Engine Management Light ......Again

[Tommo2]

Hello fellow Jazz owners.

Have searched the Forum on this subject, cannot find what I am looking for, so here goes, advice please for disgruntled owner of the only faulty Jazz in the world.....

Own a 2013 1.2S since new. Currently 42000 miles. Serviced by Honda. Last May the engine management light came on, (30 odd thousand miles) with the resulting, almost dangerous loss of power. The computer said throttle bodies, so Honda kindly changed them about £400. Everything ran well until Thursday, when the light came on again, power reduced. Has anybody any advice? (Apart from sell it). Has anybody suffered the same experience? If so what was the fault?

I suspect that the computer has limited fault codes, and therefore if a wire is broken or similar, it probably won't register it, and interpret as programmed. I am upset at the thought of spending another £400. Is there a way to reset the EM Light?

As an aside, the car is parked most of the week, short journeys are the exception, usually nothing less than 17 miles. I drive progressively, so the engine is not laboured.

This was my first Honda car (had and have Honda motorbikes). Bought for reliability as a priority. I liked this car so much, I kept it after the 3 year expiry of the PCP. I now feel I cannot trust it. I am strongly considering returning to Toyota (had them for about 11 years), Suzuki or even Hyundai with their 7 year warranty.

[Peter5145]

I had the engine warning light come on on my 2014 1.4 Jazz, with the attendant loss of power, only two days after I had bought it 

It was diagnosed as a faulty fuel injector on one of the cylinders, which to be fair was sorted out by the dealer without demur.

Going back a few years, I had a recurrent problem with the warning light on a Mazda 323, which was eventually diagnosed as...

...a faulty warning light sensor 

[Carrots]

I can tell you are frustrated, and many owners go years without a fault, but the light is on to indicate a fault, resetting it won't address the fault. You can try any basic obd2 code reader from eBay to reset it, they are all similar. There's no reason to suspect that you have the same fault as before though.

[Tommo2]

Thanks for your replies. I have already sourced an OBD2 meter, £15, Europarts, which I will collect tomorrow. You are quite right Carrots, it could be something else. It seems most modern car faults are centred around the fuel system.  I checked the bills yesterday, £430 last time. Its only done 2000 miles since.
At least the meter will inform me of the problem, hopefully simple. That will avoid the £50 an hour labour to tell me what is wrong.

[John Ratsey]

I have to wonder if the underlying problem could be a dodgy connection or cable which was temporarily fixed when the dealer replaced the throttle bodies, but something has now worked loose again. Unless the OBDII code indicates something completely different I would be back to the dealer and say that the expensive work done previously doesn't appear to have been the proper fix for the problem.

[Tommo2]

Thanks John,
I suspect similar. Get the OBD reader tomorrow, and if the same, will be moaning to Mr Honda, who won't be backward in coming forward in trying to sell me a new car, like they normally do .....
Looked at a nice Kia Carens this afternoon, with a 7 year, 100, 000 mile warranty, £350 3 year service plan........

[Tommo2]

OBD11 reader says P0202 = injector circuit open cylinder 2 and P0302, cylinder misfire detected. Bookedin for Wednesday.......

[coffeecup]

Sounds like a dodgy coil on that cylinder.

[Tommo2]

Thanks Coffeecup, we will see.....

[Tommo2]

Dodgey injector, cylinder 2. Another £430....
Apparently same as last time, but different cylinder. Apparently once one goes it tends to have knock on effect.....so I was told. Well I won't be paying anymore out on the Jazz.
Paid a deposit today on  Kia Carens. 100,000 mile, 7year warranty.

[peteo48]

You have my sympathies Tommo - I'm still a Honda devotee but once you get a bad car - of any make - it spooks you. Similar thing happened to me with VW. Your faith in the brand goes.

Enjoy your new car.

[bill888]

Looked at a nice Kia Carens this afternoon, with a 7 year, 100, 000 mile warranty, £350 3 year service plan........

Earlier this year, a relative bought a 'used' approved Carens 1.7 diesel DCT, swayed by the long warranty.  As it was less than 18 months old, it came with Kia 7 year 'used' car warranty (yes, 7 years for a used car). 

For Carens diesels and I think petrols, the oil & filter is only changed every 2 years/20k miles.  (Shouldn't oil be changed annually on turbo charged engines?)

For UK cars, there is an inspection every other year.  (ie. top up fluids...)

[Tommo2]

Thanks Peteo for your comment. You are quite right about confidence. Another twist in this sorry tale of woe. Yesterday the garage rang and said the bill would be £428 or £424 with VAT and asked permission to proceed with repairs.

Just now, was told it was ready, and there was an additional fault finding fee on top!. I pointed out that I told them what the fault was! So they have waived that extra cost! Unfortunately I didn't wait to find out exactly what that was.

Digressing, I also have a Honda motorbike with this garage, with a monthly paid service plan, they tried to get me to pay a service because the plan had expired, due to them not being able to book  my bike in with them in the allotted time frame. Managed to get that sorted following a common sense argument.

Definitely time to move on....
Thanks Bill for your thread. The Kia is annual service or 20000, whichever first, and costs £300 odd quid for 3 years. Their salesman says most of their customers are disgruntled customers of more 'reputable' makes

Tommo2