Cracking Engine Blocks on 2006, 2007 and a select few 2008 Honda Civic's (non Si)
#46
Lexus Champion
told him to call Honda Consumer Affairs
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Consumer Affairs Department
1919 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
310-783-2000
Toll free: 1-800-999-1009
Fax: 310-783-3273
#47
Dysfunctional Veteran
Thread Starter
tqlla3k,
They were factors, but not nearly to the point of being the deciding factors. We like the looks and the style. It is nice to look good and get 40mpg+ doing it. A friend of mine has a 2002 Dodge Viper Coupe. He loves that car. He also has a 2009 Honda Civic EX. He drives that daily. It isnt only the lower class that buy one is all I was saying. My wife and I are looking at purchasing a house in Tacoma, Washington in cash, outright, and that has little to do with what car(s) we own. Lesson here is just dont judge.
I was simply saying lumping people into stereotypes isnt a good thing to do. Its like saying all BMW drivers are *******s. It simply isnt true.
They were factors, but not nearly to the point of being the deciding factors. We like the looks and the style. It is nice to look good and get 40mpg+ doing it. A friend of mine has a 2002 Dodge Viper Coupe. He loves that car. He also has a 2009 Honda Civic EX. He drives that daily. It isnt only the lower class that buy one is all I was saying. My wife and I are looking at purchasing a house in Tacoma, Washington in cash, outright, and that has little to do with what car(s) we own. Lesson here is just dont judge.
I was simply saying lumping people into stereotypes isnt a good thing to do. Its like saying all BMW drivers are *******s. It simply isnt true.
#48
Lexus Fanatic
Before we get sidetracked with Civics being bought for luxury and looks and homes in Tacoma being purchased for cash that cost less than many Lexus vehicles, yes the stereotypes have been brought up on Car Chat before. The cracking of engine blocks on Civics is an interesting development.
#50
Dysfunctional Veteran
Thread Starter
Before we get sidetracked with Civics being bought for luxury and looks and homes in Tacoma being purchased for cash that cost less than many Lexus vehicles, yes the stereotypes have been brought up on Car Chat before. The cracking of engine blocks on Civics is an interesting development.
#51
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Is this cracking of the engines due to foot to the floor driving on a cold engine, that type of abuse will eventually due it, does anyone know where the cracks develop, the last gen Sentra and 4cylinder altima had a brand new engine that had more issues mainly due to design flaws, it looked cool on paper but in the real world it was hit or miss, more hits then misses thankfully.
Generally 4cylinders are hard engines to design but I thought Honda had it down, this is just one of those things that makes me wonder, your bread and butter and you somehow messed it up, and I agree with the 10year 250k coverage whoever posted that.
To OCDetailer, 1st Toyota with your Matrix and now riding on pins and needles with your Civic, so does this mean Honda is out also
Generally 4cylinders are hard engines to design but I thought Honda had it down, this is just one of those things that makes me wonder, your bread and butter and you somehow messed it up, and I agree with the 10year 250k coverage whoever posted that.
To OCDetailer, 1st Toyota with your Matrix and now riding on pins and needles with your Civic, so does this mean Honda is out also
#52
Lexus Fanatic
There are several ways a block can crack, but the most common (and classic) way is to simply not wait long enough after overheating before cold water is poured in......and taking the radiator cap off a very hot engine, of course (unless you know what you are doing), can be dangerous. Another way is repeated harmonic stress/vibration and metal fatigue from misfiring or inoperative cylinders, which is more of a problem on 4-cylinders because they generally don't run as smoothly to start with, unless they are very well-designed or have balance-shafts. Usually, though, with a misfiring cylinder in modern cars, the catalytic converter burns up (or blows up) before the engine self-destructs. That's because when a spark plug doesn't fire as it should, the raw air-fuel mixture gets injected (or sucked) into the cylinder and then goes out the exhaust valve, where it can get lit off in the exhaust pipe at 800-900 degrees, or, more likely, in the catalyst at up to 1800 degrees. If the CHECK ENGINE system is working properly, a misfire will also trigger the light.
Last edited by mmarshall; 04-05-10 at 08:22 PM.
#53
Dysfunctional Veteran
Thread Starter
The cracking of the block can occur any time, any RPM, any mileage, any treatment.
For my wife and I's friend, who bought her civic on our reccomendation, she was taking off from a stop light (she BABIES her car), and saw steam coming from the engine, then, the engine simply shut off and would not restart. No overheat light, no rising temp gauge. She had it towed to her dealer, and they found the cracks.
She got the car back from her dealer with the new engine, and got it home, all was well.
she drove it to the store for some milk 3 hrs later, and the headgasket blew because honda didnt machine the head/put a new one on when the repair was done. When she asked them about it, they said "you didnt pay for the head, only the block, pistons, and crankshaft.
Nice.
For my wife and I's friend, who bought her civic on our reccomendation, she was taking off from a stop light (she BABIES her car), and saw steam coming from the engine, then, the engine simply shut off and would not restart. No overheat light, no rising temp gauge. She had it towed to her dealer, and they found the cracks.
She got the car back from her dealer with the new engine, and got it home, all was well.
she drove it to the store for some milk 3 hrs later, and the headgasket blew because honda didnt machine the head/put a new one on when the repair was done. When she asked them about it, they said "you didnt pay for the head, only the block, pistons, and crankshaft.
Nice.
#54
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (9)
The cracking of the block can occur any time, any RPM, any mileage, any treatment.
For my wife and I's friend, who bought her civic on our reccomendation, she was taking off from a stop light (she BABIES her car), and saw steam coming from the engine, then, the engine simply shut off and would not restart. No overheat light, no rising temp gauge. She had it towed to her dealer, and they found the cracks.
She got the car back from her dealer with the new engine, and got it home, all was well.
she drove it to the store for some milk 3 hrs later, and the headgasket blew because honda didnt machine the head/put a new one on when the repair was done. When she asked them about it, they said "you didnt pay for the head, only the block, pistons, and crankshaft.
Nice.
For my wife and I's friend, who bought her civic on our reccomendation, she was taking off from a stop light (she BABIES her car), and saw steam coming from the engine, then, the engine simply shut off and would not restart. No overheat light, no rising temp gauge. She had it towed to her dealer, and they found the cracks.
She got the car back from her dealer with the new engine, and got it home, all was well.
she drove it to the store for some milk 3 hrs later, and the headgasket blew because honda didnt machine the head/put a new one on when the repair was done. When she asked them about it, they said "you didnt pay for the head, only the block, pistons, and crankshaft.
Nice.
#56
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (1)
The cracking of the block can occur any time, any RPM, any mileage, any treatment.
For my wife and I's friend, who bought her civic on our reccomendation, she was taking off from a stop light (she BABIES her car), and saw steam coming from the engine, then, the engine simply shut off and would not restart. No overheat light, no rising temp gauge. She had it towed to her dealer, and they found the cracks.
She got the car back from her dealer with the new engine, and got it home, all was well.
she drove it to the store for some milk 3 hrs later, and the headgasket blew because honda didnt machine the head/put a new one on when the repair was done. When she asked them about it, they said "you didnt pay for the head, only the block, pistons, and crankshaft.
Nice.
For my wife and I's friend, who bought her civic on our reccomendation, she was taking off from a stop light (she BABIES her car), and saw steam coming from the engine, then, the engine simply shut off and would not restart. No overheat light, no rising temp gauge. She had it towed to her dealer, and they found the cracks.
She got the car back from her dealer with the new engine, and got it home, all was well.
she drove it to the store for some milk 3 hrs later, and the headgasket blew because honda didnt machine the head/put a new one on when the repair was done. When she asked them about it, they said "you didnt pay for the head, only the block, pistons, and crankshaft.
Nice.
Good luck
#57
Rookie
iTrader: (15)
You say we have no idea GSteg of how many block are affected. Based on what OCD has posted, we DO HAVE a good idea of the potential blocks affected. Based on OCD's info, thousands of blocks have had the problem, and thousands upon thousands more have the potential for the problem to occur.
You're just grasping at straws here continuing to compare this situation to Toyota.
Toyota had an entire govt and mass media organized witch hunt to deal with, which was battering their reputation. Replacing the pedals was not a massive cost to them given the situation.
Are you seriously comparing the cost of replacing millions of pedals, to the cost of replacing thousands of engine blocks or entire engine assemblies? Do you even know how much a pedal costs compared to an R18 engine block?
Toyota had an entire govt and mass media organized witch hunt to deal with, which was battering their reputation. Replacing the pedals was not a massive cost to them given the situation.
Are you seriously comparing the cost of replacing millions of pedals, to the cost of replacing thousands of engine blocks or entire engine assemblies? Do you even know how much a pedal costs compared to an R18 engine block?
No need to feel sorry for Toyota. Look at the issue on hand and lets not play the "its 3 against 1" game. Just because of their position, it's makes it okay? They still replaced a crap load of pedals and that cost money, with or without the government's scrutiny. But this isn't about Toyota, I was merely making a point about how both companies are covering a wide range of vehicles (not even VIN-specific!!) for the sake of doing so.
Speaking of free passes, this MAJOR Honda issue will likely never get reported in the media, let alone online blogs as I mentioned earlier. How is that for a free pass .
So no, it's not "a very small number" affected. Statistically maybe it might be, but thousands of engine blocks that have already had this problem is simply inexcusable.
A fuel line cracking is still not as bad of an issue as an engine block cracking.
You seem to defend Honda every step of the way. Do you defend them too for their arrogance and stubborn attitude towards S2000 6-speed synchro problems? How about their stubborn attitude towards the current-gen Si 6-speed synchro problems?
I don't defend Honda. I'm not loyal to any brand. I have criticized Honda HEAVILY in the past, but other people here are doing that so well, I can relax now Our family have owned more Toyota than Honda, and I'm driving a Toyota product for my own reasons.
As for the S2000 and Si transmission, note that I've never once made a comment to defend them. I choose to remain silent on the issue because everything negative about them has already been said and I agreed with most of the assessment so no need to rehash the same thing.
I'm still waiting on my data though... And don't think I'm going to get butt-hurt if it turns out thousands of engine blocks are bad. It doesn't do a thing for me.
#58
Rookie
iTrader: (15)
New update, Just found out...if the problem occurs and your engine overheats and warps/destroys your Head, HOA only covers the short block (if under warranty). The head is considered warped due to neglegence (Not watching the temp gauge I guess?), and as such is the fault of the consumer. My friend I was talking about in the above post just got her car back friday (I was unaware of this until I talked to my wife about 15 minutes ago). Honda did NOT replace the head on her engine, and she blew a headgasket this morning, She is stuck till monday. There goes another $1,500 dollars she doesnt have. She had to take out a signature loan to fix it the first time.
This just keeps getting better.
This just keeps getting better.
Honda is not in the wrong for only covering the short block if that's the problem. The head should not be replace because it's not 'defective'. The problem lies within the technician. Aluminum heads will warp if they are overheated enough. Any good tech knows the head should be inspected before putting back onto the engine block. On my last few headgasket installs, I had to mill the head and block clean to make an even surface otherwise the headgasket will not do its job properly. Thus her headgasket blew.
EDIT: Headgasket blowing a few days later after a new block has been installed is a high indication of technician error.
Last edited by GSteg; 04-06-10 at 08:39 AM.
#60
Rookie
iTrader: (15)
A TSB is from a manufacturer is indeed concrete proof of a legitimate issue. The TSB doesn't, however, say that 100's of thousands of engine blocks will be destroyed by overheating or cracking which was the tone set by this thread. The TSB simply states the issue at hand, what to look for, and what the repair procedure is. It will never specify the extent of damages the manufacturer has seen.
This is the point I've been trying to make. A TSB doesn't mean all of them will be affected. No one knows the true extent of what triggered the event. Until we see some sort of trend and hard facts, we don't know what caused it and how many of them have occurred.