my 260,000 mile 2005 Honda Civic ex special edition automatic sedan apparently has a defective oil plug that can’t be repaired.

the shop that told me this (who I went to for tires but had them do an oil change also..) quoted me $800 to replace the oil pan, $500 for the pan, the rest for labor.

thats hard to swallow considering I once bought a 219k 1995 Civic ex coupe for $900... so at what point do I give up on this civic?

anyway, while in sticker shock over a $500 oil pan, and being told that the EX for whatever reason uses an aluminum pan that is different than both the dx/lx and si, I did a quick search on rockauto.com and saw allegedly compatible pans for $60-135....

amazingly the shop that gave me that quote first said they would install parts I order myself... which I didn’t think any shops did, but then in person another clerk was more hesitant pointing out the obvious, that if I order the wrong thing my car will be taking up a lift and won’t be able to be moved...


so the pressure sure is on (currently approaching 1k passed my oil change mileage) to either pay up, or save money by ordering... correctly.


rockauto, advanced auto parts, pep boys, and random google searches come up with sub $150 oil pans, but are sketchy in the details as to whether they are specifically for the EX. Oreilly has one, for $310, which makes me wonder if maybe my shops quote wasn’t so high after all, maybe this aluminum oil pan is just a rare and unnecessarily expensive component on my 127hp commuter car...

but still, my one last attempt to save $400.... can anyone guide me to the correct pan online?

thanks

Napa auto parts is $424.

so now I’m leaning toward the reality just being that the aluminum pan for my car is expensive..

ill double check rockauto but..

Doubt you would need to spend more than $50 to pull one off a junkyard EX.

Overall it’s pretty easy to get too, loosen down pipe if it’s even still there, like 8 bolts holding engine tranny brace on then about 18 10mm nuts and bolts and break the Hondabond liquid gasket and it’s off.

I dont think you have to remove the crank bolt/ harmonic pulley but you might and while that only adds a small bit work, it’s a few more tools.

Insane...

my first quote for for a new oil pan was $800, $500 for the pan.

I called around to find somewhere that would repair the threads, no one would.

so I assumed that just isn’t done anymore or maybe can’t be done on aluminum.

so I called a shop with a good rep and ultimately was quoted $380 for a new pan, total (at first he said wow Honda wants a lot, $470, but there’s an aftermarket option.... which pisses me off that the first shop didn’t offer a aftermarket option or.....)

so I make the appt..... show up and the guy told me instead of $380 he was charging me $120 (hour labor, oil change, thread repair kit).

anyway, so now the plug is “good as new”, I have relatively new tires.... so I gotta stick it out with this car a while longer.

the good news for anyone else with a seventh gen... I have 263,xxx miles and the tranny and engine seem as strong as ever!

Also was just able to squeeze 477 miles out of one tank (with allegedly 1.7gal left) for an average of 40.78mpg! Although I usually average 33.

Aaaaand the oil plug is leaking. So maybe u can’t rethread an aluminum pan

The shop had my number but didintvthink so, so the appointment was for the aftermarket pan replacement but when he noticed temporary plug and didn’t see any other damage he took it upon himself to just use a thread repair kit with a larger plug. He said it was good as new.