[laluks]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Sitting cross legged is a bit too far. What do you on in Col D.O.G. decides to cross the road all of a sudden? Relaxed but alert is what I will say.

That's a good one prof.
Sometimes the technologies tend to make us lazy, but in our roads Col D.O.G doesn't let us be!

[n:CorE]

Hello fellow civic'ians! I have known the existence of this thread since quite sometime. But today when I happened to visit Arya Honda Service Center at Lalbaug, Mumbai. I realized how important this thread is. I really couldn't find the courage to go through 170 pages of this thread. I have a lot of issues with my aging civic. Its a 2007 A/T. 56k kms on the ODO.

We all know the suspension set up on this car is not what can be called ideal for the road conditions, especially in Bombay. The ride has become increasingly bouncy and jiggly. That maybe has to do something with the fact that my tyres have worn out, I will be changing them but the bloaks at honda suggest that there is something wrong with my front suspension too and want me to change it costing ~Rs.18,000/-. The steering wheel rack or Power steering pump or maybe both has gone wonky and it makes terrible noises when changing direction even slightly. It has even locked up a couple of times while driving in a straight line. These are the major mechanical issues I have experienced.

The bloaks at Honda estimate an easy Rs.60,000/- upward estimate for the mechanical jobs. I need to change tyres also plus I need a neat paint job. My overall expenses would run off to ~1.5L. Is this price justified? Am I being taken for a ride and is Honda ripping me off? Is there a cheaper way to get about this? Civic owners from Mumbai who are out of their warranty zone, where do you get your cars serviced/mechanical jobs done from if not the company? Any civic specialist garages?

[dot]

Originally Posted by n:CorE

Civic owners from Mumbai who are out of their warranty zone, where do you get your cars serviced/mechanical jobs done from if not the company? Any civic specialist garages?

I would certainly suggest to show to an independent garage or a different service center before you sign up for the jobs. My understanding of steering rack going bad means loss of power steering, noises can come from bad CV joints which can be only changed. Paint job will be much cheaper in a local garage. Mechanical parts cost may not change, but labor will pretty low outside H.A.S.S. They also sell tyres but it will be cheaper to buy from a tyre shop than from Honda.
Hope this helps.

[n:CorE]

@ dot .. Thanks for the quick reply, The steering has become harder and really difficult to maneuver. Has any BHP-ian come across this issue before? I am certainly going in for a local option for the paint job and the tyres. They charge exorbitantly when it comes to labor. I need suggestions from Civic owners in Mumbai as to the places they visit and are sure of and satisfied with the services provided.

Pour in suggestions BHP-ians
What I need is
- A good Mechanic who can sort out the niggles in my car and do a fairly decent job with it at a reasonable price. Preferably a honda/civic specialist.
- A paint job expert. I wouldn't mind going slightly over budget but I want a neat looking over coat and also rims need desperate painting.
- A good tyre shop, and please suggest tyre sizes. To upsize, downsize or remain stock. I have Yokohama S.Drives in mind. Criteria being slightly more performance and grip oriented than comfort but not really grippy but very uncomfortable.

The car is now at Arya Honda for a regular service. I have not signed up for the big mechanical jobs as yet and I am not really keen on getting it done from them. The bills will surely run into six-figures.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

My civic has developed a rattling sound (a cluck-cluck-cluck sound) from somewhere under the rear side, when I take a turn over a bad patch of road. Nothing, if I am going straight, or if I am taking a turn on a good road. I have been hearing it for almost a year now, but lately it seems to be a bit more pronounced. Sometimes I feel that the rear tires' are failing to grip the road properly during the turn, causing something there to rattle. Not easy to diagnose, though. Has anybody gone through anything similar? Planning a 1500km long drive at the end of the month.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by n:CorE

Am I being taken for a ride and is Honda ripping me off? Is there a cheaper way to get about this? Civic owners from Mumbai who are out of their warranty zone, where do you get your cars serviced/mechanical jobs done from if not the company? Any civic specialist garages?

I seriously doubt the ability of Honda service engineers to diagnose problems in our cars. My Civic had developed a rattling sound from the rear whenever I take a turn in a rough patch of road. (see the above quoted text). I took the car to the service center and, me along with a service guy took the car out for a road test. We took the car through some rough and non-existent roads, and to my horror the service gus said that it is just the ABS acting! I asked him, how the hell is the ABS acting when the brake pedal is not pressed? But he was not willing to listen. Next, I had a problem with the car shuddering at 120+ speed. For that he put the blame on 2 things. 1) the front brakes and 2) the rear tires. The rear tires (conti cpc2) had almost worn out in little more than 10k, and that's a different story. Somehow, I couldn't buy that story, because the front pads were changed just about 2K kms ago, and the discs were skimmed. Nevertheless, I asked him to do a wheel balance and alignment. To my relief, the problem got solved after the balance/alignment. So much for the diagnosing abilities of the service engineers. BTW, upon delivering the car, the person said that the front bearings are weak, and would need replacement soon (12K).

Now, to the Conti story. I had changed my tires just around 10K kms ago, as the stock NCTs were making too much noise for my liking even though about 3mm tread still remained. I wanted to get grippier tires, and a reputed dealer in Bangalore recommended CPC2 to me. Rs 20K lighter, I felt confident with my new shoes. But, 5K kms later, the front tires were half worn. No, no uneven wear. I was asked to rotate the tires, which I did. Now, after 10K, about 2mm of tread remained. The rear tires were loosing grip in corners, so I didn't want to take any chances, as there was a long highway trip coming up. Took the car to the dealer, and I was advised to change all four. 20K gone down the drain in little more than a year! I had little time to choose, as I had to leave in 2 days, so I settled for the cheapest non-Indian tire, Yoko A-drives. 18K for a set of four, stock size. A-drives feels harder than the CPCs, but is much quieter. I hope this one lasts.

And, am back after the 1300km drive. Everything went smooth, the bearings are still holding on, the tires did well on the wet highways of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and the shudder never came back. The rattle from the rear still exists, but occurs rarely, perhaps because the rear tires grips the road better.

Finally, am planning to get the bumpers painted as there are quite a few scratches on them. Can anybody recommend a good paint shop in the south side of Bangalore? Somebody who can get the shade right, that is.

[dot]

civic-sense, I am sorry to hear that the rear rattle has not been rectified yet. I was hoping that it was a loose caliper and would be sorted out quickly.

I guess an incompetent service assistant can really spoil one's service experience.

n:CorE, I had to change my old Ikon steering rack, it had costed 19k including labor from Ford. At that time they had told me that for Fiesta the same part costs 8-9k. I know it is not an apple to apple comparison, but I would be very shocked if Honda charges any more than these values.

[jatinpatel]

@dot and n:core
for civics upto 07 the rack price is 42k and pump price is 19k for civics after 07 rack price is 31k and pump price is 19k, YES this is the Price of official honda rack from Honda A.S.S.

@n:core

for mechanical work i can suggest u few places depending on location of stay.
for body work got a superb painter name Javed hes workshop is in Irla little ahead of the lane which comes right after the alfa lane signal.
He does excellent paint job work quality i found superior to honda.

For good tyre shop go to Saifee or Bombay tires both are listed in the directory of Team-Bhp, both offer good range in tires. on your question of tire size i would recommend stay stock or get 205/55 R15 spec tire as thats what recommended in Owners manual too under tires section but one word of caution 55 section will reduce your GC.

[gaurav_diavolo]

Can any fellow Civic owner tell me what cool Blue Ambiance lighting the brochure talks about is, as I have not found any in my Civic. Can someone post the pics, I assume it is only on newer models and looks uber cool, I want it too, can it be an after fitment from Honda and approx. how much and is it worth it? Thanks!

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by gaurav_diavolo

Can any fellow Civic owner tell me what cool Blue Ambiance lighting the brochure talks about is, as I have not found any in my Civic. Can someone post the pics, I assume it is only on newer models and looks uber cool, I want it too, can it be an after fitment from Honda and approx. how much and is it worth it? Thanks!

It's a blue (LED?) built into the console housing the map reading lights above the rear view mirror - focused on the gear lever area. Not sure if it can be installed.

The brightness is quite low and is difficult to make out unless the interiors are fairly dark. In the dark it's a nice soft glow.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Sitting cross legged is a bit too far. What do you on in Col D.O.G. decides to cross the road all of a sudden? Relaxed but alert is what I will say.

I am in no way advocating driving cross legged. I was just mentioning that it is possible to do "even that" with CC on an AT car. Col D.O.G or Lt C.O.W. can appear anytime, I understand!

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by laluks

I would safely assume 60KMs, though I had pushed to 75Kms or even to 90Kms for the fuel pump to be happily submerged.

Originally Posted by spadix

In fact HASS said 50 kms "minimum" and "irrespective of how the car is driven" after the yellow light comes on. They assume 7 litres with a mileage of 7 kmpl. Very, very conservative but then that's their job.

Originally Posted by gaurav_diavolo

So from all above, lets safely assume that after all bars have gone, we have upto 7 litres of petrol and 50 to 70 kms of run left with our cars and this is the time when refueling becomes priority. And till 'No Bars' level it should have done 400 to 450 kms for decent fuel efficiency.

Here is my experience from today's morning.

I had a friend visiting yesterday night who had his exam this morning in Gurgaon. I was kinda running low on gas from yesterday evening only, but since I always go by tankful to tankful, I decided to fill it up once the yellow light comes up. Did some running late night and as expected, yellow light appeared, two bars, then one and then nothing on display. Guess I was just lazy to fill it up so late. All bars disappeared at 470 km of running since last tankful.

Now, this morning I went to Gurgaon to drop my friend to his exam centre and the place was a good 35 kms away from my place (Sohna Road, very close to your place, spadix). Dropped him and hit the traffic on my way back. Had to drive a bit rash as I was also getting late for office, revving the engine high all the time. You know those 60es, 80es in second gear....

Filled the tank this evening at a reading of 538 kms. So, that makes it 78 kms after all the bars had gone.

Car gulped a little more than 48 litres of fuel, suggesting it was pretty close shave with only a few ounces of gasoline in the fuel tank!!!

Not something I would like to repeat, considering the tank bottom dirt issues, fear and embarassment of stand roadside after emptying all the juice of a luxury car.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

I seriously doubt the ability of Honda service engineers to diagnose problems in our cars.

+1

My car has done 21573 kms in 15 months so far, so I've been sn unfortunate H.A.S.S. "customer" lots of times in the recent past - 5 scheduled + 1 precautionary service visit to be precise.

Either I hold my cars to an extremely high standard after the mostly wonderful run I had with my old M800, or the Civic was genuinely put through some extremely bad conditions over this time (the latter my actually be true), but the car has developed various minor rattles and sounds.

They have *never* been able to even identify/diagnose, let alone solve, any issue in the first try. In fact, outside of the standard, check-listed procedures they are incapable of doing anything. A roof panel rattle issue took 3 visits, multiple test drives and some 5k kms between visits to be resolved.

And that's been the only "victory". There are five other issues right now - one of them since Day 1 of ownership and three others since just after the 10k 3rd service in early-Feb. that they have no clue of.

All of this was with Pride in Hyderabad.

They in fact wrecked the WA/WB during the precautionary service just before my 2110 km relocation drive in August. So much so that by the time I reached Gujarat the car's brakes would shudder and roar like crazy when braking hard from 120+ speeds (thankfully braking distances were largely unaffected). I thought Ring Road Honda in Gurgaon solved this but no, it cropped up again during my recent Jaipur round-trip.

H.A.S.S. is absolutely incompetent and I'm just waiting for the remainder of my warranty (I got extended warranty for free!) to expire.

@civicsense: Too bad about those CPC2s. I had those in mind as an upgrade when I came around to it.

Originally Posted by shuvc

The brightness is quite low and is difficult to make out unless the interiors are fairly dark. In the dark it's a nice soft glow.

In the dark I find it a brilliant help to quickly check a map or driving notes etc. without having to readjust my eyes first to the bright map light and then back to the available darkness cast by the headlights.

I think it's more useful a feature than the ludicrous brochure-speak/description gives it credit for.

Originally Posted by vasoo

Col D.O.G or Lt C.O.W. can appear anytime, I understand!

How about Maj. (or Minor, for that matter) M.A.N.? They are equally unpredictable and more dangerous. Some of them even do it wilfully in a foolish show of misplaced bravado.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

All bars disappeared at 470 km of running since last tankful.

Filled the tank this evening at a reading of 538 kms. So, that makes it 78 kms after all the bars had gone.

68, you mean! Hell of a difference in this range!

But it's heartening to know that you could have fun and still extract ~70 kms after bars-out.

By the way, I can only imagine your heartbeat rate as you saw the fuel pump meter go past 43 all the way up to 48.

Regards,
spadix

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by spadix

68, you mean! Hell of a difference in this range!

But it's heartening to know that you could have fun and still extract ~70 kms after bars-out.

By the way, I can only imagine your heartbeat rate as you saw the fuel pump meter go past 43 all the way up to 48.

Oh, I did mean 78 since I had refilled at 548. Sorry for the typo earlier.

Originally Posted by spadix

By the way, I can only imagine your heartbeat rate as you saw the fuel pump meter go past 43 all the way up to 48.

hehe, I actually filled 48.4 litres, so you can imagine how my expressions would have been!

[gaurav_diavolo]

A quick question on upgrading bulbs on only. Someone told me since Civic has separate bulbs for low and high beam there is no need of a relay / cut-out. Can I replace regular bulbs with 100/90 or 135 wattage bulbs without a relay.

Else I will have to get the cutout from my ikon which is on sale and install on civic but need exact advice if the upgraded bulbs will work without the relay or not. Thanks in advance, I am reading this thread every morning first thing, what an addiction!

[gaurav_diavolo]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Here is my experience from today's morning.

Car gulped a little more than 48 litres of fuel, suggesting it was pretty close shave with only a few ounces of gasoline in the fuel tank!!!

BINGO! My car did 455 kms and all bars disappeared. I returned back from late night movie and had to drop some friends (who had come from Delhi) to a hotel on Jaipur-Delhi highway, about 65 kms to and fro from my place in Jaipur (that too at 1 at night). It was cold outside so got the heating on and the supremely comfortable cabin temperature somehow convinced me that even for refueling you are NOT rolling down them windows So here I made it back home (at 2.30!) with additional 74 km run! Car today took in 48.8 ltrs.