Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

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guitarguy
Posts: 2191
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:10 pm

Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

Post by guitarguy »

Hey hey Civic people!!!

We just decided to buy an 06 Civic yesterday. With the sale pending, I happened to come across a service bulletin from Honda that states the rear control arm geometry was a bad design and that it can cause rapid and uneven rear tire wear. Here's a link to the bulletin:

http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/thebe ... e_wear.pdf

The seller has records of tire rotation every 6-8k miles and says he's gotten about 40k miles on each set of tires, with no sign or diagnosis from the dealership or Discount Tire that there was any sign of uneven wear. He's had the car since 2008 and has put 66k miles on it and he has impeccable service records (all dealership service) for the car as well.

As the bulletin says, you can easily tell if they are the revised control arms based on the inscription of a "C" on them or lack thereof. But, I'm wondering if I'll even be able to see that while they're installed on the vehicle or not. I will check anyways, and the seller is contacting the dealership to see if he can find out based on the VIN if this service has been done in the past.

Anyone drive this gen Civic and have you seen any problems or heard anything of this? On Edmunds and similar consumer reports and reviews sites, there's little mention of the issue. But after a more specific search, it seems it's a fairly common problem.

If the service has been done already and we come to find proof of that, I have no issue. If it hasn't been done however, what should we do? Do we try to negotiate a lower price based on the cost of this fix? I'm thinking that might be hard since the seller claims to have never seen evidence of the issue. Do we just not worry about it since it seems to have no problems?

Thoughts?
Topic Author
guitarguy
Posts: 2191
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:10 pm

Re: Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

Post by guitarguy »

It seems that after some investigation, I'm not nor should I be concerned.

I talked to a technician at my office and he said these techincal bulletins are mostly for dealership mechanics to diagnose problems, and that it doesn't mean that all cars it applies too will see problems.

I also called a Honda dealership, and the service manager said they saw some of these cars but the problems occurred early on between 10k and 36k miles or so, when cars were showing up with major wear and vibration problems. He said if that car had a problem, you'd know it.

So, happy to report I'm not really concerned anymore, and we plan on hopefully enjoying our "new" Civic for years to come!!
camiboxer
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:52 am

Re: Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

Post by camiboxer »

TSB's (technical service bulletins) come out seemingly daily on so many vehicles and typically don't make it to the public eye unless you know where to look. They are not recalls but more along the lines of "typical" issues that vehicles may have that techs see a lot.
Hubby is a mechanic and knows that when he sees a common problem with a certain make/model he can easily assume there is a TSB on it.
You can go here and potentially find additional bulletins for your vehicle:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/tsbs/tsbsearch.cfm
harland
Posts: 332
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:33 am

Re: Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

Post by harland »

I drive a 2006 Civic, 4 dr, EX. One thing you should be aware of is that some of the engine blocks are defective and develop a coolant leak. Mine had this problem around 30k miles. It's a pretty catastrophic event and Honda repaired it free of charge, so keep it in mind.
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
wilked
Posts: 2441
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:50 pm

Re: Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

Post by wilked »

Close call
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mike143
Posts: 1332
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:55 pm

Re: Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

Post by mike143 »

We have 2 07 Civic's at work and we had this item replaced under warranty. Tire were too far in life for them to warranty those. Only other item, warranty wise, replaced was a water pump pulley bolt. Other than than those and batteries they have been damn reliable. On one car it was obvious that there was accelerated wear and I just asked them to take care of the other car even though it didn't show the same wear. Most of the TSB they want you to experience the issue before acting on it.

I wouldn't let your concern kill the deal. The engine block issue is like winning the lotto, its not that statistically common.
Nothing is free, someone pays...You can't spend your way to financial freedom.
ataloss
Posts: 887
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:24 pm

Re: Discovered Honda Civic Service Bulletin (sale pending!)

Post by ataloss »

Some of the R18 engine blocks had issues with coolant leakage, from what I see on the internet there is an extended warranty in place

I had the tire wear issue I may not have had the tires rotated regularly enough. Not sure if I should get the work done (now on set 3 of tires at 90 k) or just rotate diligently.
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