My Honda Civic engine block was replaced at roughly 98k miles due to an engine mold defect. The car was built in Ontario. At the time of engine failure, no warning lights came on and the engine died. Fast forward 16 months. After driving fine, yesterday the engine suddenly started to sound like a dirt bike. Again, no warning indicators. Having fought tooth and nail to get my Honda dealer to fix the engine block in 2014, I decided to take the car to my local mechanic this time. Almost made it! But on the way the engine started to smell bad and then cut out after stopping at a stop sign. I rolled to the side of the road and got AAA to tow it to the mechanic.

The news is that the tensioner bolt for the engine snapped, destroying the water pump and pulley (most likely due to improper materials). I am beyond mad and now waiting to hear if the dealer is going to cover the repairs, which are in the $1k range without even looking to see if there's more damage underneath the engine.

I knew exactly what it was this time. Lost power, and power steering and I had to get another tow. Car barely made it 3 weeks. I'm super pissed by now. It took the mechanic forever to drill the stupid bolt out of the engine. I keep hearing that there's a problem with the design of this belt. I can't believe my luck that the first Honda I buy turns out to be a piece of crap. I just feel like crying - or rolling it into a ditch. If anyone knows how to make this STOP happening, I would be your friend forever.

thanks

In 2009 Honda did a product update and replaced the tensioner belt. In November 2013, the tensioner belt broke off in the engine block. This had to be removed, replaced and the tensioner belt re-routed. Honda refuses to reimburse. They are saying there was not a recall and given the mileage on the car, 153,808, they wouldn't do anything about it. Despite the fact that the engineering of the design for this was faulty and despite the fact that they knew so enough to have a product update issued, they still accept no responsibility in their failure. I am livid.

I previously had a Honda Accord which got me 200,000 miles before I hit a deer, totaling the car. I had no problems outside replacing a motor for one of the electric windows and the usual brakes, engine belt, serpentine and water pump replacement which was known to be required maintenance when I purchased the car. At one point I reached a Honda rep who told me to submit my repair bill and they may reimburse. Now they are saying they have no responsibility especially given the high mileage. Hell, why would I buy a Honda if I didn't expect to get a lot of miles out of it!

About a month ago my car starting making a grinding sound while on a side street and before i even had a chance to pull over my car shutdown, no lights, no power steering; if i had been on the highway i could have been seriously injured. I had the car towed to my mechanic because it is out of warranty and i though my engine block had cracked like all of the other complaints. When i went back to my mechanic he showed me the serpentine bolt that had quite literally snapped in half. The cost of this with towing was roughly 550. Ever since it had been changed there has been a slight squealing while accelerating and idling also the lights in my car have been dimming while driving which is extremely distracting(my next complaint) also while driving today my airbag light came on while driving, this car has been in and out of the mechanic three times in a month and a half.. So ridiculous..Honda needs to step up and do something about this problem because it is wide spread and from what i read recurrent because it is a structural design problem.

This happened at a stopsign and the ar just died. Had it towed to mechanic, who "fixed" the problem. Bolt broke again a month or so later, paid to have it fixed again - took the guy 2 days, he had to fashion his own bolt. Finally realized there was a "campaign" on the issue which I never received. Brought it to a dealer and he refused to honor the campaign because he said my mechanic messed it up. Offered to repair for close to $400 - I had already paid almost that to my mechanic. Finally went about a year and it broke a few weeks ago again. Had to pay another $165 to my mechanic to fix again cause it had been more than a year. Now it just happened again 3 days ago!! Had to pay to have it towed to my mechanic since he would warranty the work. This is just total bullshit!! Thought about bringing to dealer to get it fixed "right" but after reading posts on here it seems there is no real solution and would be pointless to even pay the dealer! I HATE this car and will NEVER own another Honda EVER!!!!

I stopped at the red light in a dangerous neighborhood, and the engine suddenly went to 0 RPM (I am 100% I wasn't driving a hybrid). I turned it off and restarted the car, and the RPM would go up for about 10 seconds accompanied by loud metal-hitting noise under the hood, and RPM would drop to 0 again. Towed it to a nearby mechanic, said it was alternator at first, then realized the bolt snapped, and offered to repair it for $500+ because he said he's not sure how much time it would take for him to repair the thing. I thought that was too much, so I got it towed to a friend a bit farther away. Friend said this problem had happened on this vehicle already because he dug out the helio coil that was used by the previous mechanic to fix the problem, and it has happened again, so he thought fixing it this time would not do me much good. And suddenly another car owner has become a metal owner.

In 2009 I just happened to be driving within 1/4 mile of the dealer when it failed. There was a racket and smoke. They fixed it under a recall for free and gave a warranty for 12 months. 15 months later, it fails as I am pulling up to my house. Wow, just lucky both times. Had it failed on the highway I could have blown the motor!! This is just plain crappy design. The bolt fails from fatigue because its too slender for the load applied. It needs a larger diameter bolt or a super tough one. This will happen again and again!