I bought my Civic from a used car dealership in July 2010. After purchasing the car, the check engine light came on (about 12 miles after I drove it off the lot). Dealership agreed to check/diagnose light issue. Code came back as "Insufficient EGR flow" so replaced EGR valve. Light came back on, dealership said there was nothing else they could do. In the mean time, car using a quart of oil in 100 miles or less. Took car to trusted mechanic in home town, removed intake manifold, found oil leaking into cooling system. Mechanic said my head gasket had a warped cylinder head; they milled the head and replaced all gaskets and seals. Car operated okay for a time, light came back on. Mechanic (along with a few other car enthusiasts) suggested the car had been raced by a previous owner (underlight accessories visible, hoses that lead no where, etc). suggested that because the car uses so much oil, try to sell it or replace engine. advised that it's okay to drive, but keep checking oil levels frequently.
4 months ago, drove from indiana to arizona for new job. CEL came a couple times on drive out here. checked oil, topped off, light turns itself off after oil replacement.
Current drive to work and back is 10 mile commute - car continuously uses oil on a rapid scale. car recently started overheating. turned on heat to try redirect some of the engine heat away from block (that works sometimes, but usually not). heat inside car not working - blowing cold air. check engine light is on. one day, engine wouldn't turn over, finally did, however stalled several times before staying on. temp gauge on dash at "HOT" level. took car to honda dealer in AZ. they found 2 qts of oil missing, and oil in cooling system - diagnosis: possible bad head gasket/replace engine. they topped off fluids and turned off light. i was made aware of this and decided to "shop around" and get quotes from other body shops.
a few days later, CEL light back on. green light indicating car is in drive blinks after car is on and driven less than a half mile. sometimes hard to start/turnover. if car has been turned on and off in a short period of time or a lot during a day, it overheats.
today (one week after seeing Honda dealer) car overheats to above the letter "H" on temp gauge on dash. drive ~3 miles to make it home (driving with heat on full blast to try to cool engine). i hear a pop/ping noise. look in my side mirrors and see gray/black smoke coming from exhaust pipe/hood is smoking white/gray smoke. car still driving okay (not jerking or stalling) so pulled into apt parking lot, open hood. radiator reservoir cap has blown off and radiator fluid is all over everything under hood and leaking out onto body of car. oil level low and oil still visible in coolant.
Blown head gasket causing cap to pop off and oil leak into cooling system? Try to fix head gasket or just replace engine and call it a day? I haven't had a full month with this car without the check engine light coming on for some reason or another. I am so frustrated and want to cry! PLEASE HELP!
I bought this car because it had low miles and was a honda. my friends have had their hondas for 10 years no problems. i was not expecting this kind of trouble with a civic.

I'm looking for a place to have my engine replaced for fairly cheap. I've already put a ton of money into trying to fix this car once. If anyone knows of a place (or a person) in Scottsdale, AZ or Phoenix, AZ that will do an engine replacement for less than $32000 PLEASE let me know!

 

I should have clarified: I bought my car in July from an Import dealer (Coast to Coast Imports) in Indiana. I currently reside in Arizona. I looked into lemon law applications for vehicles bought in Indiana. My car doesn't apply. I filed a complaint with the BBB about the dealership. After much correspondence, the dealership offered me half the costs to fix the car (mill the head gasket back in august) and extended my powertrain warranty to 12,000mi/12mo, however, I've driven the car ~13,000 miles since I bought it so I can't even demand an engine replacement from the dealership I bought it from.

 

Lioness,
I got your message. For some reason I can't reply to you via private message so here's what I wanted to say:

Thank you so much! I can't tell you how helpful this is! I'll let you know what I find out.

In your experience, what's a normal warranty on a replacement used engine? and the life expectancy? my current engine has 45,800 miles on it right now. I'd like my next engine to last longer than that. I've heard that a cause for an engine to go bad with this kind of mileage on it is from being run hard (raced) and not maintained. According to the CarFax report, the previous owner had this car for 2 months before selling it. The owner before him/her was the original owner, keeping the car for 6.5 years, so i don't think the original owner would have gotten 6 years out of the car if they maintained it poorly.

 

Based on just a little shopping for an engine swap a few years ago, I think six months and 10k miles is the sort of warranty a reputable shop will give on both the engine and labor (e.g. if something was not connected right). I think this is reasonable, because a shop cannot say what kind of driving and what conditions the car sees or exactly what the engine being installed has seen. Stay tuned because people here do lots of swaps and can probably comment more intelligently on the warranty. Ebay's engines also often show a warranty (on the part).

The good news is that many Honda engines are coming over from Japan with pretty reliably documented low miles on them. I understand Japan has strict laws on emissions, so engines there do not last long insofar as meeting Japanese emissions standards. They are shipped here into the welcoming arms of the U.S. used engine market (whose buyers I think are mostly hobbyists).

Your options:
Ebay motors seems to have many d17a1 and d17a2 engines right now for under around $1000 total (price + shipping).

Phoenix has many good import junkyards. Visit them or call and ask for a recommendation on a shop to swap your engine.

Google on {d17a honda civic} and you will find many shops in the business of selling these engines shipped from Japan ("JDM engines"). I think I would go with a JDM D17A before I went with one from a local junkyard (so most likely from the U.S. and background info is less reliable). You can also google on D17a1 (01-05 Civic DX/LX engine) and D17a2 (01-05 EX engine).

Craig's List, especially in Phoenix.

I would call two months of ownership a bit of a red flag. It suggests the first owner messed up the car, sold it fast, the second owner found the same problem, sold it fast, and so on. Or the second owner did indeed mess it up.

It does not take much to blow a head gasket. It could be something as simple as a failed thermostat causing the engine to overheat, and the driver not knowing enough not to keep running it. At any rate it is a lot of speculation as to what happened. Some posters here complain that Honda Civics are prone to head gasket failure. I do not think this is so (yet). I had my 1991 Civic for 17 years and its head gasket was fine until the day I sold it.

I would say life expectancy for a Civic engine is 15+ years and 300k miles, if driven and maintained per the owner's manual etc. The 1980s-90s Civics generally have the bodies rusting apart before the engine fails.

 

Just to add a little to this. Your engine is junk, don't even think about putting a headgasket in it. Once it's been overheated, especially severely and repeatedly you will continue to have issues with oil consumption (especially of the heads been planed) and blown headgaskets.

If it was me i'd have made the dealership fix it when you first started having problems. If they couldn't fix the light I would have said either fix it or you can buy it back.

 

shoulda woulda coulda. I'm definitely kicking myself for not doing that in the first place! I had NO idea how extensive the issues were until my mechanic got in there. The guys at the dealership, especially the service manager, were real dicks about everything. If I could, I'd punch them in the face! GRRR

 

Wow, dude, sounds like you got the shaft on this one.


I certainly hope that was a typo!

As noted: Check local salvage yards for a used engine. Most offer some sort of warranty. When I was still doing a lot of off-roading, we heavily relied on them for cheap ($150 in most cases) replacement Toyota motors. If the motor we bought was bad, they'd replace it or refund your money. Now, I realize there's a big difference between an early-mid 80's 20R / 22R Toyota motor and a D17A - this was merely a suggestion.

In addition to craigslist and ebay, car-part.com would also be good spots to check. Luckily these D17 engines are readily available, and rather inexpensive.


Best of luck!

 

hahaha it definitely was a typo! I found a local mechanic to do the engine install and radiator install for $2400. The engine they found is from a local salvage yard with 70,000 miles on it. They warranty the engine for what the salvage yard warrantys it for (6months i think). I'm looking into a place here called Import Powerhouse. They work primarily on Hondas (so I've heard) and in checking out their website, it looks like they install JDM motors only. They quoted me $1000 for engine, $650 for install, $150 for radiator, no quote on radiator install. I forgot to ask them what their warranty is for the engine. What would you do?

 

To be fair, the pricing seems about average. It's not super-overpriced, if that is your concern. If they warranty it for 6 months, I'd say it's a pretty good deal overall. That would get you out of any problems that may rise within those 6 months.

 

I looked at Import Powerhouse's web site. Twelve years in the business speaks positively of it. Call and ask (1) if they can document the miles on the engine; (2) which JDM engine they would put in your Honda; (3) will the new used engine be VTEC?

Do you want VTEC? Your EX originally came with VTEC.

If forced to bet, I would bet on the reliability and stated miles of a JDM engine (brought over from Japan) before I would bet on a domestic Honda engine.

 

That's generally been my experience. I've had issues with local junkyard motors, haven't personally had any issues with any JDM engines i've swapped yet.

 

I don't need a VTEC again. I've been looking at base engines online (I have no idea what the difference is by the way).

 

Transmission gearing, slight engine power differences (VTEC related), exhaust components... that's about it, really.

 

In the intrest of keeping things simple get another D17A vtec engine, unless you want to replace the ECU to prevent a CEL for vtec (new ECU will also necessitate reprogramming the immobilizer as well (which IIRC requires an HDS scan tool and must be done at a honda dealership) If the car is an automatic and there are transmission differences between the EX and the DX/LX there will probably be shifting issues. Bottom line: swap in an identical USDM engine or the JDM equivelant to keep things simple.

 

Never actually having swapped an engine, I was wondering whether putting in a domestic D17A1 (= LX/DX engine) with the OP's EX ECU would result in CEL problems not easily remedied. I noticed that the Import Powerhouse site seems to suggest it will switch in the engine and its corresponding ECU as a package, if needed. This to me argues still more for trying Import Powerhouse instead of the local junkyard's domestic Civic engine.

 

I'm still trying to get a hold of Import Powerhouse. They never answer the phone when I call and I've left them 4 messages! I'm about ready to give up!

 

Iit's been a few weeks and I haven't heard anything from powerhouse (I've called them 4 times and left messages; they won't call me back). I'm not going to pursue them any further.



My car is still running, and since it's my only form of transporation other than taking the bus, I've been driving it short distances to and from work (10 miles one way) usually without any problems - Although I drive with the heat on 24/7 to try and draw heat from the engine should it even think about overheating.



I had to drive it about 30 miles on the highway (stop and go traffic during rush hour) last week. It handled fine on the highway (speed limit 65mph - went no faster than 68mph the entire drive). As soon as I exited and drove through town a bit (getting stopped at a stop light or two) the temperature gauge shot up to close to "HOT" almost immediately. I've noticed this happening after driving on the freeway for a bit and exiting. Idleing and in park, the car seems to heat up quicker. Anyway, after I reached my destination last week (only .3 mi from the interstate exit), I shut the car off and let it sit for about 3 hours. With the engine cooled off, I checked the oil (level ok - no sign of oil loss) and the coolant (very little in the radiator/reservoir). I checked under the car and there was a puddle of what I assume was coolant. I couldn't tell the color of the liquid so I don't know for sure. A friend saw me working on my car and came over. He said it might be a bad temperature gauge? With all the oil/engine/radiator problems I've had with this car, I don't think that's the case.



With the coolant filled, I started the car. It had a VERY rocky start. I had to gun the gas while in neutral a bit before it "caught" and ran okay. It was a little rocky when I put it into gear too. I had my radiator flushed a couple weeks ago and this happened when I started the car that day.



I drove to the freeway, only going about 30mph and the on ramp had a speed limit of 25mph because of a sharp turn. I had to slow down on this turn and upon doing so, the temperature gauge on the dash started to creep up to "H." I blasted the heat, the gauge went down a bit. As soon as I entered the freeway and reached a cruising speed (set cruise control to 68mph), the gauge returned to normal. Upon exiting to go home, I drove 45-50pmh without and overheating issues.



So the issue seems to be that I'm loosing coolant quite a bit. I assume this is due to my car wanting to overheat constantly which is due to a bad engine? I have an appointment with a mechanic recommended by a friend (he works on cars as a hobby but is a service manager at the Bobcat service center). He said he works on 7-8 vehicles a day at work and looks at cars at home in the evenings on the side. I'm going to see if he recommends anything to prolong the engine life until I can save up some money to get it replaced.



This has been an absolute nightmare! I just wanted to keep everyone posted and thank you all for your help!

 

This is a common issue with the 2001-2005 Honda Civic Ex.

I have the EXACT same problem on my 2001 Honda Civic Ex. When the overheating first started in 2005 I had my radiator pressurized and checked, replaced the thermostat and then had my water pump replaced. No improvement. Waste of time and money.

When I drove on the highway the engine temp would be stable, however, as soon as I pulled off the temperature would spike upto HOT and the heater would start blowing cold air. The radiator would be empty. I would refill it and then the overheating would stop (until the next big trip). I drove my car like this for 3 years. I got 34mpg gas and 180mpg coolant. I even pissed in the radiator once in the mountains because I was out of coolant/water and miles away from any town. It worked.

Last night, things took a turn for the worst and white smoke came billowing out the exhaust and engine compartent. Now it overheats all the time, completely unbounded. It's really bad. I was that guy with smoke billowing out of my honda and little children pointing in the next lane over.


I'm looking at $1500 minimum in repairs to replace the head gasket and potentilly re-machine the cyclinders. The troube is that I've heard on a number of forums that it's a lost cause I shouldn't dump any more money into the honda. As a result, I'm seriously considering of cutting my losses and purchasing a new vehicle all together.

Should I cut my losses???? Anyone replace a head gasket and run into more issues (for example, cracked engine block near coolant jackets, head gasket blows again after a short life time?)

 

You could buy a used engine for a lot less than $1500. You could also save quite a bit of money if you change the head gasket yourself.



Personally, I'd remove the head and have it checked to see how bad the warpage is. If it can be machined and salvaged, do it, and then replace the gasket yourself.

If it's beyond salvageable, it's possible that the block could also be shot too, and you'll need to buy a replacement engine anyway.

 

Any update to this?

If you can, take the bus to and from work. Stop driving your car before you cause permanent irreparable damage to the engine. (if you haven't already done that)