I've had my 2007 Civic since it rolled off the lot, driven it almost 117k, and have never had any trouble with it. I get all the recommended service work done, like a sucker, and take pretty good care of it. Yesterday, I found the radiator completely empty, so I had the car towed to the dealer. Turns out the engine block cracked and it lost all the coolant, probably most of the oil, too.

The dealer and the interwebs say this is a known issue with Civics from 2006-2009, so they extended the powertrain warranty to 8 years, so yaaay, it's covered. They will replace the block and re-machine the heads and such. Great, basically a brand new engine. But it's the same type of engine block, essentially, with the same defect.

In reading the interwebs, many people are saying they have had trouble with the block cracking after 30-50k miles, but some have had it go sooner, even the replacements.

Blue Book currently has the value around $10-12k, depending on condition. Should I just expect this thing to die again, probably not under warranty? Would it be wise for me to just trade it in for a newer model that doesn't have these problems while I've still got good trade-in value?

11/25/2013 10:46:07 PM

Quote :

" But it's the same type of engine block, essentially, with the same defect."

The original blocks had some defects in the casting that caused them to be porous. The new blocks don't have the casting problem and they are supposed to have slightly thicker casting in the problem areas.

11/26/2013 12:18:32 AM

hmmm, that's reassuring... How much should I worry about the fact that they just ripped my damn engine out of the car, including everything attached to and in the way of removing it, and then have to put all that ish right back in? Shit happens, right? My fear is that "everything works great right now", but now that they've done this, shit is going to start breaking left and right.

11/26/2013 12:50:46 AM

it's fine. drive on.

11/26/2013 8:56:00 AM

^^ I wouldn't worry about it at all. I'm assuming you have Honda techs working on it since it's under warranty. I'd rather have your car with a fresh engine than to sell it and take a chance with someone else's used car.

Besides, when you sell that car at 200k+ miles you can advertise it as only having 87k+ on the engine and tell buyers that all the work was done by the Honda certified techs. That should make it a really easy sell when the time comes.

[Edited on November 26, 2013 at 10:33 AM. Reason : .]

11/26/2013 10:28:27 AM

^I tend to agree here. It's a job the dealer has done many times before, you're unlikely to suffer a rash of related problems. Unless you're tired of the car and looking for an excuse to move into something else, I think you'll come out just fine keeping it.

11/27/2013 3:56:51 AM

Yes I agree with all of the above, unless you just want a different car, id drive the wheels off it.

11/27/2013 7:24:13 AM

I would continue to drive it, especially if the car is paid off. I have an 01 F-150 with 185K miles. I want one of the new F-150s but then I remember I hate car payments. I will drive my truck until it becomes a financial burden just to keep it on the road.

Make sure you save all the paperwork when you get this done that way when you go to sell the vehicle you have proof that the engine really only has xxx amount of miles on it.

11/27/2013 7:20:29 PM

Life is too short to drive a Honda Civic.

11/27/2013 10:21:10 PM

^agreed but different strokes...

11/27/2013 10:48:37 PM

BEAVERCHEESE i'm selling an 07 King Ranch Crew Cab 4WD with 83k. not the newest body style, but the generation before.

11/28/2013 10:01:06 AM