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I just wanted to let you guys know, if you are not alreadt aware, that there is a problem with the front struts on the the 2002 civics, some models anyways. I think the problem for me started for me a few months ago. I was driving down the street when my car started shaking, much like it does when your alignment it off or something. At the time it freaked me out but then it never did it again. Well now, a few months later, if I have the car in the D position in the driveway and move my steering wheel from the 12 oclock postion to either 11 or 1 oclock I get this slight thuming noise. I took it to Classic oHonda in Brampton and they told me that the struts need to be replaced. Luckiliy there are only 40Ks on the car and the warranty for the struts is 60K. Well the struts are on back order. I checked with a few dealerships and they all said the same thing, there is a problem with the struts. Apparently , when I had that vibration a few months ago, I think that was the point at which my struts were leaking, ever since then I have been noticing a really rough ride, well rougher than usually anyways. I just wanted to ask if anyone has expereicned this.

Amer786

 
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That is a common problem with GEN 7 Civics. You are fortunate that the problem occurs when you still have warranty.

 
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there's no surprise
2002 already improved. try the 2001 shocks and u will understand how the 2001 owners feel about the ghey honda technology

i have extended warranty so my shocks covered all the way till 7 years/160,000 km

 
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i drive a 02 sedan........... my car didn't start shaking...... but i know that when i turn the wheel.... i hear this clicking sound.......

 
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had the same problem........but mine is a 2001.......had them replaced under warantee....

 
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my friends have a 2002 LX sedan...same problem. the struts went gay on them, and they knew they were blown.

they went to one honda dealership and they wouldn't do anything about it (sick of filling warrantee requests), so they went home, put OIL all over the front struts, then took it to their dealership.

they then had no problem replacing them hehehe

The dealership guys were like "Wow, its really leaking!" hehehehe

I found that entertaining.

Mine (2002 LX sedan) are definitely on the way out...but its my fault for bashing the crap out of them on the goldline springs.



That's ok...Tein SS is on the way!

 
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That clicking sound is your struts going, it is sooo annoying. Friggen things are on back order so you better get your order in now. The dealership is only fixing them if they are leaking, if you tell them you know that they are defective and demand them to be changed becuase it is an acknowledged problem by Honda, they wont change it. So roll you lil civic in there, do you need someone to help you push, I am sure we are 7thgencivic.com can come to your rescue :-)

Hey we are allowed to badmouth our own cars I guess. I might be changing my car, I wanna get a 2003 accord. I have lease on my civic, but the guy at the dealership said that is not a problem. All they have to do is find out how much I owe vs. what the car is worth. It may be a small difference on either the +/- side. What do you think about the accords? v4?

 
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i never had a problem (w/ sportline drop)..
walked in, took the guy for a t/d cuz they couldn't find the noise..
both fronts, bearings and dampers ordered, and installed a week after..
clicking is still there, so we're looking at the tranny now (bulletin 420)

 
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What are you referring as by "struts"?

 
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struts = shocks (???)

 
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I'm confused too...

There struct bars (front and rear), where the front one is mounted from the left front suspension to the right accross the engine.

 
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I keep noticing 7th gen sedans bounce a LOT when I see them going over smooth roads with slight bumps.

I felt the same **** when I had my stock shocks (I have 01 coupe tho), so I lowered it, then got konis, and you know, bouncing is gone, like magic!

 
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I have konis too but theres really no difference, actually u can hear and feel every bump on the road ! my parent just brought a corolla and the suspension on them is amazing, u can ram up a crub and feel nothing

 
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Shocks absorb the force while spring controls the compression. Strut is the assembly that encases a shock. Because the 7th Gen uses McPhearson struts, we call the front struts and rear shocks (rear is double wishbone). The bars you refer to tie the struts together on the top, but have nothing to do with being the struts.

 
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Thanks, how bout a picture now?

 
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That's because the corolla is not lowered.

If you lower your car, you expect a rough ride. Soft shocks don't necessarily equal good shocks though. The corolla may have good ride, but may not have as good cornering/steering performance as your car on Koni's.

 
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If you want a good ride, go for a Toyota... all their line of cars have super impact absorbing shocks! That means Corolla, Camry, Highlander, etc.

 
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hmm i'm just waiting for some full replacements for my shocks i hope those KYB's are released soon because my front shock is making the clicking sound already and leaking gonna go through the summer with it like that . if it gets worst i might as well try and take the springs out and bring it back to the dealer

what will happen if i leave it like that till the end of summer with the shock leaking anything bad going to happen???

 
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Just bad ride.

Also, a note, ppl keep getting confused and say the shocks make a nice ride. The shocks actually just dampen the compression. The springs are what controls the ride quality. Even though it's a two-sided issue (i.e., it takes good shocks to make good springs ride good), it starts with the springs. If you are getting a really rough ride, or even notice a bad ride with the Koni's, see if you can get better springs. Or a new car, lol.

 
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had my struts replaced, man were they ever a pile of sh_t.

 
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is this problem happening to all 2002 sedans or only the ones that have been lowered?

 
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all..stock or lowered..
coupes too..
2001/2002

 
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if that's the case why isn't honda doing a recall on all 2002 sedan/coupes?

when i called my dealership about this strut problem the guy had no idea what i was talking about.

 
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probably because it's not a safety thing..ergo, no recall..
guess they figure they'll fix them when they see them come in..
it's not a 100% problem, but is occuring on the 2001/2002's
what i meant by "all" is lowered and stock as that was the question that ya asked..

which dealership btw??

 
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It's not a badly designed strut. If anything, McPerson struts are used in many high-end cars and race cars.

The problem is Honda adopted such a design to save engine space, but went with a "softer" strut to make ride better. And because they had to cut corners in part prices because of the cost of a redesign, they had to use cheaper shocks. This is also the reason they used returnless fuel technology. (You will even notice that fuel is not forced, can even hear the gas trickling down the pipe if you go slow enough, cheezy)

It's a great car, just has a lot of great problems/misdesigns as well. +10 -10 = 0, we're at square one.

 
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I think a recall would involve some negative press, that Honda does not want. This way, if the problem comes up they fix it and if not then they hope that it shows up after the warranty has expried.

 
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f*ckers! in that case i will damage my struts on purpose to have them replaced before my warranty expires.

btw: when they replace them will they be the exact same struts or different, better ones?


i called ideal honda btw.

 
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dragonace: so your car is lowered with sportlines and u got the struts replaced under warranty still? if yes then can u please tell me which dealer and i will go there cuz i am running with neuspeed and i dont bother taking them out then bring the car for replacement struts then slap my lowering springs back on...such a hassle

 
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I think they will replace with the same strut. Otherwise they'll have to replace *all* your struts, and no they won't do that.