Dealers!

Many dealer techs have larger hands and slower wits than a 13 year old.

Bitzer wrote in news:hrsd04$d3s$ snipped-for-privacy@news.albasani.net:

And it doesn't help one bit that your Owner's Manual (from Honda, not the dealer) tells you to bring the car in to a dealer for that item to be replaced.

Honda!

Then they obviously remove the battery in the Accord in order to replace the lower beam headlamp

Doesn't everyone (who works on the clock)?

Ah, read back on my thread on changing out the low beam on the 2006 Accord. Big mitts (and sharp OR dull mind) don't mesh well with Honda's instructions. Battery removal is the only way to go in IMHO.

'04 is no easier.....

yeah, well, not too long ago it WAS a difficult procedure. Over $100, and is a big pain in the ass in my Odyssey (similar for the same gen Accord).

I bought a Purolator filter for $20 and, next time I was in for something, threw it at my tech with a twenty for his trouble. Problem solved.

Whereas the Prius owner's manual tells you exactly how to do it yourself--and it's correct.

Not only is it correct, the Prius design makes my 02 Odyssey design look like it was developed by blind monkeys.

Honda!

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

It works both ways. Honda's shop manuals are wonderfully detailed compared to Toyota's. Toyota has a tendency to leave you to fumble through a lot of things, providing almost no information other than sort-of where a system or part is located.

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

I just replaced the cabin filter in my Sisters RAV4. The job is easy. The filter even had instructions in the box. Her filter was obviously dirty. BUT....are these filters really worth a damn? I had one in my Frontier, yet the inside of the cabin was alway coated with dust. Everytime I drove through a particular swampy area during the spring my eyes would water like heck (pollen allergy). I can't see where the filters did anything except collect small items that never caused me any problem in the past. Seem like another wonderful Japanese innovation that is bogus - sounds good in practice, worhtless in reality. More crap that sounds good in the ads, but just ends up costing you money without any pay back. I had to laugh about the Frontier. A neighbor had a newer model and asked me to help him replace the filters (the dealer wanted a fortune to do it, like in the original post). His truck was like mine EXCEPT it came form the factory without the filters installed. It had the compartment and the filters fit fine, so we installed them. He had the base model while I had teh SE. I guess only suckers have to pay for the filters. My Fusion doesn't have a cabin filter, but it has no more dust inside the cabin than my Sister's RAV4 and a heck of a lot less than my old Frontier. I really don't see why I'd want one, except I guess it sounds good. Probably all new cars will have to have them....more profit for dealers and/or Purolater I guess. I'd love to run a blind test with anyone who thinks they are useful.

Ed

cabin filters are /extremely/ useful - they stop the crud accumulation in the evaporator that breeds "air conditioner stink".

While obviously not 100% or anything near it, I think that pulling one of the cabin filters after ~15K - 20K miles should tell even a blind man that they are somewhat effective. If they weren't in there the crap you're looking at on the used filter would be in the passenger compartment or your lungs. If you're blind, just lick it instead

Don't they know it too.

I called the local Honda dealer's parts desk for a price on the cabin filters for the '06 CRV (also requires no tools and about 5 minutes to change). They quoted $69 EACH for the two filter elements. Thinking they were somehow giving me the price of something else, I called another dealer: $73 EACH!. Looked at Majestic Honda website: $7.70 each.

So much of this business is based on customer ignorance that its just scary.

How's this for a rip.... I got an email from my Honda dealer offering a great deal on checking my battery for only $20. Normally a $30 service. They claim a properly operating battery is crucial to the electrical system of my vehicle. Maybe they'll top up my head lamp fluid while they are at it.

Some people will pay it.

It's hilarious to watch idiots spout the line, "If you can't afford the service, then you can't afford the car." They use that line to justify their wasting $150 at the Lexus dealer for the same oil change that the Toyota dealer across the street does for $30 on the same engine.

Some people think that their public exhibition of spending somehow validates their existence and puts them on a higher plane. Yeah, right.

Anyway, those filters are about $20 total aftermarket.

And overpriced at that, no doubt. Just bought/installed another Fram (with the Arm & Hammer treatment) for the Odyssey for $17 at the local Farm & Fleet store. Last Fall, the one I bought for the Accord was $20

Then there's the issue of aftermarket vs. OEM stuff. The Purolator cabin filter I bought appeared identical to the OEM one I replaced. I guess it may not have filtered as well but it's just cabin air-- nothing going into the engine.

I also picked up a Fram engine air filter. When I removed the factory filter from the car, it was about twice as thick and had a very different type of construction than the Fram-- though the outer dimensions werte the same so the Fram would have dropped-in fine.

I decided not to use the Fram ($13.67) however and bought an OEM from the local Honda dealer paying over twice as much. I figured saving $15 on the Fram probably wasn't smart money.

Did Honda include a cabin air filter on the 1995 Accords? I have never seen it, but have also never looked for it.