I am back...Mr Reborn guy.
I want to update about my Honda Civic Reborn experience (bought in April 2021)
after my last post about tyre replacement in Sep. 2021.
In November 2021, my little kid was playing with the auto gear during drive. It developed a D green light blinking issue. The problem was resolved by connecting a gear sensor wire by the mechanic that had detached for about Rs. 500 in March 2022.
The same month the car's AC gas got discharged as I was not using it during the winter. It cost about Rs. 4,000 to refill the gas. I was told to turn on AC for about 10 minutes once a week to avoid this problem.
In July, my little kid (2 years) was playing with Talking Cat (mostly slapping the cat) on the android LCD. He somehow punched the LCD so hard that it went blank. I had got the Android screen replaced with a similar one for about Rs. 13,000 from an auto audio shop near Karimabad chowrangi. Also, bought a HD back camera to replace the SD back camera for about Rs. 3,000.
Next, a water rubber pipe had a slight crack due to which water level in the radiator had to be topped up every week. I had the pipe replaced for just Rs. 400.
A few days ago (August 2022) during the rainy season, my civic developed a problem with the immobilizer.
The green immobilizer check warning light would blink continuoulsy when I inserted the car key. The immo. light would go off after turning the key on and off multiple times otherwise the car won't start.
I never had a car with an immobilizer before. So, troubleshooting the issue was a headache.
I got the car checked with three auto electrician.
The first one ripped me off saying that the car key need to be reprogrammed. He charged me 1500 for diagnosing and 2500 for reprogramming the key. A total of Rs. 4000.
Btw, he also charged me Rs. 500 for the car key battery that I later realized cost only Rs. 50.
The Immobilizer key worked when he had reprogrammed the key. But the next day the same green light was displayed. (I deleted the mechanic from my contact list. I knew he didn't know anything about the issue and would rip me further if I contacted him again).
The second mechanic claimed to be an expert auto electrician with experience of decades working on cars in Saudi Arabia for an official Toyota dealer.
This Mr. Know it all cut nearly all the wiring at the front to diagnose the blinking key light problem. He messed up the whole wiring cutting wires here and there to diagnose the issue.
After about 6 hours of work he just gave up saying the transponder may be faulty. But he did not had the transponder in stock. He just left the wiring as is and told me to tow my car home as he could not do anything for which he won't charge anything.
I was wondering if he had experience he would instantly know what was the problem rather than messing up the wiring and wasting a whole day in diagnosing the issue. (He was off my contact list as well).
I then contacted an acquaintance of mine who was a Honda Reborn enthusiast.
He has owned Honda reborn multiple times (different years). I told him about the matter and he instantly knew that issue was with the transponder ring (image below). I did not even tell him that the previous mechanic told me the same thing after wasting a whole day in diagnosing. He just knew what the problem was without even checking the car.
He owned a workshop and sent an auto electician to my home. The electrician replaced the transponder (kabli, cost Rs. 4000) and the light blinking issue was gone, alhamdulilah.
But since the mechanic #2 had messed up my wiring, there was no power from the ignition switch to the coil and the car engine did not start. The central locking was also not working. The entire wiring that was messed up by that confident and experienced Mr. Know it all (mechanic #2) had to be checked and reconnected to rectify the wiring mess.
Here is the contact details of the acquaintance of mine who quickly diagnosed and resolved the immo. issue.
He has a workshop located near Gulshan e Maymar.
Mr. Usman 0333 7186714
The cost of transponder (kabli) is Rs. 4000. The Cost of new key programming is Rs. 4000.
Labour cost will be about Rs. 3500. I had to pay extra due to rewiring. So, you may be charged less for replacing the transponder.
Total cost (transponder qabli, programming, labor) about Rs. 11,500.
The cost of new Immobilizer system with keys and programming plus installation is about Rs. 30,000. Mr. Usman told me it would be wise just to change the transponder as other parts are usually not the issue. Only if after replacing the transponder, the issue does not resolve, you should go for a complete setup.
Transponder with key sensor ring