Car maintenance is something we don’t want to think about. It’s expensive and it’s time consuming, and we look forward to a trip to the casa after the free scheduled maintenance with as much excitement as getting a root canal. In early 2007 I traded a Galant for a 99 Honda Accord. As much as I liked the Mitsubishi’s torquey motor, the rest of the car was beginning to show its age as part after part needed replacing. The Accord had a 4-speed automatic, double wishbone suspension, and around 70k on the odometer. Plus, I’d always liked that model year’s wedgy styling. It was a good trade as I found the ride quite relaxing over my daily 70-kilometer commute.
This summer though, at around the 80,000 kilometer mark, the transmission started acting up. After an hour of use, it seemed to slip between 3rd and 4th gear, unable to decide which one to use on the highway. I brought it to Honda Cars Pasig, which recommended I have the automatic transmission fluid changed. I also requested that they replace the filter. When I got the car back, it ran fine for a week, and then the problematic shifting returned. I brought it back to the dealer, who did a diagnostics check and recommended I have it (yes, the transmission) replaced. The service advisor helpfully told me I could opt for a remanufactured unit. Cost? Around P70k, plus labor.
That seemed too drastic for an 80,000-km old transmission, especially for a car primarily designed for the US market, which sees cars run up to 200,000 kilometers without trouble. I Google’d the problem and, to my dismay, found that several US owners had also experienced the problem with their Accords. Some had even experienced total transmission failure. My erstwhile suki mechanic, Lito Galvez of MSG motorworks, recommended I bring it to a transmission specialist.
Fortunately, a chat with Ferman Lao of Speedlab (who also writes a technical Q&A column for Top Gear Philippines called Motormouth as well as the used car features) assuaged some of my fears. It could be a problem with the ATF or the torque converter, he suggested. “Bring it to my shop and I’ll take a look,” he said. So I did, and the mechanic drove it for awhile and looked over the housing and ATF. The housing didn’t look like it had been pulled down (to get at the filter), and the ATF didn’t really look new. So now I called up Honda, who promptly sent over their mechanic to explain his side of the story.
Yes, the ATF had been replaced. No, the transmission was not pulled down because they weren’t qualified to take it apart anyway to get at the internals; it would have to be brought to the plant, and then replaced with a new unit. The reason the ATF looked dirty was because there was still some residual old fluid inside. At this point I got lost whether it had a filter or not (most cars do), but the point was that the casa wouldn’t do anything about the problematic transmission other than replace it. This really seemed too much for me; like getting that root canal when all you need is a filling. They were really friendly and courteous, but at the end of the day I was still looking at a high five figure repair bill.
Instead, I opted to have it overhauled at Speedlab, a service center along Quezon Avenue. Even though Speedlab has an image of being a racer’s shop, I reasoned that a simple overhaul would be a walk in the park for their boys. After all, I imagine they’ve fixed worse problems like blown engines and mangled suspensions. After a few days with the Accord in there, the staff emailed me a quote for an overhauling kit and some other parts that needed replacing like the belts. The quote was around P40k, including labor. A week later, the Accord was back in my hands and shifting like new.
Several weeks later though, a new problem surfaced. After an hour’s use, it would only engage 1st gear after at least 20 seconds of anxiety. It would also vibrate and pulse against the brake pedal if I were stopped and in Drive. Imagine the personal stress this induced while crawling along EDSA. I returned it to Speedlab, who took it apart again and found that some other internal bits had worn down after they’d done the overhaul; parts that hadn’t been replaced in the overhaul. The repair would be simple enough, but sourcing the parts would take several weeks. No problem, I thought. My car was in good hands.
Several days before I was scheduled to pick it up, Ferman called to say he noticed the A/C seemed weak. It was a minor problem I’d noticed before, but one which I’d totally forgotten when the bigger issue of the transmission came up. Would I mind if he brought it over to his friend’s A/C repair shop? Of course not. When I finally came to get the car, the transmission was finally A-OK, and so was the A/C. The additional repairs for the transmission and A/C cost me just 10k. Now the Accord is running with trademark Honda smoothness, and the overhaul has even improved fuel economy by several percent because of the reduced friction losses. You see, it pays to know your options.
Speedlab is a warehouse-type service center where the cars parked inside are in various states of repair or modification. During its stay there, my bone-stock Accord looked incongruous beside tuner Civics and the like, especially since some of the cars had been visually “enhanced”. I was first introduced to them last year when they introduced their dynamometer to the motoring media. Day-to-day operations are managed by Ferman, who more often than not can be found at the wheel of a car on the dyno since he does the testing himself. Originally, I’m told, their pricing had a slight premium, but because of their proximity to the Banawe outfits, they had to adjust their rates to be more competitive.
Now there’s a steady stream of customers, not all of whom necessarily want their cars to go faster. Some of them, like me, just want their cars to run fine without costing an arm and a leg. According to Ferman, “approximately 40 to 50% of customers go to us for regular maintenance. The rest come for modifications, but not necessarily into racing. They just want to improve performance like acceleration or fuel economy”.
Since they began operations in October 2006, Speedlab has grown into a full service center capable of working on underchassis, overhauls, preventive maintenance services, engine rebuilds, and brake and suspension work. They also have the necessary EFI sensors for most locally available production cars in order to correctly analyze what could be ailing a car, or where to start before they do some Fast and Furious work on it. I’m planning to go there soon; the power steering pump needs an overhaul. With the Speedlab crew though, it should be a breeze to fix.
Speedlab can be reached at 374-4648 and 376-4651.
Here are some of your Backseat driver reactions, comments and questions from last week…
This government won’t support alternative energy research because it stands to lose billions to support its corrupt ways. – Joseph Abalos
Why does the LTO allow motorized pedicabs to use our streets without plates? How would we identify them if they hit someone and run? – 09178331934
How about those sporting prosecutor plates? I’m tempted to show a boy scout plate myself! – 09178231313
Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a “Backseat Driver”, text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2840 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.)