I am looking at a 2008 Civic with 100,000 on it. Car looks nice and drives great and I love my Civics.

However, I work in an auto parts store and have access to vehicle service bulletins and I noticed one for this car that has me thinking nope. 08-044 states that these civics suffer from an over heating issue that is related to the actual block cracking near the coolant passages. Only fix is to replace the block.

Anyone have any ideas how I can maybe find out if this work has been done or maybe how likely this problem is to occur? Or should I just try for a different vehicle?

 

This will not happen to you so don't worry about it. This is one of the most reliable cars there is. The only thing you will need to do if it hasn't been done before is replace the starter(only if it's an auto, if it's a manual it will still be good for a long time) and replace the sway bar links and sway bar bushings, both front and back of each and they are really easy to replace.

 

This was an issue on the 06 civic and was resolved.

 

That issue spanned from 2006-2008 and very few 2009 models. There's a 10-year warranty on that, unlimited miles, starts from first date of purchase. Unfortunately, my 2006 is out of warranty and running on a time bomb. I'm not too worried though.

 

honestly I wouldn't be worried either... my winter beater 06 got the problem resolved and so did many others too.

 

I am aware of Honda's warranty on these, but my concern lies in that I might be paying for something that, as someone said might be a "ticking time bomb", but more worried about owners who have complained that just swapping the block caused more problems then solved.

Seems Honda will not cover the head or internal bottom of the engine. In my experience it is not wise to just slap a 100,000 mile head on a brand new block. Same goes for the bottom. Plus if the vehicle has been over heated too badly or just outta bad luck from over heating the head could be warped. This was the case for quite afew people who had this problem occur.

So bottom line I can't afford to buy this car for the price they want then turn around and have to pay out of pocket for a new head, cam, crank etc....

I might just be paranoid idk. The Honda dealership I sell parts too didn't even know it was about the tsb til I told them. Racking my mind on whether or not to get it or not and I have til Saturday to decide...
Either way thank you for your input guys!

 

Honestly I wouldn't be worried... I don't have any issues with either of mine.

At the end of the day it's up to you but just look at how many are on the road and have over 150K + on them. They are still going strong!

 

Dude my 06 ex has 181k on it and runs fine I just change the oil on time and check it every time the incator goes down 10% it doesn't burn or leak a drop. The only reason I do this so much is my commute is around 120 miles a day. I wish the car held more gas lol. Don't be scared Honda made a really good car with the r18.

 

10-048 is the updated bulletin.






The R18 is a great engine. FAR superior to the D17 it replaced. It is a gamble to buy an '06-'09 though, these blocks can crack at any time.


Overheating caused by loss of coolant from cracks. I have not heard that overheating causes the cracks.