dakota1820

When would you say our struts usually fail? Are there any typical way honda struts fail? I know some bounce excessively or they leak, is there any other failure modes. Also why do so many people dog the 7th gen compared to other generation civic?

Dasnegro

Hatters!!
And they fail in our honda crowds cause ppl drive there no cars a lot harder then they were designed to

martpav

They were known to have shitty suspension from the factory, it depends how you drive your car, but considering how cheap struts are, and the fact that the newest 7th gen is almost 9 years old, it might be a good idea to change them unless they were recently done

dakota1820

Well I have 124, 000 they seem fine...
What I dont understand is people say how great hondas are but then proceed to say they have all of these kinds of issues commonly. Im not hating on honda in anyway I like honda but ive heard transmissions are junk head gaskets are junk, suspension is junk, road noise is bad, tail light wiring issues thrres a tsb on that and a spun rod bearings, and piston slap, noisy valvetrains. I hear all of this and its like is there even a good part on this car? Seems like every major component has issues or are people just wildly over exaggerating? Like I said I like honda a lot. I am just amazed at what I've heard.

martpav

That's a pretty long list and I think a bit exaggerated, the 7th Gen Civic are not the best for sure as far as pretty much... well everything... they are overall pretty reliable depending on how you drive them, you cannot expect to pay $20k (new) drive it like a Track-use Porsche and expect it to last, I spun a bearing on my original engine and threw a rod, and proceeded to drive another 50km (30miles) with a hole in the engine to get me home, the engine had 351000km (213k miles), I just rebuilt the transmission ISB and 3rd and 4th gear also but overall its pretty reliable, $800 for the JDM D17A engine with 30k miles and $700 for tranny rebuild with Exedy Clutch Kit.. pretty cheap.. for the same price I would be able to get a new set of Nismo injectors for my Z

Prices for engine and tranny are labour included

dakota1820

How did you blow the engine? I have a 98 saturn sl2 5sp with 215, 000miles and I revv the crap out of it and it never even flinches. I dont understand how people kill engines.

martpav

Nothing in particular it just went, I was cruising at highway speed, was not reving it or anything, it just went, it happens

dakota1820

Thats kind of surprising you would think if its been cared for it wouldnt do that. I mean theres been engine live 300, 000+

lazlong

Honda makes good vehicles but, the 7th gen Civics were not Honda's best by any means. They have one of the longest lists of TSBs I've ever seen. The factory struts and springs are weak, I had to change my struts every 50K miles with the sh*tty roads around here. Blown headgaskets at highway speed are very common with this gen as they're not really geared for highway driving, they're built to be a fuel efficient commuter car. All that being said, if you drive it normal and don't dog it a lot it'll last just fine.

dakota1820

Any reason why the headgasket blows more common on these?

husyk

Because Honda recommends in the user manual to flush the coolant every 100k miles, problem is the coolant turns acidic after 50k miles eating at the headgasket causing a leak. My car with 137k miles is now the shop for headgasket work, around $1200 for the job.

dakota1820

1200 dollars wow thars expensive.

martpav

I purchased the car used with 180k miles on it and considering the harsh environment that it sees here I wasn't surprised, Winters we get -45 and summers in the 90's. I have changed it with a low miles JDM engine and running it with Synthetic now, should last longer

dakota1820

Do those temps really shorten the life of an engine? We get -10 -105 so not as cold as you for sure.

martpav

Considering most engine wear occurs on start-up, yes it does. At -40 degF oil is the consistency of Think Honey, I usually try to run 0W30 Synthetic in the winter but even then starts are pretty rough, often the battery is not strong enough to start the car since CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) are rated at 0 DegF and then drop off quick. I am going to get an oil pan warmer and battery warmer before the end of the summer to help with that issue

dakota1820

Where do temps get that cold? Canada and Alaska? That has to be miserable

martpav

Northern Quebec, Canada... it sucks *****... cant wait to get out of here LOL, it was 55 DegF 2 days ago LOL.. that was the High for the day... and currently its 36 DegF @ 5h40 in the morning