Full disclosure, this is not my issue. My son owns an '05 Civic with the 1.7 l. motor. Monday when he was driving home from a visit he stopped and gassed up. Apparently a couple of miles back on the highway the engine started chattering and then belched out smoke. He pulled over to check it out. Couldn't see anything he says (he's not car literate hence my involvement)
Car wouldn't restart so was towed to his local dealer. They are telling him that a sparkplug disintegrated and has 'destroyed' his motor. They're talking $8000 to replace it. I question how one bad sparkplug could destroy and entire engine, bang it up badly I can accept, but he's been told it "ripped through the engine causing it to catch fire and burn out". I've spoke to a relative who is a mechanic and he agrees that sounds far fetched but like me is not too familiar with Honda's (diesel mechanic by trade). Has anyone heard of or experienced anything like this? Added disclosure, I do not like or trust Dealerships so I may be overly paranoid.

 

That seems a bit over-dramatized to me. Realistically, he may have damaged a cylinder/piston if the spark plug truly fell in to the combustion chamber. It'd be worth pulling the head on the engine to inspect the damage, because its rather simple to pull the head on these vehicles. If it is damaged, a replacement engine won't run you more then $500 or so in good condition. And, swapping it in is definitely a project you could handle at home (if you have a decent set of wrenches/sockets and an engine hoist).

 

That's what I'm thinking and what my relative concurs with. Problem is Son lives a few hundred miles away and the car's already in the local Honda Dealer near his home. He's already in contact with Honda Head Office and maybe able to get them to absorb some or all of the repair. My suspicion is that as soon as Head Office contacts the dealer the damage estimate will drop to something closer to what you've suggested. But I wanted to be prepared for an alternate resolution if need be. Thanks.

 

Ahh, I see. That's quite the predicament you're in. As for the pricing, they'll probably charge close to $1,200 for the engine and I do not know what they'll charge for labor. $8,000 is more than the car is truly worth, to be honest.

 

8k, is absolutely ludacris and would seriously offend me if that were me in your son's situation. These motors are very common and are often discarded after individuals do swaps in these cars, so I think you could easilly get a good running motor for 500-600 prob including the transmission. Either way you cut the pie, its going to be cheaper to find an engine and install yourself.... there are prob write-ups for this in this site, so you will have to search, but the job is pretty easy and should be plug and play if you get the exact engine from that model and year. figure they charge 1200 for the engine and 75/hr for labor, your looking at 2k minimum to have the dealership or whoever do the install. Let Us know how it works out for you. best of luck

 

I swapped an entire 7th gen Civic motor and trans for less that 1k and that was in 03 when there were less of those motors around. 8k is absolute robbery

 

I had a friend spend $8000 to have the engine replaced by a dealership on her 02, I told her that number was to insane but her parents paid for the repair so cost wasn't a major concern. The reason it costs so much that Honda doesn't offer remanufactured engines and dealerships don't rebuild engines, so they're quoting your son for the cost of a brand new engine. Have your son tow the car to an independent shop where they can swap in a new engine with a new timing belt, water pump and tensioner for $1500-2000.

 

The most it should run you at the mechanic is about $3000, basically $1000 for the engine and $2000 for labor. Look for an independent Honda mechanic in the area, they will be much cheaper than the dealer.

If forced to do it yourself try to find the local Honda guys/club. The guys around here will swap your engine for $300-500 same day service, you provide the engine. To find another engine check the nationwide salvage listings here: http://www.car-part.com/ or local craigslist. Like this listing on my local CL: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/pts/2398902606.html It would be perfect for what you need, worth the spare parts alone.

 

I had a spark plug come out of it's hole too. The threads stripped. This was at the 175k mile mark or so. I'm not sure if it was my fault by not checking the torque on the plug, or if it was just freak thing.

Some of the plug did enter the cylinder, but I vacuumed them out, re-threaded the hole with a heli coil kit, and drove it another 50k miles.

I now always re check plug torque a few thousand miles after installation.

 

Since my original post there has been some other developments. My son has since been in contact with Honda Head office and some technical advisor became involved. So, initially she agreed that this might be the result of a blown out spark plug. Son had the car serviced 2 wks ago, so contacted the dealer to confirm if work had been done on plugs. A customer rep at the dealer assured him the plugs would have been pulled and checked during that service. I think he was a little too insistent in confirming they touched the plugs and someone got suspicious. When the head office person contacted the dealer the answer had changed to "no, plugs not touched" and " the person who gave that answer is not qualified to". Initially the price was dropped to around $5400 for new engine install. At this point Honda had indicated that they might do the repair for free as it appeared to be a dealer negligence issue. Then when my son contacted the dealer who had his car, for an update, the story had changed, now the damage was from overheating the engine. They asked if any warning lights had activated prior to the breakdown and he being honest said that the engine check light had come on just after he'd gassed up and 10 mins prior to the breakdown. So now it's Ah Ha you're the negligent one. Well I've done some research because I run into this all the time with my wife's VW and I know for a fact that engine check light has nothing to do with an overheating issue, it's an O2 sensor problem and it's pretty common for it to activate after a refueling stop. I think the whole deal is shady. I think the dealer who has his car and knew the story, contacted the other dealer so they could hide their tracks. Oh and now they've decided they'll find a good 'used' engine for him. I've lost all respect for Honda. If they don't agree to their earlier offer of doing the whole repair he's going to have it towed somewhere else for the repair.

I didn't mention in the post previously, but this same dealer where the service was done, quoted him a price on tires for the same car and when he went to pick it up, the price had gone up $250, turned out the mechanic had installed the wrong tires. When my son contacted the manager he was given the same line "the person who quoted the tire price was not authorized". Seems to be a standard brush off line.

 

Wow. Talk about some serious conspiracy story. I really hope that it turns in your favor, because that is just some disappointing news.

 

Ive had run ins with many Honda dealerships, there are good ones out there but they seem to be few and far between, keep calling the head office, over and over agin if you have to. Tell them everything your being told, everytime you talk to a dealership rep, call the same person at coorporate immediately. YOURE BEING HOSED

 

That's why they're called stealerships...

 

Don't lose respect for Honda... Lose respect for that particular dealership.... That is some seriously shady crap and I would lose my head if i were in your shoes. I wouldnt quit until the whole thing fixed for free. Period.

 

A CEL light can mean many things, somehow I doubt it had anything to do with your sons 02 sensor. more likely it was a misfire code as the spark plug began to fail.

 

The latest from Honda, the corporation, not the dealer, they will front for a 'used' engine and it's install labor to the tune of about $2300. They won't include a wiring harness and they won't stop the dealer from charging whatever they want. Apparently the dealer has figured out that a spark plug blew out of the head. That broke the ignition coil. The combustion from the open spark plug hole caused the wiring to catch fire. And pieces of the spark plug fell into the cylinder and trashed the head.

I think I mentioned earlier, my son doesn't know one end of a spark plug from another, he doesn't own any automotive tools so there is no way he touched this plug. The car has only ever been serviced by the dealer and when this whole saga started the dealer initially agreed they'd pulled the plugs to examine them and then put them back. But now they deny that. Anyway, as far as I am concerned it's either a Honda design problem or a Honda Dealer servicing issue. He's now waiting to see if the dealer is going to hose him more that Honda head office is willing to front.

 

In hindsight, most likely. Unfortunately his car had a habit of showing the engine check light after fill ups (which he'd stopped to do). We went through this with his mother's VW when he was still living at home. He said the light would usually go off the next day. As would our old Jetta. A victim of complacency I suppose.

 

Wow.... just wow... If it were me, I would have receipts, conversations recorded, statements written, and an attorney holding a pen and papers.... That dealership is a piece of ****, to put it lightly.

 

was he putting 108 in it?



























kidding ofc

 

Its not a design problem, they screwed something up at that dealership, even at that offer thats still a freakin rip off. Tow it somewhere else, a private shop, even if its the same proce at the private shop its better cause youre not giving money to those criminals

 

Brb.. Going to check the my spark plugs.

This thread has me paranoid.

 

lmao^^

 

OMG! $2300 for a used engine! I think I had a mini heart attack. Even the almost new engine (D17A2 with 2000 miles) my cousin got in '07 was only $1000. Try finding one with that low miles on it now. So, what do you do now? Whether you pay the dealer, an independent, or a lawyer you're looking at minimum $3000.

@ Mindbomber: Are you using your ant-seize on 'em? lol