Recently bough an 01 Civic 1.4 "Max", seemed a decent car but it quickly developed gearbox problems (noise in neutral, goes when dipping clutch), was mis-diagnosed as a clutch which was replaced at our expense then the gearbox was repaired under extended warranty (they found swarf in the box and I believe did the usual bearings). Not good. I noticed today I could hear a little noise in neutral which goes when dipping the clutch, as before, I really hope the problem isn't reappearing after only a few hundred miles.
Next issue, aircon. It was flat when bought, then regassed cheaply at Kwikfit, within a week or two it was flat again. Took it for diagnosis and the guy could find nothing wrong (not the compressor) so has regassed it again. I have a nasty feeling it'll go flat again.. :(
Next problem (could do with some help on this), I noticed the headlight adjusters were making noises today, almost as if they were sticking as I could see no visible movement. The noise was present with the key in the ignition but engine off and could be triggered by tapping on the headlights/general vibration. I notice this has been mentioned as a problem on the Type R forums and in the article on here. Has anyone found a solution?
General niggles: The rear visibility is poor and the front impossible to judge. There are already signs of rust in various places. Rust which isn't present on my nice galvanised French car (oh the irony).
Edited by Pugugly on 12/06/2009 at 22:32
|
Gearbox noise is probably the input shaft bearing, a very common problem on Civics, 1.4 and 1.6s. Mine is on the way out at the moment! Search the posts on here for many peoples tales of woe!
Sounds like garage may have used same faulty style of bearing on the 'box rebuild. I am lead to believe there is an improved bearing that Honda started using in their rebulids that eliminates the problem. Is new gearbox under warranty?
Aircon - condensers can/do corrode leading to leaks, I had one replaced under warranty on my Civic. Could be the problem.
Headlight adjusters - they fail and the noise of their constant "levelling" is very annoying - only real fix is to replace the headlight as its integral, v expensive.
Do what I did and unplug them!!
|
Thanks for the help. I'll see how the air conditioning issue develops. I'd like to have headlight adjusters working, but I suppose unplugging them is cheaper than new lights (used ones would probably just pick up the same issue I guess). Any idea which plug is the headlight adjusters? Will be keeping an eye on the gearbox.
Why does this car keep coming at the top of the ownership surveys when it seems to have all these glaring faults? The new one doesn't seem much better either from what I've heard. In comparison my 306 may not be the most solid and reliable car in the world but at least there's lots of support out there for it and it's not too hard to work on.
|
surveys - several possible reasons:
If a model is favoured by low mileage careful drivers, faults maybe less apparent.
If the car is fine for 3 years then is plagued by faults will give a good showing on many surveys.
Some cars are fine most of the time, but one comes of the production line which is plagued by fualts as one system failing often puts strain on others.
Personally I have found this version of the civic's suspension unable to cope with a daily grind of UK roads and speed humps after 3 or 4 years from new without developing some suspension fualt.Looking at the complex rear suspension, if you do many miles, take holes and humps very carefully as it is more prone to become misaligned than other cars in my opinion.
Air con condenser if repaired may fail after several years unless you fit some sort of protective mesh in front of it, as nothing to protect it from stone damage as it is low down.
Finally choose tyres carefully as mine transmitted a lot of road noise with certain leadiing brands. IF current ones are quiet stick with same make.
|
Current ones are pretty poor, CEAT something or others from Kwikfit. Loud, and not helped by the flat floor, I've noticed that stones flicking up can be very disconcerting sounding like something has come off the car.
It's quite refined but I get the feeling that it picks out all the bumps, they're subdued and not uncomfortable, but I seem to feel a lot more than I notice in the 306 which just glides over many of the smaller ones without you even noticing (though it is more audible when it gets a bad one, I blame poor soundproofing and typical French build).
|
The bearing problem is almost certainly back, same noise. Could this effect the cars performance? It feels significantly down on power, struggling on hills in 3rd and generally not showing the get up and go I'd expect. The clutch isn't very smooth and is impossible to judge (very very light), it's not showing signs of slipping though, the revs don't run wild. Any ideas?
Could a dodgy input shaft bearing sap power?
|
struggling on hills in 3rd and generally not showing the get up and go I'd expect
Have you tried turning the aircon off when going up hills? Doing this makes an appreciable difference to "get up and go" in my car.
Edited by Dave_TD {P} on 04/08/2009 at 00:54
|
|
I'll have to give that a try but it just feels so generally gutless. It feels significantly slower than my 306 1.4, which surely it shouldn't do.
|
|
|
If the aircon hasn't got any gas in it, using it won't be putting any load on the engine, I would have thought
|
Aircon I've finally diagnosed as a failed condensor, dye visible all over the fan under UV light. Will have to see if it's the common fault or just wear and tear.
.*********
Gearbox is still whirring away despite supposedly being fixed..
|
|
|
|
|
