So this might not been Fit specific, but i figure i'd throw it out here and see if there are any thoughts.

Here is the story:
Me (or rather my fiancee) has been a happy Ft owners for the last 6 months. We've noticed recently that the car would sometime not accelerate as quickly as it used to. It is been annoying but nothing serious we thought and could wait until next check up... However In the last couple of days the car really started misbehaving -- it would arbitrarily slow down, or would refuse to go above 55mph. So we brought it to the dealeship -- they looked at it, and said some brakes issue. Ok, we thought good to know.

A few hours later the mechanic called us back and said that it appears that someone poured in wrong liquid into break compartment and as such it is not covered under warranty... The interesting thing: nobody except that dealership ever opened this car's hood, so it is unlikely someone could break in without us noticing... So... my questions here are

1. Is it possible that due to defective brake reservoir some external fluids (like rain or somethng) would accumulate in there (e.g. the cup which was holding is not tight enough or something)

2. What's the possible way of recourse here, other than going to court. We know for a fact that noone has ever opened the hood here, and there is no evidence of someone breaking it and opened it while we are not looking... And yet they refuse to fix it...

 

is it permanent damage? what some people had said works is to have a lawyer basically write up a threat and deliver it to the dealership.

 

We don't quite know, but the mechanic says it is pretty expensive to fix...

 

If water got in the fluid? That's not expensive...lol. That's a new master cylinder/rebuilt maybe. brake fluid collects moisture(designed to) and if it gets to watery then your breaks are mushy(er) and your master cylinder can rust also. and teh seals have a chance of failing.
Now that I think about it...iono how any warranty is liable then cause if you know you've only had stuff done at the dealership, the dealership(if something wrong happened and it is their fault) can say that it wasn't and everything they've done is perfect and it was you who did it. :/ a warranty seems sorta *** now that I think about it a bit.
Anyways, is it an AT? Cause teh first thing that comes to mind is the tranny and its seals going...but that usually doesn't begin to show up closer to a 100k mark(80k+ I guess is a safer bet...then again 60k+ is even safer :P) but yea, IMO, take it to another shop maybe and see what's up. brakes keeping you from going over a set speed is dumb, the random slow down...eh. Anotehr sign is sorta delayed shifts or boggy acceleration liek it wants to go but it can't sorta.

 

Well they say it is that the other liquid is gazoline based liquid (so my reasoning was that it is very contaminated rain water as it is been raining pretty extensively last couple of days and we had to drive a lot in traffic)

No, it is MT.

 

Well it'd be hard for rain to get into the brake fluid reservoir. Hood would almost have to be up and a funnel leading near it lol.
hmmm. I'd honestly go to a reputable shop where the guys there know what they're talking about when it comes to hondas and see what they say. Iono, I just can't comprehend how getting water or even gasoline/oil in there would cause the problems described. And if someone who changed the oil was a dum**ss and did that at the dealership...wouldn't have any clue where to go from there, considering a lawyer and going to court may cost more than just having them fix the "problem".

 

Lets assume some inept or otherwise person did not deliberately foul your brake reservoir. (it has happened)
First you should have asked for a good size sample of the contaminated fluid. But wait til you are there to see it drawn.
Second you should have asked if the master cylinder was undamaged and had the cap been on tight.
If the MC is OK backflushing the brake system is easily performed with a brake flush systrem which all dealers should have will take no more than an hour. Add bleeding the brakes and brake fluid used and your bill shouldn't exceed $200. Thats not expensive.
If your master cylinder was defective, ie it leaks, then the dealer should fix it under warranty and that would include the flushing bit.

You don't have enough evidence to go to court. Your word isn't sufficient. It would be a waste of time and money. Save it to repair the brakes.
Good luck.

 

As a mechanic I have this to say.
WTF?
You can over fill a res but it rarely leads to anything but a mess.
It would be impossible to pour anything but brake fluid in the res to begin with (for a mechanic).
Now, I have no idea what they are talking about because a hydro lock is usually mechanical in nature and extremely rare for a new car.
If I went out right now and poured a mix of oil, antifreeze and such in my Ford it would continue to brake. And a hydro lock would be the last thing on my mind.

 

Thanks everybody for answers...

One other question. Short of assuming that someone poured something into reservoir, any one has any idea what other things could have potentially caused this?


mark