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Honda Civic: Problems & Solutions
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It is relevant to the anti-drainback valve design.
I own a 1991 Honda Civic HB STD with 150k miles on it. I'm trying to order a cat. converter from JC Whitney but they need to know some spec's which even the Stevens Creek Honda parts dept. personnel (San Jose, CA) doesn't know. So if you know the following, I'd really appreciate some feedback!
* Is it a single in/out or dual in/out? With single or dual air tube?
* Inlet/outlet dimensions - 2, 2.25, 2.5 or 3 inches?
* Here's the details on JC Whitney's page:
http://server2.edmunds.com/edweb/JCWhitney/Parts/55ZC4974.html
JC Whitney quoted me price range $104-134 and described as "high capacity super flow cat. converter" Not bad for price compared to original Honda part for $769.14 list! If anyone has any comments on this part or price, please comment.
Thanks!
I'm convinced it is a slight exhaust leak ... probably at the head gasket. Once the engine warms up and expands, the leak is sealed and the noise goes away. I'm gonna let mine be unless it gets much worse.
I've heard that our cars are prone to head gasket problems and that there is a special head bolt kit that is part of a proper fix. Just replacing the gasket does not last long before the problem returns.
--- Bror Jace
The car burns no measurable amount of oil between changes nor does it lose any coolant.
What you say makes sense, though. My second guess would be a hairline gap where the exhaust manifold meets the head. The same concept still applies, though. Once the parts heat up and expand, the gap is sealed and the noise disappears.
--- Bror Jace
In any event, at around 10 km my car started developing a weird rapping/marble in a can noise. Brought it in and dealer responded by telling me it was normal. Noise got worse, especially on cold starts in the morning.
Brought the car in yesterday for 24 km service. Pointed out the noise again, and they adjusted the valves- no change!! The loud marble in a can/rapping noise was still there. Service Technicians all agreed it was not normal.
A district sevice manager was at the dealership today and I had him hear it and he told it me was normal. What an arrogant individual he was (typical of Honda Canada- you know Honda builds the best cars, we're not Chrysler- yada-yada-yada). I left the car with him to start four hours later. I came back to the dealership and now they are looking at the prospect of replacing the engine block. No apology given.
In any event, there is a recent TSB out there on 2000 Civics regarding Piston Slap. In essence, Honda is now telling people that it is a characteristic of the car. I say that is [non-permissible content removed]. Many people will disagree on how serious or unserious piston slap really is. In my own opinion, piston slap is a quality control problem that is a good prognosticator of powertrain problems down the road. Ask those Ford F-150s owners about piston slap: Ford has been replacing a lot of engine blocks of late. At least, Ford is doing something about it (not that I am saying Ford builds good cars to begin with)
I am starting to believe that Honda does not build as good a car as it once did. The company, it appears, is milking its reputation built in the early and mid 90s and is now producing GM type cars. Each generation of Civic has become more "decontented". Maybe it has to do with manufacturing the cars in North America together with its increased reliance on 3rd party suppliers. All service techs at Honda tell me that the best built cars are the Prelude and CR-V (both made in Japan). The 2001 Civic is essentially a Chevy Cavalier - not my words, but from people at Honda Canada. Go figure.
; )
--- Bror Jace
First let me congratulate you on a great website, It has so much useful information.
I love it!!!
I just bought a 92 civic DX 5 Spd with 105k miles from a friend about a month ago, she had it for about 3 yrs since 78k miles. Anyways, about 3 or 4 months ago the check the engine light came on. And now that I own the car I did the self diagnosis following the instructions of the Haynes civic manual and it gave me a code 19 which is for a Lock Up Solenoid Valve, and the fun begins because this only comes on automatic transmissions and I have a 5 Spd.
I spoke to the dealer in town but they are a bunch of fools who dont know anything and couldnt help me.
Also, can you tell me what type of gas and oil is best for my car.
I have been using 93 octane gas lately thinking it was better and i started using Castrol synthetic blend motor oil 20w 50, but now that I have read all of the comments here, Im not too sure about what Im doing.
I drive it about 15 miles daily to and from work, but about every other month travel about 650 miles to visit family.
Im hoping i can reach 200k miles without mayor trouble.
Since you have a Civic VX, what is your fuel economy like and does your engine seem to lose power at steady speeds when attempting to accelerate? This appears to be an undesireable characteristic of the lean burn engine.
I'd use either a 10W30 conventional oil or perhaps you could try Mobil 1 15W50 if your engine is already consuming some oil. for winter use, try to stick with 5W30. Use OEM filters for best results, regardless
As for your check engine light, I'd suspect your O2 sensor ... which I believe is that thing screwed into your exhaust manifold. Not cheap ... but not the end of the world either.
--- Bror Jace
97 jettagrl, I won't recommend that 01 Civic. I have a lot of problems w/ mine. Good luck!
my civic 93 is hard to start at hot weather, especially after i drivng it for a while. I mean after turning off the engine, it is very difficult to restart it. what i have to do is open the hood for a long time and then i can start the engine again.
is there any way i can fix it? i called the dealer and he really can not make any sense at all.
thanks for help
my civic 93 is hard to start at hot weather, especially after i drivng it for a while. I mean after turning off the engine, it is very difficult to restart it. what i have to do is open the hood for a long time and then i can start the engine again.
is there any way i can fix it? i called the dealer and he really can not make any sense at all.
thanks for help
The guy with hot weather start problem:
The problem is almost definitely your PGM-FI main relay. It is located behind the fuse panel. That relay is notorious for causing an intermittent no-start condition in hot weather (particularly if the interior has heated up from sitting in the sun all day).
The guy with the bad distributor bearing in the VX:
This is also a very common problem with Civics. In Canada and I believe the US as well, the cheapest solution from the dealer is a distibutor subassembly which is very expensive ($460 CDN). If you can find someone with a machine shop, you may be able to get the bearing pressed off of the shaft and replaced. You can find the bearing at http://stores.yahoo.com/bearingsdirectcom/hondis.html . If you go this route, the screws are hard to get off, and be careful not to break the soft iron sensor wheels. I've heard myths of a "secret warranty" from Honda, but I wouldn't bet on it. The shavings from the bearing may be arcing across the distributor, causing your "burping" condition.
The people with the rattling sound from engine, particularly during cold weather:
This is almost always piston-slap which occurs when the cylinder bores become elliptical from wear. There is no cheap or easy fix for this problem, but fortunately a lot of people report that their Civic has been running for many 10's of thousands of miles without a significant change in the condition. This usually occurs on higher mileage cars (100 000 mi) and at this point it is seldom economical or wise to rebuild. The best way to deal with the problem is to simply let your car warm up for a few minutes before driving it and be gentle on the throttle for the first minute or so of driving.
thanks for your response.
i called a dealer and that guy asked me to bring my car to his place this weekend. but i remember someone post a message here and said that the relay problem can not be solved by replacing a new one. It is a design problem of civic and there is no way to solve it at all. Is that ture? anyone has succesfully solved this problem, please share your experince.
Would you deem it worthwhile to replace the distributor bearing on a preventive basis? If so, at what mileage? Again, thanks.
thanks...
As for the distributor bearing, I don't really know enough about their lifespan to suggest whether or not to replace it as preventative maintenance. The one on my car went at 270 000km (167 000mi). If I had to pick a number as an average I would probably say 120 000mi, but I doubt that I am any better qualified to guess than you are!
If you could get a used shaft assembly that had a shot bearing from a dealer or a wecker, you could get a new bearing installed on it and then you'd have a spare when yours went.
My car is meticulously maintained and I burn no discernable amount of oil so I don't see how wear could be a problem. I started to notice it at 90,000 miles ... or even before.
Also, why would this "piston slap" noise go away after the car warms up?
--- Bror Jace
I don't know what I was thinking when in my previous post I said that the cylinder bore becomes eliptical from wear. It is clearly the aluminum pistons that wear, not the cast iron cylinder liners!
Note that the Mercury Villager / Nissan Quest had the same problem, and they actually replaced the pistons under warranty if you can believe that! I certainly wouldn't want a mechanic racing the flat rate clock to tear my engine apart and put it back together....
I figured it was an exhaust leak because the same thing happened to my brother's 2-stroke dirt bike. Using a mixture of gas & oil, you could even see the puff of smoke leak out along with the extra noise before the engine heated up.
--- Bror Jace
>I have a 97 Civic LX with 80K miles which has had a cold weather engine knock.
>I live in SC so cold is 40 degrees. Been knocking bad for about 15K miles.
>Knocks the first 2-5 minutes after startup. Heard it could be piston slap.
>Needed to replace timing belt so I have the engine apart in my garage right
>now. I dropped the pan. The bearings check OK but the bottom of the cylinder
>bores have signs of wear. The metal is rolled on the bottom edge. The pistons
>shirts have .003 to .004 clearance the best I can measure with a small feeler
>gage. Book says .002 or less. With small pressure I can rock the pistons in
>the cylinder.
>
>I have taken good care of this engine. I checked the oil pump and it still has
>the original machine marks. I started using Mobil 1(SYN). Not much help if
>any. I tried running extra quart of oil and it shortens the knocking time.
>The knock starts 10 seconds after start not instantaeous. Like it is not
>getting lubrication at first.
>
> I have been reading about a lot of people having this problem. Any solution
>other than rebuilding the engine? Honda doing anything about it? Replaced the
>O2 sensor at 60K otherwise reliable machine. (The sensor internal heater
>terminals rusted. I bet a lot of them have failed!) Most miles have been
>highway.
>
>Anybody got an idea what boring the cylinders and replacing the pistons is
>going to cost? I have been out of the repair loop for 20 years. I'm thinking
>the best thing is to put it back together and buy a Nissan. Any comments?
thanks,
Pat
The car was flawless over 43K miles, then one morning two weeks ago on start-up the "check-engine" light came on.
I called the dealer and he said don't worry and that approximately three "cold starts" will cure the problem, and that it was emissions related.
More than 10 cold starts later and a couple of tanks of gas--THE LIGHT STAYS ON.
Does anyone have a suggestion/solution to this before I bring it to the dealer for a check-up.
Thank you very much.
http://www.batauto.com/Pcodes.html
And now back to the subject of Honda Civic Problems. Thanks for your participation. ;-)
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Hatchbacks/Station Wagons Message Board
When I roll down the windows, and drive between objects (like parked cars, or guardwalls) I hear a "static" or "hissing/gurgling" type noise that happens when I apply gas. The noise seems to come from the rear (exhaust) of the car, and my girlfriend says it's normal, and that her 94 Toyota Tacoma does it also.
The noise is distinctly different from the engine noise coming from under the hood. And I only hear it when I apply moderate to hard acceleration.
I'm not so sure I can compare a 7 year old truck with 100K miles on it to my 6 month old Civic with 3K miles on it so I was wondering if someone can identify what this noise is, or can confirm that it's normal?
I just took my '97 Civic EX Coupe to the dealer for an oil changed, and they said that my exhaust manifold was practically in two pieces and that it needed replaced. The total for an oil change($25) and the exhaust manifold was $419 (including labor). Does that sound reasonable, or did I get taken?
Any suggestions on the cause of the noise?
I have noticed that if I press to the RIGHT on the pedal while pushing it down, the noise does not occur.
I'm taking my car in for its first oil change and this noise is one of the things I'm having them take a look at, so we'll see.
Funny thing is that my dealer (Huntsville, AL) said they replaced the whole pedal assembly and the noise was exactly the same--no better, no worse.
Which means that (a) the problem is beyond the pedal assembly, or (b) the mechanic did what I usually do--replaced the old piece with the old piece, then promptly through the new one in the trash. I'll take it to another dealer soon.