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My element's radiator blew up

2816 Views 9 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Simon
Hi Everyone. I have a problem with my Element, and I am hoping to get some advice from this forum.

I live in Boston, and I got my Element in February. I love the car, and as of yesterday I have put 2300 miles on it.

Yesterday (Friday,4/25), I had to take a business trip to meet with a client in Connecticut. About 2 ½ hours into the trip, I noticed a “pissy” smell in the car, and minutes later the check engine light came on. Within 5 minutes there was a lot of smoke and/or steam coming from under the hood, I pulled over at the next exit ( I was on I-95, and there was no safe shoulder to stop on). I popped the hood open to find that there was coolant splattered all over the engine compartment. There was also a white jelly like substance. A hose was blown off the radiator near the cap; I do not know if this was a cause or an effect of the problem.

I called Honda National, and was given the name of a local dealer in Milford CT, and I arranges to have the car towed to their service department. The service manager was great, and assured me they would take care of everything. The reaction I got from the mechanics was pretty funny...they could not believe that there was an Element with a problem in the shop. They said on first look that there was no coolant in the sytem. They set me up with a rental car, and I proceeded to my meeting, 1 ½ hours late.

Later in the afternoon, I spoke with the service manager, who told me that “something strange is going on” with the car, and They would need to keep it over the weekend. I drove the rental car back to Boston that evening.

So now it is Saturday morning, and I am wondering how things are going to go next week. I am in Boston driving a rental car, and my car is at a Honda dealer in CT. I really can not afford to take a day off from work to drive there and pick up my car and drop off the rental. Here are some questions I have that I would like some thoughts on:

Should I expect or demand that my local Honda dealer (from whom I bought the car) drive the rental back and pick up the Element for me when it has been repaired?

Should I expect Honda to cover the expense of the tow and the loaner car?

Should I be worried about the Element and any long term damage the incident may of had on the car?

Is there anything else I should be concerned about?

thanks for your thoughts.
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Yes, I think someone should be responsible for your expenses, being as you just bought this vehicle a couple of months ago and had to experience this huge inconvenience. You may want to talk to the dealer that you bought the car from first, then if they don't offer to pay, I would contact Honda directly. Sorry this happened to you, let us know what was the cause when you find out.
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