SagarHC

Hi, I had Vehicle inspection for my 2007 Honda Civic EX trim and the performance snapshot of the vehicle shows, "Four Wheel Alignment - Failed" and the technician gave the comment "Not Adjustable".
I am new to cars and don't know much about them. So, please can you help me in understanding this problem?

PS: As per the Technician it is Manufactured like that and cannot be corrected. Also, he told that this issue is common in Honda Cars.

ezone

A few things come to mind here:

Rear tire tread chop and noise is pretty common on that particular car.
You can search and find a lot of info on it.
Once the tires have become noisy, they may never be quiet until they are replaced.

As written, the car was not equipped with a way to adjust the suspension to correct the rear......BUT
The alignment issue can be improved, but it takes work and expense.

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You don't have a true alignment printout, you have a quickie precheck that is supposed to get people to pay for a real alignment (which I kinda doubt you can get there).
Was this at a Firestone store?

The "technician" didn't bother to do any research or check service information and bulletins for this issue.
The "technician" is also recommending flushes of every kind.
That says a lot. I don't mean that in a good way.



Noted 'brown fluid not red' for power steering.....If anyone puts red fluid in there you may have some real expensive problems soon after.

Recommended a trans fluid exchange too..... that's a flush with a machine which is a huge no no.


In short, this place may not be good for your car.
You need to find a specialist that actually knows something about Hondas, cares about doing stuff the right way, and takes pride in a job well done.....


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Honda has updated rear upper control arms available to improve the rear camber and reduce the tendency to chop the tread (reduce, not eliminate), and aftermarket has similar adjustable arms available but as usual they can be of questionable quality.

I've modified the original control arms to correct rear camber. I did it on my own car, in addition to several sets for customers before Honda released their updated arms for the 06-09 Civics.

SagarHC

Thank you Sir! for the detailed explanation.

Let me give some background about the issue, I purchased this car a month back from a Honda Dealership and then after I have made 2 gas fillings. From these fillings I observed that the car's gas mileage is too low, which is average 16 to 17 mpg (note that this is only City Driven vehicle and I haven't taken it on highways. also, the daily mileage on this car is 6 miles just from office commute).

So, could you please provide some more light on this aspect as well? again I really appreciate your knowledgeable advice on this regard which helps to know more about these machines

Some details about this car:
As per Carfax report, this is a single owner car with good service history and also has less mileage (70,000 miles) which is very less for an 8 year old car.

ezone

Your original window sticker mileage rating was probably about 25 city and 35 highway, and as always, your actual mileage will vary.


Strictly in town driving can net absurdly low gas mileage figures simply because of the nature of stop and go traffic and stop lights.

Letting the car warm up before driving kills your mileage.
Your gas mileage is exactly zero while you are not moving, that figures into the average.... and blasting up to 45-50 MPH for only 1/8 mile at a time...then stop...repeat ad nauseam.... it takes a whole lot of gas.

Get it out on an open road and go rock steady 50-55 for a few hours or a whole tank of gas, and it's possible you may net in the high 30s or even low 40s MPG-- under ideal conditions. Mileage average will drop rapidly again in traffic.


Check engine light on? Find out why.
Extra junk in the trunk? Get rid of it, extra weight requires extra fuel to accelerate.
Check tire inflation. I personally prefer to air tires a bit over spec. because cold weather will cause tire pressure to drop and that kills gas mileage, so check tires regularly.
Cheaper tires may decrease gas mileage, (not saying expensive tires make it any better either)

And...make sure you are actually calculating gas mileage the correct way, documenting every fill up and noting odometer reading, find the actual miles traveled, divide by fuel used to go that many miles.

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Speaking of tires.....

My 12 Civic came with EPA rating of something like 29/38 (or maybe 28/39) on the window sticker, it has gotten me over 53 MPG under one condition steady 50-55 MPH with the original low rolling resistance tires on it, and as high as 34 on my daily 5.5 mile commute...and mid 20s in the dead of winter on my daily.

Then I installed big 18" wheels and wide tires, that killed my mileage.... and now goes as low as....21-22ish in the dead of winter on my personal daily commute. 34 on the interstate is good with these 18s on it, and 30-32 MPG is now expected if I go normal interstate speeds 75-85+.

HTH

SagarHC

That makes sense. Since I have driven this car only for daily commute and not taken on long distances, that might be the reason for low gas mileage. As you suggested, I will try to take it for a long distance drive and then compare the mpg.

Coming back to the point where we started, from my very first post could you please suggest what services I have to take immediate attention to?

TIA

ezone

My bigger issue with the upsell sheet in your pictures is the way the services would be done at that establishment. 'Fluid exchange' means a flush with a machine, and that isn't good, especially since there is very little chance anyone would bother to use the correct fluids for a Honda....... and I sure bet nobody there knows how to correctly check a Honda automatic transmission dipstick (HINT: You cannot check Honda ATF in the same manner as any other manufacturers transmission, it won't be accurate. See the owners manual for info.)

Correct way to service the transmission is simple drain and fill, using only Hondas DW-1 ATF. Never use chemicals or a machine on Hondas transmissions.

Same for coolant, drain and fill using Hondas "type-2" coolant. No machine, no chemicals.
Wrong coolant can lead to premature failures and shortened service intervals.

Power steering fluid can be done a few different ways depending on how lazy one may be, but use of the correct Honda fluid is a must.


Discount oil changes and lesser quality oil (or wrong oil altogether) can lead to premature timing chain failure, and excessive oil consumption.



Spark plugs are due at 100k too. Use the correct NGK or Denso parts.

Did anyone check the cabin filter and air filter?

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You didn't say what kind of store or shop you took the car to. Chain store? Just curious.

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You should contact Hondas customer service department and update your owners information, that way if there are any new recalls or warranty extensions the notifications can come to you instead of the previous owner. Have your VIN handy..

http://automobiles.honda.com/informa...relations.aspx

You should also check your VIN or ask customer service to check if all recalls and such are up to date at this time, and note which warranty extensions are still available in case you have problems down the road.

SagarHC

I took my car to Sears courtesy check

ezone

The typical chain store business model does not favor high quality repairs and service.

I'd urge you to seek a reputable and proven Honda specialist.
If you can't find one, I might be able to help.


Do you DIY any car work? If you can change your own oil, some of the others should be pretty simple.


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I should have said earlier:

There should be a sticker in the engine compartment or on the hood that tells when to replace the coolant (first service at 10 years or 100k-ish miles, or when the maintenance minder says to),
check your owners manual and read about the maintenance minder system and how it suggests services.

Power steering fluid service interval is never mentioned in the owners manual, but 100k sounds like a good time to do it.
(We have very few issues with the power steering.....and it seems like many of the strange problems I do see are on cars that are never serviced at the dealer.)

At my dealer we still recommend ATF service every 30k for most Hondas.
(The family Hondas I personally care for get trans fluid serviced with every other oil change.....sometimes more often than that LOL.)

Brake fluid standard service is every 3 years.

HTH