2006 Civic Si engine threw rod

[cloudbreakmd]

A friend called me Saturday night and said her car broke down. She had towed to the dealer and waited till this morning...

At this point the dealer is saying they will not cover the engine because the engine was over-revved while driving according the ECU memory... But she can purchase a new engine for $7,000.00 Her car had around 8,000 miles on it.

Is there anything she can do to fight this? I thought the Si's had a rev limiter anyway?

Just curious if there is some way to help her.

[MaKo]

Sounds like a mishift. Rev limiter can't catch those in time. Real bummer.

[cloudbreakmd]

Originally Posted by MaKo

Sounds like a mishift. Rev limiter can't catch those in time.

That's exactly what I was thinking...

Bummer is right...

[shawn-o]

i believe this happened to a guy i know locally.

he works at honda and apparently it was covered by warranty (go figure).

[Cybergypsy]

Dang...tell her i am sorry

[HAQER]

Originally Posted by cloudbreakmd

A friend called me Saturday night and said her car broke down. She had towed to the dealer and waited till this morning...

At this point the dealer is saying they will not cover the engine because the engine was over-revved while driving according the ECU memory... But she can purchase a new engine for $7,000.00 Her car had around 8,000 miles on it.

Is there anything she can do to fight this? I thought the Si's had a rev limiter anyway?

Just curious if there is some way to help her.

Your story says that she called and said her car broke down. Did you get any details as to what happened before it broke down? It couldn't have just died on her and then she found out later it threw a rod.

[cloudbreakmd]

Well the details I was given were that she and her husband were driving down the road and the car engine suddenly cut out and smoke started pouring out from the engine. They called a tow truck and had the car removed from the middle of the road.

[atomicEXcoupe]

I threww a rod in my 99 civic automatic in May. It couldnt have been overrevved and was just out of the 100k warranty which sucked. it w2as only at 108k. It broke the rod and threw it through the rod becuase the lower end bearing went on it.

good luck with the fix, i would fight til it got fixed.

[EC_CivicSI]

My uncle has a 2000 Celica GTS and blew his engine 2 different times because when you come out of 5th gear and if you let the shifter go free and then if you go straight down that’s 2nd gear. He did that two different times driving on the highway and Toyota gave him a new motor both times. I can guarantee that if she keeps throwing a fit she will get a new motor. Get a little pissed and raise your voice. Also I would talk to higher authority like the service manager and if he doesn't do anything talk to someone higher then that person. The thing that everyone doesn't know is that these service centers send the bill to the main branch of Honda and get reimbursed.

[Yodums]

Can you talk to a different dealership or service centre?

[bubbletop1961]

That blows. Honda ever tries to screw me like that youll probably here me yelling where your at. Its not like your talking about a kia with a 100 hp motor. Its a performance model with a performance engine. Its intended to be driven hard. People are going to miss shifts every once and a while. Who cares what the ecu says. They better warranty the car.

[leakslikasieve]

im thinking it was a mis-shift also. the ecu does not limit revs on downward shifts.. so if your going to high in the gear and then downshift you can hit some crazy numbers. that once happened to me in my saab. i was racing around and shifted from 4-5. it locked me out of 5th and i threw it in 3rd. the shifter was mis-aligned. bottom line i watched the revs on the tach bounce of 8g for half a second. before i was like **** me and slammed my foot back on the clutch. i i had the car for 4 days before this. car had 92k on it. and all that happened was the check engine light immediately popped on and flashed. i threw it in neutral and coasted to a stop. sat there as the car revved from 1000-4000 4 times and then from 2000-3000 twice. all of a sudden the revs dropped back down to 1000. idled normal. i let it sit for a second the engine light turned off. i shut down the car. started it back up. and it was fine. i was like my god thats awesome. it sold me on saab for awhile.. but now i cant wait for my si, so i can hit 8000 whenever i want. lol

[JerrfyLube]

Originally Posted by bubbletop1961

That blows. Honda ever tries to screw me like that youll probably here me yelling where your at. Its not like your talking about a kia with a 100 hp motor. Its a performance model with a performance engine. Its intended to be driven hard. People are going to miss shifts every once and a while. Who cares what the ecu says. They better warranty the car.

See, thats what i dont get....The SI is marketed as a performance model. Its designed with fast or at least spirited driving in mind. If they didnt expect you to run it to redline, then they should state so in the users manual and/or give you a substantially shorter warranty. Id be screaming to be BBB and any other local dealerships till it gets taken care of under warranty cuz thats TOTAL bs!!

[vankuen]

Actually, even if it was a mis-shift, the rev limiter would/should catch it. The rev limiter works based on where the RPMS are at, not if you got there from downshifting or simply revving it to the moon. It will cut off the fuel just after the 8k, however the mechanical speed can still exceed the engine's capability.

I've mis-shifted from 5th to 2nd (intending to go to 4th) while on the HIGHWAY going around 65-70...I caught in a split second though, and immediately stuck the clutch. So no (obvious) damage was done to my rods or valves, etc.

The damage might even be able to be repaired...what other damage was there besides the connecting rod? Cylinder wall damage? Floated valves? If it was only "one" rod...then that can be easily rebuilt, relatively speaking.

[Kakashi]

i dont remember right, but i believe a honda tech on these forums said that the Event Data Recorder is used for safety/accident purposes only. Also, if she is being completly honest about her Si just breaking down like that while driving normally..

Gripe and whine at them till they fix it under warranty. But i guess she could do that even if she did mis-shift. Try calling Honda's corporate number.

*shrug*

[skittleslegend]

I'd call Honda corporate and speak with their customer relations folks to see about what to do. I'd also check with another dealership, or possibly the insurance company to see if there's anything they can do about it.

[CaliGuy]

Originally Posted by bubbletop1961

That blows. Honda ever tries to screw me like that youll probably here me yelling where your at. Its not like your talking about a kia with a 100 hp motor. Its a performance model with a performance engine. Its intended to be driven hard. People are going to miss shifts every once and a while. Who cares what the ecu says. They better warranty the car.

I must respectfully disagree with you (if in fact she mis shifted, which is highly likely). A mis shift is your fault and no car can handle being revved to some hell rpm...Why should Honda pay for someone elses mistake?

Now, if it was not a mis shift (which I doubt) then yes they should fix it...but when user error causes it your on your own.

And yes, this totally blows for the driver...big time...but how did bad workmanship, quality, etc cause her engine to throw a rod?

Oh and the rev limiter will not and does not catch mis shifts (the owners manual clearly states this)...

[F.I.A.T]

what you guys dont realize is that a mis shift can not be caught by the factory ecm. it will cut fuel but the engines compression from the higher rpms it just got dumped into because you put the shifter into the wrong gear will not help you. when you see 8500 you might ctually have been over 10k rpm if you check it in the ecm since it will register and record much faster than the stock dash will display

[dobiejoe]

This is what I would do but keep in mind im a di@k!
If i missed shifted i would not expect them to fix it and would even fess up.

If it just blew cruising down the road I would not pay. Since I have Honda Financing I would call them and tell them to come pick it up, I dont want it anymore since it blew up. hey would fix it then. What the hell would they do with it then. I did this on my wifes 05 kia van.

And for those that say "what about your credit" I could give a sh!t. Thats what lawyers and cash are for. On my wifes van they tried to put it on my credit as a late for 60 days and it cost 700 and my lawyer got it off. Worth it to me for pride.

[kero]

Wow that sux, still sounds like it should be covered but we don't know all the details.

If it just broke down like stated, sounds like a warranty issue.