Interior Problems, Wind Noise, and Mileage

[carlschmidt]

I trust these issues have been talked about numerous times, but I have not been able to read every one of the fifty-thousand threads and replies. I just wanted to concur that I am having similar problems should others also be having these problems

My LX was assembled in Canada. My overall feeling is that Canada has some quality control issues. My car has the wind noise problem I recall reading about in some other thread. The driver side door has a noticeably high level of noise over 35mph or so compared to the other doors.

I haven't notified the dealer yet, but I probably should as it's annoying as all hell. The plastic crap that covers the driver-side B-pillar just below the seat belt adjuster is loose. There is this plasticky-leathery feeling lining material on the edges of either side, and for some reason the joint between the two plastic pieces keeps popping out, which causes that plasticky-leathery crap to get jammed underneath the outer edges of the two plastic pieces covering the pillar. This is really annoying because I notice it, no other reason. The other side is fine.

The rear passenger headliner border has that same plasticky-leathery stuff on it. Well, the material seems to be misaligned or something, as it is showing a divot area around the front/middle of the rear passenger area door head-liner. (Edit) I've added a few pictures.

Otherwise I am fairly happy with the car, though I can't seem to nail down anything near the 30mpg estimate from the EPA. 25mpg, maybe, if I'm lucky. I do drive spirited on occasion, but driving intentionally "cautiously" (slow acceleration and braking, easy on the steering, etc.) doesn't yield much better results. Tires came from the factory over-inflated to 40 psi on the right and 38 psi on the left, which is fine because theoretically that would increase the fuel mileage...

Oh well, I've resigned myself to believing I just really suck at driving carefully enough to yield the best possible mileage. On the up-side, when we took a trip to the Jersey shore (Wildwood), I did manage an average of 35.5 mpg, which was really nice to see, though mildly discouraging at the same time, as I did not break 55-60 mph for the entire stretch of the ride. In fact, the way I went (322 -> 55 -> 47 -> Arrive) doesn't really allow for high speeds, unless you want a ticket. Also, that way sucks because of the speeds. I now see the logic behind mapquest trying to send me up to the Walt Whitman to the A.C. Expressway to the Garden State Expressway because those roads have 65 mph speed limits and there are no stop lights along the way really.

Okay, that's all now. Happy driving. :)

[cojaro]

Mine was assembled in Canada as well, and the best city mpg that I've been able to eek out is just above 26, but I average 22-24. On a recent trip, I got 37 mpg, cruise control at 65 nearly al lthe way, probably no more than 5% city driving on that tank.

[Cybergypsy]

Mine was from Canada, average 35 MPG and no problems at all

[cojaro]

carlschmidt, when did your Civic leave the factory? Maybe there's a bad mpg batch...

[wing_gundam]

My god! some Canada bashing!

hehe

first off, most of the 2006 civics your gonna find are from canada. I think all sedans, SIs and a couple coupes + the CSX.

second off, a few random mfg errors (wind thing) out of thousands produced daily is really not a big problem.

thirdly, fuel economy depends on you the driver - your environ and patterns.

fourth, 38 psi???? isn't it supposed to be 32???

fifth, take it back to the dealer if there's a problem. The first post just seem to represent some Canada bashing-Ann Coulter material.

[jc21]

picked mine up a lil over a month ago. Get 33mph in the city and just got 39.5 on the highway driving from NY to Philly. I'm quite happy seeing as how i'm getting more then estimated. I also have no wind noise issues, no alignment issues, some squeeking issues but ah well. But like said above. When they make so many cars at once it's hard to make them all perfect.

[targettuning]

Average 35 mpg or GET a highway 35 mpg?? In order to average 35 your low would be 30 and the high would be 40 suspiciously exactly what the EPA estimate is and pretty hard to maintain.

[carlschmidt]

Originally Posted by wing_gundam

My god! some Canada bashing!

second off, a few random mfg errors (wind thing) out of thousands produced daily is really not a big problem.

I never said any of this was a big problem.

Originally Posted by wing_gundam

thirdly, fuel economy depends on you the driver - your environ and patterns.

fourth, 38 psi???? isn't it supposed to be 32???

I'm fairly sure I said that I am a somewhat spirited driver. I know the fuel economy depends on me primarily, hence the spirited driving mention. I don't expect to get great mileage if I'm routinely doing 110 on the way from Philly into the suburbs on I-95.

As for the tire pressure, I believe what you said is correct. I recall reading on this forum that the cars leave the factory intentionally over-inflated a little for transport (guess maybe they figure it'll lose air over time or something, I don't know why).

Originally Posted by wing_gundam

fifth, take it back to the dealer if there's a problem. The first post just seem to represent some Canada bashing-Ann Coulter material.

Here's the biggy. I never said anything bad about Canada as a country. I don't know for sure if you're referring to me or the first reply, so I'll leave the whole Canada bashing thing alone. My GMC Sierra, which was my trade-in for this car, was made in Canada, and had exactly zero problems, which means they must've been having a perfect day that day.

Otherwise, I do intend on going back to the dealer about that plastic piece under the seat belt adjuster if I can't get it to stay put, as I've placed it properly behind the trim material once already and it has since popped back out, there appears to be no discernable force holding it in place).

[carlschmidt]

Originally Posted by targettuning

Average 35 mpg or GET a highway 35 mpg?? In order to average 35 your low would be 30 and the high would be 40 suspiciously exactly what the EPA estimate is and pretty hard to maintain.

I'm not sure if you're referring to me or the other person whom replied and stated they get 35mpg average, but I did use the word average. I did mean to say that I actually got 35.5mpg for that specific trip. I have come nowhere near that on average. The actual average is probably hovering a bit closer to 25. For instance, the tank of gas I just replaced got me almost 22mpg, which I'm still happy with because it's twice as good as what I got with my old truck, and I've been pounding on the car a bit too routinely I'm sad to say. I just can't seem to let myself be a good driver. I drive for a living, and the majority of the miles I put on are city or very slow moving highway (traffic on the Schuylkill or the Blue Route).

[carlschmidt]

Originally Posted by cojaro

carlschmidt, when did your Civic leave the factory? Maybe there's a bad mpg batch...

I can't really say, that if there was a bad mpg batch, that I would be part of it due to my less-than-sane driving habits.

However, the car was manufactured 6/06 in Canada.

Also, as a completely unrelated aside, Allstate insurance company sucks because they don't provide a discount for having VIN stickers all over every visible, and probably invisible, body panel on the car. I think that deserves an insurance discount personally. I was surprised when I noticed this on all the panels I could see on the car. I guess they could be removed fairly easily since they are just stickers though. Hrm.

[DanielAcosta]

The wind noise issue has been fixed by a service bulletin from Honda. You can read more about it here: http://vtec.net/articles/view-articl...icle_id=533699

[VelociRacer]

If anyone has a copy of the wind noise TSB, I assume it's you Daniel. Could post us a copy please? I know the solution is so simple but it will interesting to see the Honda writeup.

[DanielAcosta]

Originally Posted by VelociRacer

If anyone has a copy of the wind noise TSB, I assume it's you Daniel. Could post us a copy please? I know the solution is so simple but it will interesting to see the Honda writeup.

I'll try to track down a copy and upload it within the next couple days. In a very complicated way, it basically says to fill the gap with a piece of foam, just like the pictures in my article. The Honda solution tries to place the foam "underneath" where it's not visible, but in so doing risks breaking the molding alongside the door.

Any service dept should be able to search their database and find it if you want the official Honda fix. I haven't personally checked, but I'm hoping that by now Honda has made a production assembly line fix so that new units don't have the gap that causes the wind noise in the first place.

[kero]

Ahhh, my canadian built LX has the same problem where the seat belts go into the side of the car. My panels pop out every few days. It drives me nutz!

With regards to wind noise, why can't a little silicon caulking be used to fill the gap??

[DanielAcosta]

Originally Posted by kero

Ahhh, my canadian built LX has the same problem where the seat belts go into the side of the car. My panels pop out every few days. It drives me nutz!

With regards to wind noise, why can't a little silicon caulking be used to fill the gap??

I suspect the silicone would get pulled down into the window channel when you roll the window down.

The foam the dealer inserted to fill the gap on my Civic had adhesive on the side that attached to the molding to hold it in place. The Honda bulletin suggests installing the foam under the molding where it will not contact the sliding glass at all.

[carlschmidt]

Originally Posted by kero

Ahhh, my canadian built LX has the same problem where the seat belts go into the side of the car. My panels pop out every few days. It drives me nutz!

With regards to wind noise, why can't a little silicon caulking be used to fill the gap??

I've actually fixed that panel from popping back out. You need to peel off the weatherstripping a good ways down and be sure that all the plastic clips are not bent on the panel. If they are, just gently pry them back into a straight position and tuck them behind the weatherstripping. You'll see that the weatherstripping goes smoothly over the clips, which sandwiches them in between the rubber and the metal of the pillar. I haven't had it pop back out in at least a week since I've done this.

Mind you, I'm still having problems in other areas. I've got that god-awful rear-deck-area rattling, which is apparently the seat belt tensioners. I'm not sure if they need to be replaced entirely or if they just need to be removed/installed.

I've got to be honest, there's a lot of little nit-picky things that I picked up on since I first had the car and some things have popped in later down the line, such as the transmission often refuses to drop into fourth, and sometimes third, gear on down-hills. The trans is generally fidgety. I still think it's an improvement over my Taurus and my GMC Sierra in terms of smoothness of ride and the engine, but I had zero interior concerns in either of those vehicles. It kind of bums me out because I was all gung-ho about the whole Honda experience. I want to just chalk my problems up to it being a new design in its first year, but it's still a Civic, which is by no means in its first year.

Oh well. I'm going to ditch this one in a year. I'm definitely eyeballing a Fusion though I'm most unhappy with Ford's decision to keep the new 3.5L engine in the Lincoln sedan (MK Z or some such nonsensically named vehicle). The Fusion would be one bad-ass car with that engine. Actually, I remember reading that Porsche was in on the development of the old DOHC 3.0L from Ford, so I really have to wonder how much Ford de-engineered it for cost purposes. That's such a shame.

I hope Honda gets its shit together with the '07. Maybe I'll just buy whatever parts suck on the '06 from the '07 and hope they fit and fix the applicable problems. (...)

[chylld]

Originally Posted by DanielAcosta

The wind noise issue has been fixed by a service bulletin from Honda. You can read more about it here: http://vtec.net/articles/view-articl...icle_id=533699

excellent article!! i too am having noise problems, the most recent of which sounds a bit like a noise issue, so i'm going to try taping up my car too sometime and see if that's the problem. to think that fractions of a millimetre can make the difference between a quiet ride and an annoying-as-hell ride!

nothing like being a first-year owner.

[kero]

Originally Posted by carlschmidt

I've actually fixed that panel from popping back out. You need to peel off the weatherstripping a good ways down and be sure that all the plastic clips are not bent on the panel. If they are, just gently pry them back into a straight position and tuck them behind the weatherstripping. You'll see that the weatherstripping goes smoothly over the clips, which sandwiches them in between the rubber and the metal of the pillar. I haven't had it pop back out in at least a week since I've done this.

Mind you, I'm still having problems in other areas. I've got that god-awful rear-deck-area rattling, which is apparently the seat belt tensioners. I'm not sure if they need to be replaced entirely or if they just need to be removed/installed.

I've got to be honest, there's a lot of little nit-picky things that I picked up on since I first had the car and some things have popped in later down the line, such as the transmission often refuses to drop into fourth, and sometimes third, gear on down-hills. The trans is generally fidgety. I still think it's an improvement over my Taurus and my GMC Sierra in terms of smoothness of ride and the engine, but I had zero interior concerns in either of those vehicles. It kind of bums me out because I was all gung-ho about the whole Honda experience. I want to just chalk my problems up to it being a new design in its first year, but it's still a Civic, which is by no means in its first year.

Oh well. I'm going to ditch this one in a year. I'm definitely eyeballing a Fusion though I'm most unhappy with Ford's decision to keep the new 3.5L engine in the Lincoln sedan (MK Z or some such nonsensically named vehicle). The Fusion would be one bad-ass car with that engine. Actually, I remember reading that Porsche was in on the development of the old DOHC 3.0L from Ford, so I really have to wonder how much Ford de-engineered it for cost purposes. That's such a shame.

I hope Honda gets its shit together with the '07. Maybe I'll just buy whatever parts suck on the '06 from the '07 and hope they fit and fix the applicable problems. (...)

I am going to give your panel pop out instructions a go and see if they come back out. I also have the rattle in the rear as well, heheh.

[06CivEXJon]

Just pop it back into place....My SRS side airbags, on the seats on the passenger side was popping out, and my dealer popped it back in...wtf is this car just popped in and clipped together??! my friends Mazda 3 is the same too....i cant wait to get rid of this car.

[si_civic]

My overall feeling is that Canada has some quality control issues

Yes, we are all born defective. Please help us all.

Wonder if the new Si Sedans are affected the same way ?