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Honda Civic: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
I think I know what you mean by the fain clicking noise. I think it is the brake caliper sliding on the gliders. It probably needs lubrication, your dealer should be able to fix that under warranty.
Spinnig tires:
If you continue accelerating hard and demand better grip check out Yokohama tires. I had Avid T4's on my CR-V and they were excellent in wet and dry. There was no difference in traction on wet or dry. However, they are not good for snow. They are labeleed high perfomance all season, but they stunk in snow. If you live where it does not snow get Yokohama's. I paid $42/tire at www.tirerack.com and had them installed at Costco for $10/tire.
if anyone wants to send me input please e-mail me at Karlabug@aol.com
The many Civic drivers who aren't experiencing problems may be just happy that their car is taking them from point A to B, and not be willing to bother posting messages about their experiences.
I would think the broader reliability surveys from JD Power and Consumer Reports would be more accurate.
As for me, I either got a relatively bad apple or many Civics are truly problematic. Keep in mind, my problems are all minor in nature. But they're annoying.
1) clicking when turning steering wheel
2) sunroof rattles
3) dash rattles
4) driver's seat rocking
5) second warped rotors in 4 months
6) engine mount seems to be weakening
In fact, I left my car in the shop today for the nth time. Dealer's don't seem to be willing to spend much time diagnosing difficult problems. I'm going to keep taking my car back until they fix it.
I still think it's the best car among those you've mentioned - or any other compact for the moment.
I agree with samj that you have to be careful when reading internet message boards. The postings are, for the most part, either from ardent fans of the particular product being discussed, or people who having problems with the product being discussed. Both of the sources samj mentions, JD Power and Consumer Reports, are far more accurate sources of reliability data.
Good luck.
1)fuel cap holder in fuel door broke(really cheap plastic thing)
2)driver's seat rocking back and forth which resulted in replacing the seat tracks that the seat slides back and forth on.
I did notice a slight pulsing of the brake pedal for awhile but since has gone away so I didn't bother taking it in for that. I have been very happy with this car overall. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for solid cheap transportation. For my needs, the EX is loaded with everything I would ever need in a car for right now.
IMO, I would agree with everyone else above saying that you should not rely just on internet postings from individuals but rather the alleged unbiased consumer reports done by Car and Driver, Motortrend, etc. If you rely on internet postings than you will never purchase any car because in this website, there is at least 1 discussion forum for every make and model of the vehicles included in this site for problems with that particular vehicle. Happy shopping.
Nick
My co-worker has a 2002 Sentra and she has had nothing but problems with it. Pieces of trim falling off, gas gauge going haywire, radio died, and dash lights stopped working. She wants to trade it in on something else, but she owes too much on the loan and she doesn't want to lose money on the trade in.
I have a 2003 Civic LX Sedan that I bought brand new in Dec 2002. It now has 12,800 trouble-free miles. The only time that I was stuck on the road was when I got a flat tire, but that's something you can't blame the car for.
I'm sure that there may be some bad apples in the bunch, but my Honda experience has been nothing but positive.
Test drive all 3 cars and buy whichever you like most. The Nissan probably has the best acceleration, the Lancer probably has the best Fast/Furious look, and the Honda, the best reliability and gas mileage. (I get 36 MPG with my 80% freeway driving)
The climate control system on Civic works as such in "foot" mode:
Some side face air (driver left, passenger left) and significantly foot air must be felt at this "foot" mode. The center face air (above radio console) must be free from air. Driver has the option to shut the side face bleed from the outlet registers. Hope this helps.
My 01 EX has 32K miles with no problem in the climate control system.
Like said before, did you notice the temp gauge all the way in the red hot zone? was the car hesitating when you were on the highway?
If you don't feel like paying for the engine, your only way out is to defraud the insurance company, but I will not go into details, as it is highly illegal.
As with the blown engine, I'm sorry to hear about that happening. I believe the dealer will not cover it though because they will consider it avoidable. I'm surprised your son didn't notice the temp gauge rise all the way to the top. There weren't any indicator lights coming on because there isn't a light saying the engine coolant is too hot(thats what the gauge is for) and there isn't any kind of low coolant light on Hondas, and the check engine light is for emissions problems or when you forget to tighten the fuel cap. Anyhow good luck to you both.
Nick
nick
Just two days ago I bought a 2003 Civic Hybrid CVT. I test drove it several miles and heard nothing unusual. But when I drove the car home, I encountered a very loud droning noise from the left front of the car. It happened while going approx 55-60 mph on the freeway. It lasted several seconds at a time for about 3 minutes.
When I got home I took a closer look at the wheel well and noticed that the mud guard was quite flexible and of piss-poor design. It was molded out of a plastic material and had pockets facing forward at the lower end.
My theory is that the noise was caused by the high winds blowing at the car from the 10 o'clock direction. The speed of the car plus the 30 mph wind adds up to what would be a 90 mph hurricane wind taking the roof off a house. In my case, the winds caused the mud guard to vibrate violently causing the intermittent drone noise.
Does anyone agree with my theory or has anyone experienced the same noise? I should add, I have not heard that noise since but we also have not had any strong winds since.
Here we are again with the cold weather and my 2003 will not start. It's at the dealership for the second time this week. The first time, they couldn't find anything wrong with it. This time I got it towed to a different dealership to see if they can figure it out.
Has anyone ever had this problem before?
Now, my '93 civic has 240k, sounds normal while idleing & has been burning a bit of oil (black around the exhaust pipe)....
Since the problem started, I've changed my spark plugs...added fuel injection cleaner..and noticed a small hole in the exhaust pipe right before the muffler.
Question(s) is: Does it sound like an exhaust related problem....fuel filter/pump/injector...or manuel transmission?...just looking for the next step. thanks.
Dealer says it needs replacing on a '99 civic.
Symptoms are gas smell, engine light on.
Thanks
During refueling, the ORVR vent shut valve opens with the pressure in the fuel tank, and feeds the fuel vapor to the EVAP control canister. When they go bad they will usally cause a check engine light and set a code P1456. I have not seen many go bad over the years but always possible. Most of the time we find that they go bad from trying to fill the tank too much. Should stop filling tank after gas nozzle shut off automaticly or at the next time only allowing 1 round off attempt.
Since they are doing the diag cant say much in the direction of right and wrong so hope all goes well and if not let us know and we can try and point you in a direction..good luck
Charged $150 for diagnosing the problem, and $300 for repair.
Sound pretty accurate?
I was going around a corner, and skidded a bit I tried to correct things and the car just went berserk like a skipping stone back and fourth across the road until I went off the road up an embankment, rolling the car and flipping it (I think I'll have to wait on the police report to be sure), but I've never had a car loose control like that before, Is this something inherent to wishbone suspensions? (if so I'll go back to beam axles & Mcphereson struts all the way)
But the car was just extremely wobbly for lack of a better description I've heard people mentioning stiffer suspensions for performance reasons, but could it have possibly have helped me prevent my wreck?
and yes other than some pulled muscles{hopefully} and bruised pride I'm ok, and the air bag did not deploy, though it tore up the bottom of the car pretty bad and broke the top radiator hose completely free plus shattering the rear windshield and bashing the trunk, and rear support panel badly.
Slow down, drive reasonably, think and make sure you have decent tires on whatever car you drive.
Sorry about your accident you just have the wrong attitude blaming the car. If your car was wobbly you had a problem most likely and should have taken it in, that is abnormal for any car.
I bought a 2003 Civic LX, it has 21,000 miles on it and a tank of gas will only get me maybe 280 miles(city), NOT the well over 300 we SHOULD be getting, any ideas why? The car seems to run fine, and in my area there are inclines of sorts (the area is on a sort of 'slope'), nothing drastic but they are there. With such low mileage on the car I cannot think of anything that would cause it to run SO drastically below the average....... PLEASE help...... maybe there was a recall that the previous owner didn't follow up on that needs repairs. I mean I am like 80 MILES below where a tank should be getting me..... I do not GUN the engine, etc. and the car at an idle you can barely tell it's even running, thats how smooth the car runs. Can it be the inclines?
:::::::::PLEASE HELP WITH ADVICE:::::::
The gas mileage will depend on the driver too. An agressive driver will always get lower miles per gallon than a more sedated driver. Also, shifting at lower RPM will yield higher mpg. Try shifting at or bellow 3000 RPM, and take your time getting the car to speed. In other words, granny drive it.
Good luck
Thanks for the help...... looking at the 'stats' here at Edmunds saying in short, ONE tank should get you 380 miles in the city, I am whoafully below that. I didn't realize a dirty AIR filter would reduce it THAT much, but at only 20K should that really be necessary? Something to think about, thanks. ALSO I have an automatic, anyone please, what is the 'D3' on the shifter, '2' etc.? When should I use them, would it help my situation?
::::PLEASE any advice is appreciated:::::
The D3 on the shifter cuts out overdrive. This may help you in some instances on fuel economy. If you feel the car cycling between overdrive (4) and 3rd gear frequently during your normal driving, then use D3, especially if you are climbing hills a lot and it "kicks down" into 3 to maintain speed. That uses more fuel. 2 is strictly only second gear. It will not shift into any other gear. 2 is good when you are starting from a slippery spot (snow, ice ) when wheel spin is encouraged further due to less traction. 2 will help you to avoid that because it will start the transmission in 2 instead of 1.
Check your filter like dudka said. If its dirty it will hurt fuel economy because the proper air/fuel mixture will not be there and the engine will compensate by using more fuel due to less air.
Hope this helps...nick
Note: I posted a similar the Civic Hybrid forum, but since the CVT transmission is available on some of the other Civic models I thought it would be useful to post this here as well....
I bought a 2004 honda civic hybrid, with the automatic CVT transmission,
about 4 weeks ago. I've put about 650 miles on the car, and so far I've been
pretty pleased.
However, yesterday (Fri, Dec 12) I came home to a message on my answering
machine from the service manager at the dealership where I purchased the
car.
He stated that he had been informed by Honda America that my car was one of
105 cars in the US that "have an issue with the steel drive belt in the
transmission" and that my transmission in my brand new car would have to be
REPLACED! Yes - completely replaced...
I've seen a message on another car forum about somebody in the same bind (problem with a CVT on a honda civic)...
More to come as I learn more from the Honda service manager...
--Paul
Do you have auto or manual?
they are going to replace your transmission and your problem will be solved.
Original post:
Has anyone here experienced any major electrical issues? My friend's Civic is having problems stalling while driving, problems with the dash and a grinding noise coming from the brake system. Just a few days ago, smoke was eminating from under the hood. He had the vehicle towed to the dealership and the service guys looked at it for about 15 minutes. They said nothing is wrong.... This is a catastrophic failure. Anyone have any advice? Thanks!
Stalling while driving: you have to be more specific about it, like speed and RPM, direction (either turning or not), whether this is this person's first manual car.
I don't know what problems you are having with the dash. There is not enough information.
As far as smoke goes, what did it smell like? Was it sweet, blue, dark, white? Sometimes when you go through a car wash in winter and drive out all the water that was sprayed on the hot parts will steam up.
I do drive in a city with inclines, I try not to gun the engine, and the car runs like a top, why the foul milage?
Good luck!
Although, right now I am delivering Pizza in it and it does require a lot of '1-2 mile' trips where I shut the car off, then turn it back on... that could be where I'm losing gas mileage... but (if it were) 8 miles per gallon or so?
Oh well, I will find out tomorrow, thanks for the help. Does anyone know if a 'warranty covered' part could account for this? I may just replace the plugs. The ones in it now are not factory, so I know the plugs have been changed at least ONCE. They are KMG plugs. How often should the plugs be changed?
Delivering Pizzas will do that, you are not doing just "city" stop and go, but start/shut down. Start up is when you use most of the fuel.
Well, you guys were right... I only needed 10.5 gallons of gas, odd the light would come on that soon, who woulda thunk?
10.5 gallons
267 miles driven =
25.4 miles per gallon, that I can live with. I realized there would be a drop off because of the stop and go driving I'm currently doing, but NOTHING at 20 mpg or UNDER would have been acceptable, and at the time I posted this, that's what I envisioned I was getting. Thanks for all the help... however the LX still has the worst stock cd player I've ever seen and the car seems generally under powered, but those things I can live with.
At last fillup, with 10.825 gallons and 300-something miles I only got 30.4 mpg. I was expecting the mininum of 33/37 with my car. Of course, I only have 1505 miles on it as of today (just got it a couple of weeks ago).
Will my mileage improve with time? I don't gun my engine, I'm a pretty adept with a 5-spd (know when to shift for maximum efficiency) and I don't speed on the highways (been told efficiency drops off after 60+ mph).
Help!!!
Thanks,
MattPDX
mattpdx@hotmail.com