Honda Recall: Tires falling off.

[Mahnarch]

I'm a huge Honda fan.
If anyone ever asks me what's the #1 car I'd recommend I always say "Honda" without a split second of hesitation.

Then, the usual questions are: What year and what model?
Answer: Pick one.

Honda has always been a great car - great mileage, low cost, great 'other' mileage (200k+....25 years ago).

But, I ran into this terrifying article lately, and if you own a new Honda Civic you should keep a heads-up.

www.autoblog.com/2007/09/14/wheels-could-fall-off-on-182-000-recalled-honda-civics/

'Honda Civics are generally respected as reliable transportation, and aren't supposed to be prone to things like, say, wheels falling off. But that's the reason Honda is recalling more than 182,000 of them made in 2006-2007.

Honda says the trouble comes from a leaky O-ring in the wheel speed sensor. Water could damage the wheel bearing, which could result in one of the four wheels falling off, "possibly resulting in a crash." Ya think?

Owners of the affected Civics can expect a note in the mail from Honda, offering to fix the problem and replace any damaged parts.'

[Demona]

LOL!!! You said leaky O-Ring! That's definately trouble alright!

Anyway, you'd think they'd check it out in the process of making the cars before sending them out, they must know what to look for as far as defective parts go.

[Mahnarch]

Not always, though.

You know how Mi. winters are.
Salt, mud, water, etc.

Factories usually test things out in 'controlled' environments but they never throw liquid salt at the seals.

A fellow tech went to a seminar in St. Louis once and they had a class on 'Shock Absorber Replacement'.

My buddy was set against the clock in a 'game' to see who could replace a set of shocks in the shortest time.

All the Southern guys kept wrenching the nuts off the studs whereas my bud just grabbed a socket and extension and levered the shock stud back and forth, until it broke off.

He had new shocks installed in 20 minutes.
The southern guys were still working at getting the nuts off.

Seeing the display, the St. Louis instructor asked how my buddy knew to break the studs off, my buddy said, "You've never lived in Michigan, have you?"

We're in the rust belt.
Tests are done in MS.

[thunderbird]

Honda Shmonda.

I never buy imports!! I know much of the Japanese manufactured autos are now being built in the United States but that doesn't console me. sadly I think thats when the foreign companies started having troubles though

We're a pretty loyal Ford family. And we currently own over 80 of them and dating back to the start of our business to when my father started it we have owned over 400 Fords. There've been a few that weren't great but none bad enough to sour us.

And rust and wheel bearings blowing apart at driving speeds are no laughing matters no matter what kind of car you have.

[Phil]

I remember times Classic has posted that your business has over 70 trucks. You must have a big business. Always Fords. You should own stock in the Ford Motor Company. Maybe you do.

I sometimes drive utility trucks at work. The newer trucks are mostly diesel except for the f150 models.
Some are Fords some are Chevys, GMC, Dodge but I think the majority are Ford.

Any recall like that is a little bit scary. Who ever thinks of a wheel falling off? Breakdown should occurr to all of us but disasterous stuff? Not really.

I was partially miffed there was a recall on my wife's car. A Buick LeSabre the intake manifold gaskets and upper manifold scoop is plastic and I guess its common for that to leak antifreeze. Her's didn't but we sent it in anyway because if there was ever a greater problem I woudn't have wanted to void the warrenty. 'There was a recall and you received a notice and you didn't act upon it.' And they would have a point. So you should act upon it even if yours is not malfunctioning.

[Mahnarch]

HA! Phil, do you know how many of those plastic intakes I've replaced?

Alot.

I was the 'Guru' of those things back when I worked at the garage.
Had my technique down to about 49mins. if I wanted to rush.

The '96 and newer GM trucks with the 5.7L had the same deal with the intake gaskets.
I used to just leave my tools on the end stall (flat stall, no hoist) bench because we had them in so often.

Glad you got yours in before the intake went caput and she siezed the engine.
Coolant in the oil will burn up Main and Rod bearings in a matter of minutes - It's like sandpaper to them.

[Blastgirl]

My Dad has a 2000 Grand Prix and I have a Monte Carlo and Dannyboy changed that on both cars.
I don't know what that is other than it's at the top of the engine but I guess it's a design flaw my Dad feels that if they hadn't made that part of plastic it wouldn't have been an issue at all.

[Mahnarch]

The Mercury Grand Marquis and Ford Crown Victoria 4.6L had the same type of issue with their intakes, except theirs leaked to the outside - spraying right on the backside of the alternator.....

Motorcraft fixed that by replacing that section of the intake manifold with aluminum casting.

[Classicblast]

phil said:

I remember times Classic has posted that your business has over 70 trucks. You must have a big business. Always Fords. You should own stock in the Ford Motor Company. Maybe you do.

My father has always bought Fords and since driving age Thunderbird, me and our other brother always have too. Blastgirl has a Monte Carlo and it's very nice but I didn't technically buy that so I've always owned Fords.

There is some business truck trivia about that though. About 12 years ago a runaway bulldozer ruined 5 parked trucks at the construction yard. My father and later Thunderbird have always ordered their trucks a specific way. This was more of an urgency because the trucks were ruined as opposed to being replaced for age and mileage.

So my dad had to buy 5 trucks right away. The Ford dealer he deals with only had 2 that would be suitable but they had 2 used Chevrolets and 1 used Dodge. And those trucks worked out fine but they were the wrong flavor for my father.

They were dependable and useful though.

[Blastgirl]

All kidding aside I couldn't imagine a car with a tires falling off recall.

I can deal with leaks, lock cylinders, power window trouble, even brake rotor noises but wheels falling off is a lot scarier.

[grape]

I don't have a car, but the Honda Civics really do seem like a bad case. I like some Honda designs but the recall sounds pretty concerning. My parents are planning to get a Honda Odyssey for the family. So, I feel a little concerned, because I like the Civic (right after the BMW M3 GT)

[Blastgirl]

Hondas have a great reputation as a well built car I'm sure this is a one time problem that will be resolved.

[Mahnarch]

Honda's usually right on the ball.

They'll probably get them all fixed and that'll be the end of it.
Not like GMs 'temporary' fix on those intakes......

They replaced a poorly designed plastic intake with poorly designed plastic intakes....
How long did your first one last?

*enter scary music*

lol, just giving a 'heads up' for just in case.