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View Full Version : MIMA and warranty


Mike Dabrowski 2000
12-26-2007, 11:35 PM
Well it finally happened. One of the guys with MIMA had some issues with a check engine light. He tried to get the blink codes by shorting the SCS pin of the OBDII connector, and probably hit the wrong pin, and the ECM could no longer be read by a scan tool.
He had showed his dealer mechanic the MIMA system when he had his oil changed in the past,and the guy was fascinated, and had no problems with it being in the car, so he figured there would be no problems getting the ECM serviced, since he had just received the ECM replacement notice.
He left the MIMA stuff installed, and The dealer would not replace the ECM, and wrote "MIMA" on the service request. The fact that he has been running for over two years with MIMA with no issues,and that he blew the ECM trying to retrieve blink codes did not matter.
Bottom line, if you go into your dealer with MIMA hanging out for all to see, they may use it as a reason to refuse warranty service, even though the combined users experience of well over 100K with no issues would pretty much show that it is harmless.
:(
Just to be on the save side, I have removed all of the last names of the MIMA users on 99mpg.com, so some eager Honda person can't use it to save Honda a bunch of warranty money by giving them problems when they go in for service.

Mike Dabrowski 2000
01-10-2008, 10:36 AM
The resolution of the ECM issue turned out well. It turns out that the pin numbers on the OBDII connector do not match the pin numbering scheme in the book, so in fact the power line got shorted. The damage was to blow a fuse.We found the blown fuse via some phone troubleshooting. Once the fuse was replaced, everything worked fine, so he went back to the dealers, with MIMA still installed, and they did a full diagnostics, and gave the car a perfect bill of health. They apologized for not looking for the real cause of the ECM problem, (blown fuse) and for jumping to conclusions as to MIMA being part of the problem. All of this was noted in detail on their internal service report, which does not go to Honda.
They did not have to change his ECM, as the check engine code was not present, and told him that the ECM code that requires the ECM swap is a P0420 (Catalyst system efficiency below threshold), no code, no ECM swap or re programing.
They also noted on the report that he has driven nearly 29K with MIMA and has no issues with it.

Chuck
01-10-2008, 10:40 AM
I'm very happy to hear the service department took an objective look and found the cause was not MIMA. :)

msirach
01-12-2008, 09:34 PM
They did not have to change his ECM, as the check engine code was not present, and told him that the ECM code that requires the ECM swap is a P0420 (Catalyst system efficiency below threshold), no code, no ECM swap or re programing.


I called the local dealer last month when I got the recall notice. I explained that I had "no codes" and 161,000 miles. They said I was qualified for replacement and they would order the part. They called the next day and said it was in. I'm going to take it in a couple of weeks from now.

Mike Dabrowski 2000
01-12-2008, 10:26 PM
Interesting
Lets see what happens.
Remember the 2000 and some 2001 Insights have ecm's that cannot be reprogrammed, so Honda may be using this recall to upgrade those?

uhtrinity
01-19-2008, 11:34 PM
I left mima connected when I had the dealership do the ECM update about 2 months ago. I know the person who did the work played with it, because the battery was almost drained when I picked the car up. He had also put 10 miles on it. Afterwards the shop supervisor was resetting the system because they forgot to add one of my key, and asked what the joystick was for. Since the engine was running I told him to jog it forward. When the engine revved his eyes got big and he excitedly started asking questions. I wouldn't consider this shops reactions to be typical as they only service about 3 Insights. They didn't even ask me to bring in my car when I first called them telling them about the intermittent po420 codes and the related ecm bulletin, they just ordered the parts and setup the appointment.



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