The girl that I purchased my 98 Civic from, sold it to me in August because she wanted a newer Civic. So I had helped her find a Black/Black 08 EX with 20k on the clock. The car was physically flawless, smelled new inside and was previously leased by a man in his 40's. The car had service records for oil changes at that dealership every 4-5k miles.

So the car pretty much checked out and she purchased it. Car drove really well, quiet, smooth (just as it should) One day she told me she heard a noise, so I sat in the car and listened to it at idle (operating temp) It sounded to me like a bad pully, or balancer that was a lil off. From outside the car with the hood open the noise couldn't really be heard. Only inside the car at idle, never got louder.

She took the car to the dealer she purchased the car from, and they could not hear the problem. So now I had to go with her and make the guy hear the noise. For some reason they couldn't get her an apointment in a timely manner, and she decided to go to another Honda dealer as the car was still under it's full warranty (she purchased the extended one as well)

So they call her up and told her that they would be replacing the timing belt tensioner at no cost as that was the culprit. She gets the car back and upon cold start up there was no noise, as she gets home the noise is exactly the same. She brings it back and the hear it. Turns out she needed a new block, the noise was internal.

This was not due to the cooling problem/stress cracking that Honda has sent out the 8 year warranty for. Instead the rod bearing on the number 2 cylinder was making noise/worn. To me it didn't sound like a spun bearing, or knocking. Usually that gets louder as the revs climb. The thing that bothers me is they gave her a new block but used the same internals??? Pistons/rods/crank. Obviously new rod bearings, and I have to ask if new rings were put in as well as she didn't tell me yet.

So I guess the good news is she got a new block and won't have to worry about the overheating issue, but it's really rare for a maintained motor to have bearing failure. As well as re-using parts. Just wanted to share and let you guys know to be aware of a faint knocking at idle when warm. Most likely it was just this 1 or maybe a few others that had a lazy worker putting the bottom end together.

 

Cliffs: 08 EX with 20k needs new block.

Not caused by design flaw/overheating issue.

Caused by bad/worn rod bearing.

Replaced block but used same rods/crank/pistons???

 

Cracked blocks has been a known problem for 2006-2008, and earlier 2009s.

 

She didnt have a cracked block. It was a bad rod bearing.

 

Pretty much every warranty claim dealing with internal engine damage honda will replace the short block as an assembly. I'm willing to bet that is what happened here.