Any tips for a tech new to Honda’s and Acura’s?

[marcus]

I’m coming from a “work on everything” independent shop and going to a Honda and Acura specialist independent shop and was wondering if anyone here had some advice for me? We work on a fair amount of Hondas and Acura’s where I am now. So I am some what familiar with them but am far from a expert.

Are there any specific tools I should pick up? (Example: 12mm 12pt 3/8″ universal impact socket for ford driveshafts)

Any common issues/pattern failures I should be aware of?

Any weird quirks with these cars I need to know about?

And lastly any tips or tricks you have found that make you life easier as a Honda/Acura Tech?

Frankly, I don’t want to go in there my first day and make a fool of myself over something I should have know if I can help it. Thanks for any advice and I welcome all comments.

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

To be honest working on Honda’s will ruin you. The truth is they are a very easy car line with few special tools. The dealership where you work should provide most if not all the special tools you need. I worked for almost 10 years with a minimal tool set at the Acura dealer where I worked if that gives you an idea of the tools you’ll need. Most of what you run into is pattern failures and service work. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of warranty work these days which makes making a pay check difficult sometimes.

Good luck.

[marcus]

Thanks for the reply Eric. The place I am going is actually an independent shop that specializes in Honda’s and Acura’s so I will be doing very little warranty work I hope. They also claim to have the factory scan tools, factory service information, and “all” the special tools.

And as far as being ruined by Honda’s I have this to say. Since I have been working on every manufacture for the last 3.5 years I think getting spoiled by Hondas sounds awesome!

[marcus]

Any other input?

[Brandon]

valve lash tool and a crank pulley holder!

[Its me]

A good mirror, Small LED flashlight, tough set of thin gloves and set of drill bits for cleaning out those EGR passages back by the firewall on older models…… Nothing like laying face down horizontally on the engine with your hand manually turning a drill bit trying to break through a half inch of carbon to clear the EGR passage… Oh and a Hub Tamer to pull the hubs so you can replace a broken lug stud!! banana:

+1 for a crank pulley holder, and also a 10 foot long cheater bar to take off those crank bolts…. Dang backwards running engines!!! 😛

-Karl

[Michael]

instead of the crank pulley holder, try a 3/4 impact gun. It makes quick work of those pesky things. I’m a Honda tech at a current dealer

[zero]

Zero offset wrenches are key for the older Civics with the engines facing the wrong way.

A few months ago I actually went through a similar situation, going from all makes to in my case a dealership. Kinda had to take a step back professionally but whatever. I have almost new brand name specialty tools that I’m honestly unsure if I’ll ever use again. On the other side of that though I was able to relegate my standard to the bottom drawer, never to be seen again.

I wouldn’t be too worried about having a “factory” scan tool because honestly even though I haven’t nearly used an ETech to it’s limits I would much rather have a proper aftermarket scanner. The ETechs have these wireless ODB plug-in modules which is nice but you have to manually connect to every time you use it and yada yada. While you may not have access to the Honda Techline, Mitchell online manuals are nearly direct copies of the factory ones and if you have access to Identifix it’s easy to spot pattern failures.

[Author]

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