Buying used Honda Civic 2007 1.8VTEC

[AndrewCZ]

Hello, I would like to buy a Honda Civic 2007 1.8VTEC engine from a guy who is also mechanic in Honda and is the only owner, but it has a mileage around 123 000. Car looks in a great condition and he told me, he drove it mostly on the highways. How many more miles do you think the engine will last long until the need for engine replacement? I also asked him this question and he said he is sure it can make twice more mileage it already has, if I will be treating the car properly, but i just want a another opinion from someone else who is not selling a car to me. Thanks in advance for a reply!

 

[Joe Mason]

There is no way to know that. Idealy never though. It depends on how the car was treated previously and how you treat the car.

 

[lethal6]

That is like asking how long a person is going to live. I have seen them die at less than 100k and have seen them go over half a million and I am sure others have seen more. We had a trade in here that went to wholesale, a 6th gen coupe that had 530,xxx on it. It is possible that it had a new engine and the odometer was reading vehicle mileage, but the owner claims to be the original one and used it to travel all around the US as a mobile salesman.

These things will run a lot time if taken care of, but will die like anything else if they are neglected. There is no guarantee and no way to accurately tell how long they will last.

 

[HeX]

These things will run a lot time if taken care of, but will die like anything else if they are neglected. There is no guarantee and no way to accurately tell how long they will last.

Exactly. If the car runs smooth and everything looks good with factory parts, then its more likely to be ready for a long haul well over 250,000 miles. Hondas can take a beating and still last when compared to most anything else. You dont sound automotively savvy, but usually a car-smart person can drive a car and get a good feel for it (I know I can). Ask a friend to give you their opinion.

My big concern with higher mileage cars are the transmissions, namely when theyre automatics. if it is, ask him if he's done the tranny flush on time. If he hasnt then thatll be the first thing to go before it hits 200,000 miles. They good thing is that finding used trannys for Hondas is very easy and reasonably inexpensive to replace. Now, if he has performed the flushes (and can hopefully prove it) then I would first do a tranny flush and continue to do so no more than every 40,000 miles. I like to really err on the safe side with auto trannys.

 

[AndrewCZ]

Appreciate your answers, sorry that I didnt write the question properly, I forgot to put a word 'average' in the sentence and now it sounds like, Iam asking you to predict a lifetime of a car that I wanna buy. As all of you correctly mentioned it depends on a lot of factors and Iam aware of it. But what I meant, is , if those engines has some known factory failures like for example n47 engine (BMW) typical for timing chain failures. So my concern is, if it is not untypical for those 1.8 VTEC engines to hit 200,000miles like it is not in average for 2.0MZR engines produced by Mazda . Iam new to this group and know that Honda engines has been always very reliable cars, but time has changed and nowdays not many engines can make more then 125 000miles.

 

[lethal6]

Please tell me what brand of vehicle can't make 125k miles? Seriously? So you are telling us that these BMW and Mazdas that you are talking about won't hit that mileage? What you are talking about is a MINORITY not an average. Even with the n47 timing chain failures, they are still a low minority of those that fail catastrophically. Just because 10 people document on the internet their failures, doesn't average to the whole thousands to 10s of thousands of them produced in a given model lifetime.

Take for instance, here at Porsche it is well known on the internet that 996 has an IMS failure problem and according to these forums and facebook bullshit pages, this is a major issue and is going to happen with the majority of them on the road. Not the case when you get down to the actual level of how many have failed compared to those still running fine. We have only replaced 3 engines in the 6 years I have been here against the hundreds of vehicles in that model range we have serviced that are well over your 125k mileage mark that seems to be so hard to hit in your "nowdays" time line.

I ask you, where are you getting your "averages" and figures? Is this hard data or from some specific forum where the thread goes a page or 2?

 

[AndrewCZ]

Ok,

Subaru boxer diesel first generation- cylinder head cracking, every mechanic tells you the worst engine from subaru, tons of threads on the internet, not many of them passed 125 000 miles
Renault 2.2dCi- until you change almost everything on that engine you will not make 125 000miles
VW 2.5V6- again money pit
Ford diesel 6.0l- head seals develop cracks, electronic injection module, yes this car can make more than 125 000 miles but every mile will be expensive, dont you think?
Audi/VW 1.8T- coil pack failures,sludge formation constricting circulation
If you mentioned 996 I have to post Mazda Renesis (Wankel)- doesnt need to explain, chapter for itself.
Saab Turbo- oil sludge problems, turbo problems
1.2, 1.4TSI- cracking time chain, turbo problems...
..
You dont convince me that engines are reliable as they used to be and almost every brand has an engine that at least suck in reliability.

 

[lethal6]

Again you post minorities, not majorities nor averages. Most are a failure of a component not the whole engine. You would think, by your assumptions our VW and Audi stores would be completely busy just replacing 1.8t engines... True, a lot have the coil packs replaced under the coil pack replacement campaign for no cost to the owner and heads and pans removed to clean out the nasty sludge on certain models, but yet not many engine replacements for the older ones and most well above your projected mileage failure rate. There are a lot of newer Audis getting piston replacements, but again not the whole engine and a component failure or preventative to a component failure.

Even if you find 30 threads with the poster claiming to have a failed specific engine, you still don't even come close to the minority let alone make it an average failure rate. That was a guess number just thrown out and I bet the numbers of "tons of threads on the internet" don't come anywhere close to that number. If they weren't making it passed 125k, then why are most of the ones you posted still plentiful on the road? The hundreds, to thousands, to hundreds of thousands can't all be low mileage...now can they? BTW, within the VW world the mk4 1.8t is a very highly coveted engine. But there is a bunch of people that complained about theirs on the net so it makes it a majority failure right? I guess more for the guys that want them when over thinkers like you run for the hills.

You are grasping man. Your argument is like saying that the chevy small block has a low mileage failure because of all the hot rod and muscle car guys posting about blowing up their engines. Put them against the majority and they don't have that high of a failure rate just a bunch of people posting on the internet that only comes up with the bad because NO one barely ever posts about the good and there are decades of chevy small blocks that have made it 4 times the amount of miles in your failure spectrum.

We had a kid post on this site about being on his 5th d series civic engine. His neglect and abuse in no way puts the d-series engine into high failure category, yet it is threads like his you will more than likely find when searching google for d-series failure but they don't reflect the truth.

 

[Joe Mason]

Buy a new, zero mileage car if you don't want to turn a few wrenches on a 125k Honda motor. Components do wear and parts do break with any motor. There's no way around that. And btw, there isn't a Honda motor on that list you posted...

 

[AndrewCZ]

Yeah but you are telling me it is mostly about the failure of the component and not the whole engine. Yeah of course cylinder head cracking is not the whole engine. To your other question, why I see the cars on the road with higher mileage than I mentioned. If you repair their weak spots, they can make even a higher mileage. But are those engines which I mentioned good for someone who doesnt wanna be often in car repair and save this way a money-NO!!!. Also why then for a people who has to dig deep into pockets are old engines like 1.9TDI(before PD) very valuable and you have a hard time to find them under 185 000miles unless they are crashed? Do you think those people would be buying 1.8T regardless of fuel consumption? Iam not saying that even on the list I posted some of them cannot make 125 000miles(except for few) but those cars are at least sensitive to failures while some engines are less. Do I think Iam a graspin man, I dont think so, of course I would love to have an engine that doesnt need any repair during its lifetime, but I know it is not possible and Iam willing to pay for repairs, but at least I want an engine that doesnt ruin my wallet.
Joe Mason: guess why Iam asking about the Honda cars on this forum. If I would know about those engine, I wouldnt post a thread. Unfortunately my mechanic doesnt have experiences with Honda cars and I just want a real opinion from someone who owns this car

 

[Joe Mason]

Yeah but you are telling me it is mostly about the failure of the component and not the whole engine. Yeah of course cylinder head cracking is not the whole engine.

Motors are made of parts man. The entire motor never fails all at once on any car.
There is risk involved with owning any car. I think the bottom line is that Honda motors are generally pretty reliable. That's probably why there isn't a Honda motor on that list.
Just take care of it. Do the maintenance at scheduled intervals.

 

[AndrewCZ]

I totally agree and this is the answer I was looking for, thanks Joe Mason!