Old Car Nut

Just purchased a 2007 Civic LX in Fiji Pearl Blue with 59,xxx miles that will become my daughter's car when she gets her license in late February.

It's a great vehicle, and we've gotten as high as 38 MPG driving between 65-80 MPH with the A/C on and in the pouring rain, and right at 30 MPG in the city. It's tight and solid with no interior rattles, and it tracks straight and brakes solidly.

The powertrain warranty is about to run out in the next couple of hundred miles, and there seems to be a clunk when shifting from park into reverse when the engine is cold. There's also sometimes a bit more vibration when it's in gear (5-speed automatic) and stopped than at other times. Also, getting on and off the gas when it's in first gear or on the freeway with the torque converter locked up will also give a slight clunk. Is this a sign of the motor mounts being bad, and if so, are these covered by the 60,000 mile powertrain warranty? Is there anything else from a powertrain viewpoint that I should have a look at?

It also only came with one key. A local Honda dealer (not where we purchased the car) is offering to sell us a master key and a valet key, cut them both, and program it for around $150 total. Is that a good deal?

Happy holidays, and thanks for all your help.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

not sure about the warranty, but it really sounds like the engine mounts (59k... should be close to mine 01, so 7th gen, but similar?)? Mine were serviced at 75k, but that depends on road conditions).
The keys sound right price

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

The key should be right price

Not sure if mounts are covered by powertrain tho...I'd have to ask around

Old Car Nut

Thanks. The Civic is at the dealer and they confirmed that if it is the engine mounts, it is covered by the 5 year/60k warranty. There are currently 59,908 miles on it.

Two other things catch my eye. First is that the intermittent wipers are irregularly intermittent. Sometimes, it'll wipe twice in a row, sometimes as many as five or six times in a row. Sometimes, it'll park partway up the windows between wipes. I thought I saw a TSB about that, but can't seem to find it now. Also, both rear wheels have a fair amount of negative camber. The right rear has a bit more negative than the left rear. It's not to the point where handling is affected. I also thought I saw a TSB about the upper control arms potentially being replaced to correct this but also can't seem to find that TSB now.

Can someone point me to these TSBs, or was I just imagining them?

Mad Dog Tannen

The wiper motor might be going bad. Can you hear the wiper motor turning after the wiper stops moving?

Alignment should fix the camber issue. You may need new shocks/springs if those are sagging.

TRIZ

iTrader: (14)

My buddy had the same clunking of the auto tranny-- the cheaper fix would be the torque converter, the more expensive fix is pulling the tranny apart and finding the issue, which in my buddies case was the automatic trannys equivalent of a clutch.

Go get it checked out asap... my buddy is throwing 3-4k down for a complete rebuild (and to have the tranny beefed up to handle his high boost supercharger)

Old Car Nut

The dealer says the motor mounts are fine, and offered me a drive in another used Civic which did the same thing. They also did a complimentary inspection like they would do for any used vehicle they sell and everything checks out fine, but I guess they didn't check the wipers! No, the wiper motor doesn't continue to operate after the blades stop. It just doesn't do a single wipe all the time, and sometimes parks a couple of inches above its normal position.

The tires are good for another year or two, and are wearing normally so I'll do an alignment when these get replaced. Until then, it should be ready to go. The dealership says the suspension checks out fine and as I said before, it drives and handles fine, though I haven't really driven it hard. This car is for my daughter, who is a new driver and won't be pushing it hard either.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Mad Dog Tannen

I am not sure about the wipers if the motor stops all together. It's probably not getting power. I am just guessing that it might be the switch or maybe a relay. I would look at the wiring diagram and test each component and the wiring associated with the wipers.

Old Car Nut

Mad Dog, the motor stops after it completes the wipes. I don't hear the wiper motor continue to run after the blades stop. It's just that sometimes it wipes more than once (sometimes four or five times in a row) before stopping, and sometimes when it stops, the wiper has just started moving upward to start another swipe, so that when the blade stops, the wiper is about an inch higher than where it normally parks.

I'll take a look to see what controls the intermittent feature. Seems like it should be a plug and replace fix, at least I hope so. Thanks.

Mad Dog Tannen

I had the same problem on my 89 Bronco and it was the wiper motor.

Old Car Nut

Mad Dog, that's not good news. Anyway, it's now cold and sunny for the next week so I'll see if I can find the time to diagnose this.

Off topic, but the Civic is incredibly good on gas. Commuting in heavy traffic with sub-freezing temps still gives around 30 MPG, and around 40 MPG on straight freeway runs at 70+ MPH. Nice!