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Honda Civic: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
Glad to hear you had your radio problem fixed.
Our Civic just went over 2000 miles and last tank of gas I am getting 40 MPG with AT. Most are freeway driving with A/C on. My daughter only got 20+ MPG 100% local short distance. I'm keeping an eye on the next tank to see what kind of gas mileage we will get. Maybe our car finally broke in after my heavy foot hard drving for the last couple hundreds miles.
hey_herb:
We typical torque # 8 hardware (metal screws to metal nuts or helicoil) 16 in-lbs. 1/4"-28 Screws to 84 in-lbs ( 7 ft-lbs). I don't know what size is Civic filter box screw go to be large than 1/4"-28 to torque to 16 ft-lbs.
bjk
hopefully the honda will give me 200k also with a minimum of repairs. with a combination of hwy and street, stop and go, I am getting 34 mpg.
I miss my stick in the nova, dont know what to do with my other foot...smile
Thanks as always. BTW: I'm looking for a '74 Civic, 2-door with a back hatch (rust-free)!
Later...
So my question is this, should I go in to the dealer and have them change it anyway? On the one hand I want to be safe than sorry, but on the other I don't want to risk them breaking something that isn't broke to start with. During my first tire rotation at the dealer, they managed to mess up the alignment, but I went back and had the alignment done for free. (now I do the oil changes & tire rotations myself)
Also I should note that according to my VIN, my car was built in the Canadian plant rather than in the U.S.
The ignition switch recall also included my '99 CR-V. I drove 30 miles, passing by two closer Honda dealers, to take it to the dealer I trust. It was worth the drive.
Good luck.
I'm serious.
detailed the car, and then asked me to take a look to make sure there were no problems.
I noticed a small but significant ding on the front quarter panel. My initial instinct was to ask for a new car.
He, however, assured me that the ding would be repaired without difficulty and gave me a reciept to return for the work to be done.
Did I do the right thing? Should the dealer offer me some compensation for my time and the
inconvenience? If the ding can't be repaired completely what are my options?
I am new to 'townhall' and thought I would post my car problem to see if anybody else is experiencing anything similar:
I own a 1997 Civic (non-vtec) that has 105000 kms (60000 miles). At about 60000 kms, the car started to knock (fairly loudly) when the car was started for the first time on a very cold day. The knocking sound would dissapear after the engine warmed up. My concern is that this knocking sound has gotten worse up until now. At the present time, the engine almost always knocks at startup, unless the engine has recently been running. Even on a 70 degree day, the engine will knock. Recently I left the car for a week, and it took about 10 minutes of running time for the sound to dissapear. I am convinced that in the not too distant future, the car will knock even when it is warm. I have checked Honda service bulletins and all I have found is a reference to a cold start knock (piston slap) that should stop after 2-3 minutes and that THIS IS NORMAL. How can Honda say that this is normal, when there are millions of cars on the road that do not do this?
Has anyone experienced this problem, and if so, has there been any resolution or fix?
Thanks for your time.
So are you sure it's a knocking sound from your engine? How regular is the knocking? Is it high pitched or low pitched, is it 2 times a second, or 60+ times a second?
But why would would this be getting worse so fast? Can the clearance between piston and cylinder wall change that much in 40000 km's worth of driving?
Has anybody else had this, and has there been a resolution?
Good luck and let us know what you find.
Greetings from sunny Miami
I'm interested in purchasing the Honda del Sol. But I know nothing about it. Does anyone know if there's a chance Honda might re-introduce that style of automobile again?
Also, was there a "best" year and a "worst" year for the del Sol? How was the reliability? Would anyone recommend it or not recommend it?
Thanks.
-Tom
The sky is not falling!
Thanks auburn63... you da' Man!
Check out message number 1387 on this board. I have had problems very similar to yours and would also like to know the cause and how I might deal with it. In my case I can rule out valves, which are properly adjusted, and oil, which is changed regularly. A Subaru owner described a somewhat similar problem that turned out to be caused by a timing belt tensioner. I have no idea whether this might be relevant in Civics. Glad to hear I am not alone, but frustrating not to know the cause or cure. I have been wondering whether I should let the engine idle long enough (2-3 min) for the noise to go away, i.e. whether it hurts the engine to accelerate when you can hear the knock. Please let me know if get any information on this problem.
Thanks,
Polymorpha
Any thoughts?
If the dealer buy the car back do I get book value/ or do i get the total of my dealer sale invoice ?(every penny they charge)
I don't think Honda will buy your 02 back just because of some rattle noise.
bjk
~Carrie
LOL, I said it first.
howac:
Your car is normal. Our 02 EX AT, when 100% city driving 23-24 MPH. 100% freeway driving got to 41 MPG once. Almost 6 months now, our 02 EX has less than 3000 miles on it. I see some MPH improvement. I think Your car is FINE.
bjk
~Carrie
Some extra load of 20-30 lbs shouldn't be a major factor to the base of 2650 lbs Civic for gas mileage. I bet I weigh (210 lbs) more that your wife + 30 lbs of her drafting supplies. LOL. It;s the warm up, stop & go and idling in the city kills your gas mileage. Proper tire pressure, get rid of some unnucessary load and do other minor stuffs (light foot on gas) will improve your gas mileage. But, some of the extra weight you just can't get rid off. LOL
bjk
My wife is always complaining about the automatic not down-shifting fast enough when needed. If you want to pass and stomp on the gas pedal, it hesitates for at least a second before down-shifting. It's unbearable. I have a feeling that the AT is used to my wife's feather-footed driving style. If I can stand it, maybe I'll play with it for a week and see if anything changes.
We got the Civic because it was a sensible choice (safety, economy, reliability, etc.), so we're not worried about having fun with it. We have another car for that. I was just curious that the car wasn't getting better gas mileage with city/expressway driving (not really stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper). We'll see what happens. Maybe it's time for my wife to re-learn how to drive a stick Thanks for your suggestions!
Recently I drove a friend's 2002 Civic LX sedan and it seem to feel more stable on the road than my 2002 Civic sedan. I attributed it to the double wishbone suspension on her car. Mine feels more jittery and sloppy when cornering even though they adjusted the suspension on the '02's and even added a stabilizer bar on the LX's for '02. By the way, my '02 Civic was made in Japan. Well, maybe Honda will get it right with the 8th generation Civic in 2006. By the way, Honda claims they got rid of the double wishbone suspension because they couldn't fit it in the front of the car with the shorter front end, but I hear behind closed doors they also did it for a big cost savings since strut suspensions are cheaper. I don't know who they're fooling with their propaganda. Some of these auto companies must think the general public is totally stupid and willing to believe everything they say. Like I said before, I'm sure Mr. Soichiro Honda is turning in his grave wondering what these people have done to the high ideals and quality he set forth for his company. His philosophy wasn't about pleasing the shareholders, although that was important. It was lets take care of the customer! You can already see that recalls and quality gaffes are now going to be the norm for Honda's vehicles. They're stilling riding on the perceived quality of their cars from years ago and hoping people will still buy them today based on that perception. Just remember, perception isn't always reality.