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Honda Civic: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
Hope this helps..
Thanks for your feed back. I have spoken to seven other Honda DX owners who don't hear this noise.
I have written to the President of Honda to ask for his help. If I get an answer I'll let you know what it was.
Thanks again for your help.
Byyhills
The car has a strange and potentially very dangerous problem: engine stalls.
It happens after a 30 minute (and longer) freeway drive with constant speed
over 70 mph. When exiting a freeway I shift from the 5th to the neutral to let the car
run freely on the decelerating lane. At this moment the engine stalls. The
car keeps running, of course, because it is in the neutral. At the end of the
decelerating line I realize that I have to apply much more effort to turn the car
because the power steering is off. It is quite a surprise. With the speed of
50-60 mph I have several seconds to turn on the engine and complete the turn. I am
absolutely sure that engine is off because the dashboard looks like a
Christmas tree at the moment: oil-pressure and other lamps are on. The engine
starts easily and continues working well without tripping. Though, it seems to
shake a bit more than after city driving.
It happened twice before yesterday (for 18 month). Yesterday, it happened three times
in a row. Every time the situation was the same: exiting a freeway with shifting from
the 5th to the neutral after a steady high speed ride. It never happened under any other condition.
First two times a fuel level was low. I thought it was the problem. Yesterday,
I had more than a half of the fuel tank.
The only additional equipment installed on my car was the A/C installed by the dealer
on the moment of the puchase. Neither alarm systems nor stereos. Nothing else.
I am going to make an apointment with the dealer. However, I would like to have
another opinnion on the problem (cannot say 'second opinion' because it is
frequently much more valuable than dealer's one)
Does anybody understand what is going on? If yes, please, answer my message and
help me.
Sincerely, Winnie-the-Pooh.
Your Civic has an electronic odometer. It will not register miles while being towed.
winnie pooh,
I have to ask,,,WHY in the world would you shift your car into neutral while taking a freeway off ramp? For crying out loud...leave the car in gear! Have you never heard about engine braking?
However, I guess it still shouldn't stall while doing this. I'm sure your dealer will share my reaction on this.
I think with today's cars, damage can still occur on FRON DRIVE TRANSAXLES when towing without lifting the front wheels (compared to rear wheel drive with a differential).
Freeway to neutral:
Coming off the freeway to neutral can be dangerous - as your freewheeling. That creates more strees on the brakes. But, anyways, that stalling may have something to do with your idle-up system (maybe a malfunctioning solenoid).
Good luck.
My question is this - in the WASH DC area, what dealer has the most competent and professional service department? I work literally across the street from Rosenthal, but I REFUSE to take my car there.
Anyone have any good service experience's in the DC (NOVA) area?
Thanks
Enjoy.
She went back to school, and reported that the car ran fine on the drive back.
Question: Should I do any follow up on it? I heard that running without the cap may cause "air pockets" to form. The car has about 13,000 miles.
while asking the dealer on the check engine light, i think the keyword is the check light "MAY" come on.
let us know. good luck.
gasguzz had predicted that if I would have continued to have driven the car without the gas cap, that the Check Engine Light might have turned on. But since it didn't and the car appears to run fine, then no need to worry. On the contrary, she said it was better that it didn't come on. Otherwise they would have had to reset.
I'm thinking of an automatic, either an LX sedan or an HX, but I'm not sure if I should get the 2000 or 2001.
I know about the change in the front suspension (but don't really know if this matters to me) and have heard about these radio problems (though it only seems like the EX has this) for the 2001 edition.
I've also heard of someone needing to replace an electronic control module, but this may be a unique situation.
Does anyone know of any problems I should be aware of?
Please send responses to nelsonjesudas@hotmail.com
Thanks in advance,
Nelson
I picked up yesterday a civic lx 2001 5 speed. The price was $14012. This seems a
good price but unfortunately I got into buying a lo-jack for 595. The extended warranty
was $800 but did not purchase. The car seems OK but have two questions. a) The shift
lever is supposed to spring back in the middle when in neutral. It does fast from the 5th
gear. But from second to go to third is seems very slow. I actually have to mannually
move it right before pushing it up to the 3rd gear. Since I have not driven a honda before I
am not sure if this is how it is supposed to be but it seems funny. Do I have a sticky shift
lever? b) Every report mentions improvement in road noise. When I drove the car
yesterday it was raining and there was a lot of water on the road. I kept on looking back
to check if I had a window open. The splashing of the water in the quarter panels was
loud. Any experience with this? Thanks for any responses. For the rest the car seems
fine, no radio problems, no fuel gage problems so far. I have not read all the messages
on this list to see if there are any other issues as yet. Thanks.
Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
p.s. Bought a Toyota the same year and have liked it a lot better. Maintenance has been cheaper and everything that has gone wrong has been under warranty.
328. What is a "rough Transmission Shift" - do you mean it downshifts?
In a sense, it engine brakes - automatically (like shifting to 3rd/4th on a 5-spd stick).
Enjoy.
Any help would be appreciated - thanks in advance.
Thanks
Good luck.
My 1998 Civic developed an engine knock that comes and goes. There are 42,000 miles on the car, and I have had regular oil changes. It seems to have developed since the cold weather. My first thoughts were that something was loose and hitting something it was not suppose to. The noise seems to be worse and more frequent since the time the noise first appeared. I took the car to the dealership where I purchased the car and where I go for service. Every time I take the car in it will not make the noise. I finally left the car for a couple of days for the technician to drive daily. They told me the noise is a cold start knock and that it is very common, and nothing can be done to fix it. I thought I might be getting the run around so I called another nearby dealer and asked for there opinion over the phone. They agreed with what my dealer ship told me. Some days the car will knock the whole trip. It almost sound like I have a diesel engine. Other days the car will knock just now and then. Sometimes the knock is more of a tapping noise that will last for 5 or 6 taps in a row, slowing as it taps. Then other days I start to believe the dealer that nothing is wrong at all. The noise seems to be a little more frequent when the car is cold. My dealer keeps telling me the car is fine. I am very frustrated and am loosing my loyalty for Honda. I have never experienced any other Honda that knocks. If someone is in the parking lot as I leave work, they will ask about the noise. The car did not make this noise last winter. I tried a tank of premium gas as the dealer requested. The noise still appeared. Any advice???
I'd suggest checking your tire pressure. It's best to make sure that it's the same as the pressure listed in your owner's manual. I don't recommend going over or under, unless you understand what the full implications of doing that is.
It didn't cost anything to fix, just let the dealer know about it so thay can order one before you bring your car in. It was a painless for me since the repair shop is so convenient.
I have had the car for 3 months now and 6,000 miles. Aside from the recall Ihave had 0 problems. I average about 36 MPG, no rattles, no squeaks. Yes, it is a bit stiffer ride than my old Altima, but it is also a smaller car.
It would seem that if a person test drove a variety of cars before buying one, one wouldn't be able to complain about what one bought. I actually like the ride of the Hyundai Elantra better, but the gas mileage of the Honda was what decided me.
And let's now get silly about this Firestone thing. All companies make good and bad tires. Bridgestone/Firestone happens to make some of the better tires on the market such as the Blizzaks, and Potenza.
And for gas mileage -- just had the pcm replaced, and that really seemed to even out the ride -- no more surge-y feeling when I accelerated. Yesterday I was driving around and in the morning the needle on the gas gauge was down about 1 tick; in the evening when I started it up it was down 4 ticks. Now, the day before I had driven about 40 miles in heavy traffic, but still, why didn't it show up in the morning? I was on level ground and the car was warm both times.
1. Since I purchased my 99 Civic LX, it seems the front tires lose pressure often. Has this happened to anyone else?
2. I have about 28,000 miles on the car, when should I expect to need new tires? I drive primarily local roads.
3. The top third of my rear defroster doesn't seem to work properly. It invariably remains iced up when the rest of it works fine, then slowly dissipates.
4. I'm noticing squeaky breaks, especially in reverse. Can I add brake fluid myself or do I need to go to a mechanic for that?
(You can tell I know nothing about cars)
Other than that, I am very satisfied with my Civic and hope to drive it for many years to come.