Rep Power: 512

Here is a list of things to look out for when you either own or are planning to buy a 7thgen civic (2001-2005). The 7thgen I had was a 2002 EX coupe MT (for when I reference "my car")

• Depending on the age/mileage, find out if/when was the last time the timing belt and water pump have been replaced. This is a commonly overlooked or overdue maintenance item that can cause issues if they fail.
  • Owner's manual states 110k miles or 7 years
• the 7thgen engine is prone to headgasket failures - overheating as a classic sign. This do not affect the EP3 hatchback cars, they use the K-series engines. This affects the D-series engines. Different animals
  • I had 2 failures in 205000 miles in 15 years on my car. Called it quits after the repair on the 2nd one went south real fast (head bolts stripped out the block upon reinstallion). Then again, I abused mine (turbo with a crap tune, ran it kinda hard, started to use "bandaids on a gaping wound" towards the end), so don't let that lead you to believe that every/most 7thgen has rampant head gasket issues. There have been countless members with 7thgens and zero head gasket issues. Learn from me, don't neglect warning signs (overheating and loss of coolant being the big ones)
    • Check this link for more information on headgasket and how to diagnose them
• Earlier years (01-02 and some 03's) auto transmission failures -- it would start slipping
  • we tried to compile all of them in this section, some of them might be still in the trans section.
    • https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...ssion-failures
• 5 speed 2nd gear synchro. You'll notice it pop out of gear. I noticed it mostly when I was making turns while in 2nd. I changed my transmission fluid with GM Synchromesh and it did me pretty well when my 2nd gear started to pop out more often than not. As for the making turns in 2nd thing, I'm not quite sure if correlation = causation here, but a worn transmission mount lessened frequency, too.
• Driver's seat rocking. Common issue on more than just 7thgens, as I've noticed it on my friend's 8thgen, too.
  • Here's the DIY fix thread
• fuel door cable - If you push the fuel door lever and it doesn't pop open, that's how you'll notice if it's affected or not. There was a problem with the fuel door release cable separating from the lever mechanism. There was a site dedicated to selling a part to fix this (www.fueldoorfix.com), but that site is no longer up, so you may have to either get creative or find someone with a 3D printer and see if you can come up with a design of a part to fix it.
  • My 2002 didn't have any issues with it. At all.
• Squeaky clutch. Pop open the slave cylinder boot and lube the little ball and it gets rid of it pretty quick. I think there was a TSB about this? I don't remember.
  • On my 2002, the squeak went away when I did my first head gasket change. Then again, I had damn near everything apart, so I cleaned and lubricated everything since I wasn't fighting many parts in the way.
• take a look at motor mounts. Front and passenger side were prone to failure (you'll notice increased vibration if that's the case).
  • I fixed mine with pourable urethane (Devcon Flexane 80, to be precise. Go with 94 if you want DIY urethane solid racing mounts) - ***warning, this does increase NVH due to making the mount overall stiffer***
  • Alternatively, you can always get the energy suspension motor mount inserts, since it'll basically do the same thing and connect all the rubber in that mount. ***warning, this does increase NVH due to making the mount overall stiffer***
  • Or do it properly and replace them with new mounts, but that is the more expensive option. If you find a 7thgen in a junkyard with good mounts, I'd nab them, tbh.
• Same with LCA bushings, but instead of vibration, it'll affect handling
  • I removed my bushings and replaced them with energy suspension urethane bushings. Huge pain to install without a press, but doable
• Rattling at about 2500 RPM. that'll be normal. Not to worry, it's 95% likely exhaust heat shield rattle.
• There was also a TSB about the headlight stalk, I think (sorry, been a while since I paid attention to 7thgen TSBs). Something about headlights being stuck on or not activating. One of the two
• There may be a point where it throws a bunch of seemingly random codes in conjunction with a P1298 code. I've seen this a few times, my car included, where it threw a P1457 (evap canister), [a few other unrelated ones], and P1298 (ELD system high voltage). Replace the ELD (part number 38255-S5A-003, $33+shipping online, probably $60 at a dealership -- it's like.. 2 bolts in the fuse box), erase all codes, and see if they come back. Most instances I've seen online and in person, no codes came back. Worth a shot instead of busting out the parts cannon, since you're going to end up replacing the ELD anyways.
  • Meet your ELD
  • How to change it out (including part number)

The following has been contributed by @NDNV

• Alternator bolts (2 plus the one adjusting bolt) can become loose or break and cause electrical issues. Worst issue is a fried PCM.
• P1457 code is a common failure of the By-pass (Canister) Shut Valve (CVS) and you may as well replace the canister too as bolts fastening the CVS would be rusted bad.
  • xRiCeBoYx comment: Actual failure is more prevalent in the rust belt. My car was mostly in dry, arid environments, with a 6 year span where it went from SC, to upstate NY, and 4.5 years in western WA state. Never had an actual failure of this part, just a spurious code that went away when I replaced the ELD (see my section regarding P1298)
• As soon as you can get on a schedule of a drain and fill of Honda DW-1 ATF the better. Advise, every 15K miles or at most every 30K miles. Do not flush the trans.
• There is a cabin air filter behind the glove box. Change it regularly.
  • xRiCeBoYx comment: it's a cheap filter that takes 5 minutes to change (10 minutes if you have a bunch of stuff in your glove box). Strongly concur with this statement.
• Wires in the rubber conduit primarily in the Driver's door hinge area can become brittle and break due to age and flexing of the door. This causes failure in power windows or locks in any door.
• Honda wiper blades have rubber inserts to replace so no need to buy a whole wiper blade. Inserts are less than $10 each.
• Seatbelts have a lifetime warranty in the USA. The belts latch is the most common issue for the SRS light to come up.
• The A/C compressor clutch can fail to engage due the expanding air gap between the A/C clutch and the magnetic plate. Simple fix is to remove one or two of the shims on the shaft to make the clutch closer to the magnetic plate so that it will engage again.
• Air filter cover bolts will break off as they rust over time. Spray before removing.
• Common area for fuel leaks is a cracked fuel pump cover.
• There are recalls on the both Airbags - get them performed ASAP.
  • xRiCeBoYx comment: If your name/address is attached to the vehicle, you're probably getting snail mail about it. Local dealership had my car for all of 1.5 hours and mine was done. Fun fact, I'm still getting recall letters in the mail about it, and I donated the car to charity in Nov 2017
• Front stabilizer links clunk and need to be replaced.

There's prolly more I'm missing, but those are the big ones

other than that, I thought the 7thgen was a fun car. Relatively easy to work on. It got a lot of hate in the aftermarket world, but I absolutely loved every minute of owning and driving mine. There was a thread where someone asked why the 7thgen gets a lot of hate, and while there were responses with legitimate reasons why the 7thgen got a lot of hate, they were often coupled with, "but I love(d) my 7thgen because [reason]"

More useful links:
Forgotten tune-up items: https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...e-up-mods.html
Headgasket parts list and replacement tips and tricks: https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...arts-list.html

 
Rep Power: 133

Hope you don't mind if I continue on with your thread. Here are other common issues with the 7th Gen in my experience:

• Alternator bolts (2 plus the one adjusting bolt) can become loose or break and cause electrical issues. Worst issue is a fried PCM.
• P1457 code is a common failure of the By-pass (Canister) Shut Valve (CVS) and you may as well replace the canister too as bolts fastening the CVS would be rusted bad.
• As soon as you can get on a schedule of a drain and fill of Honda DW-1 ATF the better. Advise, every 15K miles or at most every 30K miles. Do not flush the trans.
• There is a cabin air filter behind the glove box. Change it regularly.
• Wires in the rubber conduit primarily in the Driver's door hinge area can become brittle and break due to age and flexing of the door. This causes failure in power windows or locks in any door.
• Honda wiper blades have rubber inserts to replace so no need to buy a whole wiper blade. Inserts are less than $10 each.
• Seatbelts have a lifetime warranty in the USA.
• The A/C compressor clutch can fail to engage due the expanding air gap between the A/C clutch and the magnetic plate. Simple fix is to remove one or two of the shims on the shaft to make the clutch closer to the magnetic plate so that it will engage again.
• Air filter cover bolts will break off as they rust over time. Spray before removing.
• Common area for fuel leaks is a cracked fuel pump cover.
• There are recalls on the both Airbags - get them performed ASAP.
• Front stabilizer links clunk and need to be replaced.

Convenient to have all this info in one place for others to gain. I did something similar with an Odyssey van I had years ago and it has over a quarter of a million views: https://www.odyclub.com/threads/unof...-thread.41300/

 
Rep Power: 512

Please, continue as much as you want. The goal of this thread is to make a one-stop shop of any known issues and/or things to be mindful of for 7thgen owners.

In fact, if anyone reading this has anything to add, please do so. I'll incorporate everything into the initial thread and credit you appropriately. I also may add some comments, which I will annotate as such

Maybe if we get bored enough, we'll group these together in individual categories.

 
Rep Power: 222

Input shaft bearing on the manual trans cars.
Ericthecarguy just posted 2 excellent videos, one on doing the clutch and one on doing the ISB.
You can pull the trans out the top, just need to remove the coolant housing on the engine above the trans, otherwise you need to pull the subframe as shown in the video

 
Rep Power: 367

recover radio code

 
Rep Power: 367

There is also the starting engine issues

• Do not start
• start but shut down
• etc.

We have a section specific to it due to high incidence rates and causes are... Many

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...start-problems

 
Rep Power: 367

afraid this one is not common, but seen to happens.
Steering rack leaking fluid inside the cabin

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/s...archid=3821794

 
Rep Power: 367

Engine start and idle issues are also preeeety common, being the reason we created two new sections for each

Idle issues

Engine start issues

 
Rep Power: 367

can't believe we forgot to add the auto trans failures...
Edited 1st post to add it.
That shows how most trans that would fail already did so...
Not many posts about failing auto trans recently

 
Rep Power: 367

Engine oil leaks around the head:

• Last guy that did oil change spilled oil and did not clean up
• valve cover gasket
• camshaft end cover plug

 
Rep Power: 133

And the 2 VTEC gaskets.