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Honda Civic: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
Taya
Loose steering: I felt like my steering got _much_ "easier" to steer (looser) after a recent alignment. Did you have the car aligned recently? I believe that wheel alignment can have some effect on how "easy" it feels to turn the wheel.
Struts: It seems ridiculous that Honda has replacement struts on backorder. Aren't the vehicles being damaged by driving them around without any oil in the struts? I would expect Honda to compensate me for damage incurred to my vehicle as a result of their inability to provide fixed parts.
It's been to the dealer twice and they say it is normal and have shown me two other hondas with the same problem.
I contacted Honda USA and they say it is normal.
Anyone else have heat? Or is there a workaround.
I can't imagine the dealer saying that "no" floor heat would be normal. I mean, there's a vent there. If there's absolutely no air coming out of it, something's broke.
You can increase the flow of heat there by partially closing the passenger and driver's side air vents - when you engage the heat, a LOT of air comes out those side vents. Actually, air ALWAYS goes out those side vents, no matter what "mode" you're in. I think Honda made it this way since the side vents can be manually opened or closed.
FYI, the other civic they had on the lot did the same thing.
I went over all of it with Honda USA and after a couple of calls about it they left a message on my answering machine saying the car was working as designed and they considered my case closed.
Like I said, the workaround I've used is to set the vent dial on "floor" and to close both of the side vents. This forces all of the hot air to come out of the passenger and driver's side foot vents. That's worked well enough for me up in Wisconsin, but maybe things are colder in Buffalo.
FYI, the other civic they had on the lot did the same thing.
I went over all of it with Honda USA and after a couple of calls about it they left a message on my answering machine saying the car was working as designed and they considered my case closed.
the rpm's of the 99-00 Si's is rather high. It might seem strange at first but you do get use to it. I drive based on feeling not rpm's so it might have been a little easier for me. You have to first realize that the power in the lower cam lobe is around 3500-4500 rpm's. I believe that the performance cam kicks in around 5000-5500 depending on speed, throttle position and gearing.
To answer you question, I would have to say that 3500 rpm's at 60 mph is about right. A formula that I came up with is ((speed/2)*100)+250=rpms so ((60/2)*100)+250=3250, does that sound about right.
I have returned the car to the dealer twice.
Both times they have stated that there is nothing wrong.
This is my fourth Civic ('93,'96,'99) and have never had any problems such as this in the past.
I can't see this as being "normal".
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Bill
My '98 Civic EX has just had it's tranny flushed and the linear solenoid replaced to the tune of $450 and it still shifts VERY harshly. It only has 28,000 miles on it and the next step on Honda's list is to replace the transmission on my bill at $4000. The car is out of warranty but I've heard this exact problem with several people so it's obviously a design issue. Does anyone have any feedback, advice or experience on how to proceed??
I pick up my car, go to put my daughter's booster seat in her spot (back right passenger side) and the seat belt is locked and won't give any slack. I'm in too much of a hurry to go back into the service area (hungry child) so I install her booster seat on the left side but I do call them when I get home.
Service says that it sounds serious, to not use the belt and when my door part comes in they will check it. Three days later the part is in, I get the call about my seat belt. The ball bearings in the seat belt broke and can not be repaired, again, the part has to be replaced which of course has to be ordered. I'm told that under no circumstances to use that belt b/c it will not hold my daughter (or any passenger for that matter) in an accident.
I'm still waiting for the part to come in but am a bit concerned over what has happened. Maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit but I sold my 1997 Ford Escort for the Honda Civic Sedan so that I wouldn't have to put up with repair problems again (My Escort had constant problems which became to costly after the warranty expired).
I'm hoping after this there won't be any more problems but my warranty does end at 12 months. Should I have gone with a 2003 Toyota Corolla or 2002 VW Jetta instead?
Also, has anyone else had any problems with chipping paint? Around the door handle (used and non used doors) and the gas cover is all chipped around the edges, it looks awful.
I love my Civic but am disappointed. I was hoping that other than normal maintence and the usual upkeep after so many miles, that my Civic would be problem-free...
Thanks,
Carrie
My dealer contacted American Honda and they have agreed to cover the cost of a new/rebuilt transmission if I cover labor. This is BIG news since a)I bought the car used through CarMax b)it is completely out of warranty. By the time the problem is solved, I will be out $450 for replacing a solenoid/tranny flush and now 7 hours labor for installation of the new tranny at roughly $700. It's expensive and shouldn't have been a problem but my kudos to Honda for fessing up to the problem and helping to cover what could have been a $4000 repair bill.
Don't change your oil at 1500 miles. If you call Honda customer service they will tell you to keep the original oil in there as long as possible. Factory oil has special additive for break in period. I learned this when I purchased my 01 Odyssey and read it thru threads.
bjk
I've seen a few posts here about Civic struts leaking/losing the gas inside them, and that they make a "clunking" noise when this happens.
I've noticed that my struts have started "creaking" when I push down on the rear or front right of the car. It's not a "clunk" and I don't hear anything when I drive, but it doesn't seem like the struts should be "squeaking" or "creaking" at this stage (23K miles). Has anyone else experienced this?
And why is your warranty up after only 12 months? Your bumper to bumper warranty should be 36 months.
Radiator cap and thermostat has been changed. No visible leaks. What I have noticed is the radiator seems to be pushing coolant into the overflow tank after the car has been driven for a while (~20miles). This should only happen when the pressure exceeds the rated pressure of the cap (16lbs). The odd thing is the system isn't pulling back the coolant from the overflow tank when the engine cools and the pressure reduces. Therefore, I'm "manually" doing this myself.
My theory is the head gasket is beginning to crack allowing combustion gases into the cooling system. This would raise the pressure thus "popping" the rad cap. But why wouldn't it pull the coolant back? Any theories?
A good way to tell is by going over a speed bump at very low speed. After the front end lands on the other side, if you feel the shock-absorber "bottoming-out" (i.e., a "thud" that you can actually feel), chances are you have a leaking strut.
Regardless of the sound, you should get it checked out, since it is covered by your warranty.
My Civic is once again back at Honda service because they had installed the belt buckle wrong. I just want my Civic back! :0) Despite my recent problems with it (which thankfully haven't been electrical or worse) I would definitely buy my 2002 Honda Civic again in a heartbeat- although maybe in green or silver
As for my warranty, where I had purchased my Civic just informed me incorrectly. My warranty IS the standard 3 years or 36,000 miles. Now I'm not sure WHAT 12 months/12,000 miles warranty he was talking about. Maybe parts and labor from the time of service?
Anyway, I just want my Civic back!
As for the 1 year/12,000 mi warranty, yes, that does sounds like warranty on new parts and service done on your car, but ONLY IF it extends past your original warranty period... meaning if you get some servicing work done after just 1 year of ownership, the warranty on that new servicing work should still last another 2 years under the original bumper-to-bumper warranty of your new car.
my gas pedal will stick a bit when starting off or after backing off of the pedal completely and then reapplying pressure.
for example -- i will apply the normal 'gentle' pressure to get going, and the pedal doesn't want to move. the only way i can describe how it feels is that of an unlubricated door hinge. it takes more muscle to get it to do it's thing.
adding a little more pressure than i am comfortable/familiar with gets the pedal to work, but results in too much of a burst in speed due to the pressure needed to get the pedal to go down.
i tried to grease up the joints on the pedal itself, but that didn't help at all. any ideas?
More than half the time, when I use the key to turn off the engine, my key will not complete its turn, so I can't get it out. (The engine does go off.) The shift is also stuck at this point.
I then press another key (I have to keep an extra key in the car) into the shift lock release. I can them shift out of park, shift back into park, and then my key will complete the turn so I can take it out.
Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a solution?
I have a 2000 Civic EX coupe. For a few months now, I'v been banging my head trying to find out where an annoying rubbing like noise was coming from. It sounded like two piece of rubber/plastic were rubbing against each other whenever I would run over a bump. Now when the weather gets hot, the noise goes away. I finally figured out that the noise was coming out of the sun roof. I opened the sun roof and ran over the same bumps that I would hear the noise from when close, and nothing. Has anyone run into this same problem? I hope its not much of a problem, would anyone have a clue? Thanks alot.
Art
he cleaned everything up and we're back to normal.
thanks for the tip!
Dealer just lubricated the rubber seal with something called Kleen-Slip and cured it.
Any suggestions?
Has anyone had any luck getting Honda to admit it is a problem and had them fix it? I did get a quote from a local dealer of over $400 to replace the entire sunroof, but before I go that route, I want to see what others think.
I have a 2002 Civic LX sedan that was purchased in October 2001. I have about 9500 miles on it but I am having a few problems with it that I am finding upsetting. I sold my 1990 Civic DX to buy this new one and it had 189,000 miles on it, so I expected a lot of my new car.
I have to say that I have baby'd this car and have had only oil changes to this point as far as maintenance is concerned. At about 8,000 miles I started to notice that the car was hestitating when I started in the morning or after it had been sitting for a while. I live in northeast so most of the times when it would sit it was cold, so I thought maybe the warmer weather would change things. I was wrong the problem only got worse.
In addition to the starting issue, I have noticed that the car seems to rev extremely high before the automatic trans decides to shift gears. Also the exhaust seems to be getting louder. Cosmetically I have 2 bigs paint chips right down to the sheet metal on my hood and many on the front grill, not to mention that my factory brand new windshield wipers actually scratched my windshield! Aside from the tell-tale 88-91 body rust that my old civic suffered from the paint was never chipped like it is on my new car??? I am wondering what has happend to Honda's quality?
The car has been at the dealership for 2 days now while they try work out all these problems. They are replacing my windshield acknowledging that the wipers caused the damage. They have told me the starting problem was been present in Accords but mine is the first Civic they had seen. They contact Honda Engineers and were told that the starting issue is due to the valves being too tight?? SO they have adjusted the valves and are holding the car overnight to test the start in the morning. They still have no answer for me as to why the engines is revving so high before shifting or why the exhaust is loud.
I have to say that I am not pleased with the list of problems I am having so early on in this cars life, I was planning on having this car for 6-10 years thining it would pass the test with flying colors. I am also having problems with my local dealerships because I didn't buy the car from them. Has anyone else been having these issues. I went 45 minutes away so that I could get the car for $200 over invoice plus $60 application fee, none of my local dealers would budge. I still thought I would get good service but it doesn't seem to be the case. I was thinking of contacting Honda corporate about this.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to know if anyone else has been having these problems and what your dealerships have done for you.
Thanks for any info.
Gdkarma74
Honda's "normally" have high-rev engines, that's where the power is. Where is it shifting exactly (in gears/RPMs)? It will also rev higher in the a.m. until it warms (thank you EPA).
If you go to the Honda web page, you can put in your VIN number of your Honda and it will tell you whether your specific car has a recall on it or not. When I first bought my car, the dealer gave me this service booklet that I "should" follow. The booklet is following the severe driving conditions servicing. At first I went by the thing, until I looked at the owners manual. I am almost at my 22,500 service and the dealers booklet tells me to have the mechanics check out all this BS and the only real service being done is an Oil Change and Tire Rotated. Check this check that. Like they are really checking that crap. So unless you guys are in "severe driving conditions" watch out to the dealers BS servicing. The dealers mechanics are the same crooks as anyone else. They just hide behind the "honesty" of the Honda dealers name. What a joke.