Honda Civic 1.5 vtec

[marco2002]

Hi
I was thinking about getting one of these in the summer. Has anyone had a civic vtec? The engines seem to get a good write up. Any faults to look out for when buying?
Thanks

Marco

[jasper5]

Hi
I was thinking about getting one of these in the summer. Has anyone had a civic vtec? The engines seem to get a good write up. Any faults to look out for when buying?
Thanks

Marco

Very good car these.

Check up if the timing belt has been done, if it needs doing the crank pulley bolt is an absolute pain to undo (you can't undo the pulley bolt using my method as the engine turns the other way, you have to take off the starter and lock the flywheel).

If it has discs at the back make sure the handbrake works properly....they have drums on some of them which work great, but the disc type calipers sieze up and need replacing....quite common and expensive!

Never had much trouble with these personally, but have heard of driveshaft problems....might be worth a google

[Welly]

Not quite the same but I had a 1.6 B16A Vtec engined Integra (158bhp) I think the 1.5 is a SOHC engine.

The distributors are a common fault, mine went and threw the ignition timing, breaking down on a dual carriageway and dumping so much fuel down the eggsauce that it burnt a hole though the core of the CAT (it was glowing Orange when I stopped). The dizzy's fail at about 10 years/100,000 miles and are expensive £200.00+ [this might be DOHC only though]

The rear trailing arm bushes go.

The Vtec oil control solenoid can leak and make a mess (can be fixed with gobbo) [this might be DOHC only though]

The high lift assemblies on the valve train can wear - making a ticking noise, they should run silent [this might be DOHC only though]

The Main Fuel Relay is a problem on a lot of Honda's, the circuit board cracks on the soldered joint for the relay and gives you an intermittent non-starter (really annoying but fairly easy to solder-up and fix).

The ABS systems on older Honda's (1993-1997 ish) are weak, if it was fitted as an 'option' then you can remove the system - they are stupidly expensive (£1,000.00's) to fix and very complex. I pulled the fuse on mine and only powered it up for the MOT so the fault lamp would go out. The ABS has a weird compressor/pump and then it's own ECU - this is hidden behind the rear passenger door card and the only fault diagnosis is by reading a series of flashing LED's in sequence and referencing to a table of results - seriously it's completely bonkers

Honda standard brakes are bloody terrible - as are most jap cars - tiny brake discs etc but this is because in Japan ALL cars are limited to 112mph (mine still was) and so they don't need big brakes

On the plus side the engines ECU is very clever and constantly changes the fueling/timing even using historical data as a reference for improvements so you'll never hear a Honda 'pinking', the engines last a long time and are efficient.

Lesson Number 2 to follow next week

[sirwiggum]

I have a 2.0 DOHC Vtec.

Hasn't let me down and I've had it a year now.

Biggest bugbear is that it is heavy on fuel, but then it is a US spec engine with an autobox, so to be expected I suppose.

Welly is the expert, just check for mayo under the cap etc. and ask about timing belts (though sellers are often known for telling white lies about these jobs, see if there are stickers or receipts).

I use 5w30 oil in mine, the oil that came out of it when I got it was like treacle.

The handbrake makes a 406 handbrake look like it could halt a train. I managed to tighten it enough to get it through an MOT last summer.

They make a cracking noise under full throttle and are quite fast. Some Vtecs can spin until 8500rpm

[marco2002]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm still weighing up whether or not to get one . I'll wait until the summer then see about getting one.