There is a Honda Civic 2007 with 83k miles on it at a toyota dealership near me. My mechanic looked it over and said its in good condition. However I just found on google all the stories of engine block cracking. Is this a common problem? Should I avoid getting one even if its in good condition?
Thats a new one on me,my wife and daughter have a 2008,each well over 100K on both,nary a whimper(that tale didnt come from a Honda hater did it) reminds me of a Guy whose son in law sold Mazdas,his daughters Honda supposedly gave a lot of trouble-Kevin
Never heard of block cracking either with 2007 Hondas.
@Docknick and @kmccune and @xloner12
I am looking at a hard copy of Honda service bulletin 10-048, dated December 23, 2010
Unfortunately, I can’t post it . . .
I’ll post a few excerpts . . .
Warranty extension: Engine block
Vehicles affected . . . 2006-2008 Civic-ALL except Civic Si and Hybrid
Certain 2009 models . . .
Background . . . On some 2006-08 and early 2009 Civics, the engine (cylinder) block may experience engine coolant leaks, resulting in engine overheating. To increase customer confidence, American Honda is extending the warranty to 8 years from the original date of purchase, with no mileage limit . . . To check for vehicle eligibility, you must do a VIN status inquiry
I’ve personally seen a 2006 Civic with this problem. I saw the hairline crack with my own eyes, and I saw the coolant leaking out. I found this bulletin and sent the lady to the dealer, where she got a new short block. She didn’t spend a dime of her own money. She was so grateful, she didn’t give me damn thing
Guys, I STRONGLY urge you to check out those engine blocks very carefully. In my case, it took me a little while before I was able to see the crack. First I saw the block getting wet, I cleaned it off, it got wet again. Then I saw the hairline crack. I saw the cracked block BEFORE I was aware of the bulletin. When I saw the bulletin with the pictures, it was amusing . . . because the cracks in “my” block looked EXACTLY like the ones in the picture
The bottom line . . . this is no urban legend. This is for real
If you are interested in the car despite the possibility of a cracked block, ask your mechanic to inspect the engine block for cracks unless he was aware of the TSB and thoroughly inspected the block already. It is not clear to me at this point what percentage of the Civic engine blocks are cracked, but it probably isn’t a lot. If this block is OK, then it might be worth buying. Note that there is about one year remaining on the extended block warranty.
I wouldn’t lose a lot of sleep about it. You don’t see anything leaking, right? There’s no wet or oil spots under the car where it is parked? If uncertain, get a strong flashlight, look in the engine compartment and underneath the car. Any car you buy might have a cracked block. So it’s entirely possible you turn this one down b/c it might have a cracked block, then buy another car that does have a cracked block. Buying cars is a bit of of a guessing game. Besides inquiring about the warranties available, one thing you could do to reduce the risk is ask a mechanic to do a dye test. They’ll put some dye in the coolant, then drive the car for while, then use a special lamp to see if any coolant is leaking. Very small leaks or seeps can be detected using this test as I understand.