turns, I get an odd vibration. I can feel it on the gas / brake pedals with my right foot, and through the floor with my left food. I believe I can also hear it... Seems to happen whenever the steering wheel is turned right; when I'm going perfectly straight there's little or no vibration, and on left turns it all but disappears.

Third, my battery completely died in the parking lot at IKEA, though I am certain I hadn't left anything on. Was fine to start earlier in the day, no issues on the drive, but when I went to start it to go home there wasn't enough juice to even TRY to turn the engine over. When the BCAA guy showed up he checked the vehicle and found that the alternator was working, but the battery would not hold any charge at all. Given the cost of a tow, and the battery needing replacement anyway, I had him replace the battery on the spot. He said that the battery was probably going bad for a while, and that he figured the issue should've been noted during pre-sale service.

Finally, I was just about home when I pulled up to a stop sign. About fifteen feet from the stop point I heard a grinding "crunch" noise, and there was a severe vibration with a "wub wub wub" sound. It felt / sounded almost like I'd gotten a flat tire on my front driver's side... I got out and looked, but there wasn't anything noticeably wrong. I turned left off the road, parked, and checked, but couldn't find anything. There was nothing on the road, tire was normal, tire wasn't loose, brake pad was in place... I managed to go the final 2km home without any further incident...

I've called the service department at the dealer and set an appointment, but they were mostly interested in telling me how much they'd be charging me for diagnosis, and how they were too busy to fit the car in until Friday.

Anyway, my questions are!

1. What could be causing the vibration / crunch?
2. Is the battery worth talking to the dealer about, or is that cost something I'd have to eat no matter what?
3. Do you think the vehicle is safe to drive (to the dealer)?
4. Should I go through the dealer I bought the car from, or is there a better location I should try and deal with?

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

It's certified, take advantage of it.

3-4 years is the norm these days for a battery. (down from 5-6 years in the past)

How do the front brake pads look ??

vImpostor

Sounds about right for the battery. Things wear out, I replaced the battery twice on my old car roughly matching that time scale.

The brake pads appear to be good and in place. I believe when I got the car about 5 weeks ago the brakes were 80-90%. I couldn't see any indication anything had been sheared off or had come loose on the wheel assembly. I may not necessarily know what I'm looking at, though.

Just mildly concerned with issues like these popping up right after the sale, I guess. Is that relatively normal? What's involved with the certification process?

Am I bound to the original dealer for service, or is it worth checking with another Honda dealer in the area if they're able to get the car in?

ezone

How many miles on the car?

Hell no, but maybe.
Once you have the correct answers you can figure out if the issues are normal.
There should be a HCUC inspection checklist somewhere (in the glovebox?) that you can look at. It's a pretty involved inspection, the body has to be in great shape, no door dings and paint chips, battery no older than a certain age, more than a certain amount of tread on the tires, etc.


....But I've seen some certified cars from dealers that must kinda skirt the rules and just sell the cars as certified without the full treatment.

If it's a Honda Certified Used Car with the usual Honda warranty plan on it, you can go to any Honda dealership.