felixnm

I have a 94 Honda Civic EX Coupe with about 229,000 miles. As I was driving on the highway, I heard a loud bang on the left (driver's) side of my engine. It sounded like someone hit it with a hard object. Immediately, the battery light went on and the steering became very heavy. Fortunately, I was close to a Honda dealer and they were able to take it in for inspection.

They said the crank pulley came off.

I've authorized the pulley replacement, but they warned me that if they install the new one and it "wobbles", the engine (yes, the engine) would eventually have to be replaced.

As much as I love my car, I can't afford the huge re-occuring bills (earlier this year, I spent over $1000 to have an oil leak fixed). So far, for the past three years, I've been spending over $1,000 a year to have various things replaced or maintained and I feel like my car is becoming a money pit.

Is this a common situation to replace the engine if the seating for the crank pulley goes bad?

pdiggitydogg

You would be better off to buy a used crank pulley from a member here, a junkyard, or ebay.
I dont know what honda charges for them new, but I guarantee its too much.

Either way, yeah, the CRANK could be damaged (not the whole engine)...just a major part of it.
Even then, you can get another D series long block for well under $500

instructor74

I think what the mech is talking about would be to much play in the crank bearings causing vibration and this could have caused the crank to come off. More then likely the crank bolt wasn't torqued right after some one worked on the car and it finally came off. Feel lucky that it didn't damage the crank. By the way you are at the point that many car owns reach the cost of repair is more than the value of the vehicle. If you plan on keeping it for a while you really need to learn to do your own work. Maybe take a part time job at a small auto repair shop in your area. that way you have access to tools lifts and hopefully a good mech to help with your problems. that's how i weep my car on the road and well maintained

Team RS2

very big mistake you're getting raped by the dealership, dude seriously ive spent about 12 grand on my can in 5 years it runs on the street and runs 12's


stop autorizing everything man if you dmaged the crank you need to replace the crank not the entire engine


no offense but people who do that are very annoying to me, long story short find a new mechanic you shouldnt pay 1000 for na oil leak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why are you thinking thats ok?>??????????????/

its 50 dollars for a gasket set man buy it at autozone


you spent 1000 on maintnece? lol i heard someone autorize an 90 dollar tire rotation

Team RS2

wait he's 37 he probably has a good fulltime jpb and no time to do this type of ****, sell it and buy a beamer like all the other old guys are doing lol


ill buy your civic for 500 bucks (who wants to watch me get this car running in 20 mins???? )

gezzuzz

just slap a new pulley on you will be good .. honda are generally less of a money pit then a car of a different make a with the same age and value.. once a car get to be so old you should get a new car. people like us who have the abiliy to work on our own car pay pennys on the dollar for maintenance.. the $1000 you spent fixing your oil leak would of cost us under $100 if not under $20. dealership is the last place your want to bring a old car. most stop taking car after 10 years because they are not worth the headache.

Team RS2

^ couldnt of put it better, we are uber 1337 with the machine which uses the skinny pedal to move foward!

instructor74

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Team RS2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wait he's 37 he probably has a good fulltime jpb and no time to do this type of ****, sell it and buy a beamer like all the other old guys are doing lol


ill buy your civic for 500 bucks (who wants to watch me get this car running in 20 mins???? ) </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hey I am almost that old and I don't drive a bmw or any other high end car. I like having a car that I can turn a wrench on and not spend a fortune on parts or fuel. Maybe the little boy needs a bottle, burped, a blanket and put to bed for a nice nappy.lol

Team RS2

better be careful lol lil boy has no respect for his elders!

felixnm

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I've had my Civic since I was 24, and If I could, I would keep it forever.

I've been to three non-dealer mechanics in the past three years who were highly recommended based on personal recommendations, background checks, and online reviews. All of them took forever to work on my car and the last one I went to seemed a little shaddy.

That oil leak I mentioned in my original post - the last mechanic to work on my car initially fixed it for about $700 dollars. I took it home and I still noticed oil accumulating on my garage floor. He said the engine was leaking all over the place and didn't see the final leak. He then charged me another $500 to fix the final leak.

I would gladly take my car to a non-dealer mechanic if I could find one who does a good job in a reasonable amount of time.

Team RS2

seriously man, id consider selling it to someone who knows what they are doing

Libertariat

Good reason to swap in a fresh b18.

Team RS2

i dont think he could swing a swap if he cant figure out a small oil leak,