Honda Civic 1999 Help
Posted in Internal Engine Parts | Asked on Dec 5, 2011
I have (had) a 1999 honda civic that had about 121,000 miles on it. I bought it used about 4 years ago. I haven’t really had any problems with it. It had been driving fine. I have always been within my oil changes. I always look for signs of anything going on and was told by my mechanic that I have been taking great care of the car. On Saturday I brought it to Honda for an oil change. They said that my battery was testing really low and that I needed it replaced. I did not want to get it at Honda because they wanted around 130 dollars there. I went to Sears Auto and bought the specified battery for my car. The guy said that the battery should be an easy install if I wanted to have someone swap it out. I decided to forgo the installation charges and have my future brother in law do it. He was trying to get the old battery out and the bolts were pretty rusted. The battery was about 6 or 7 years old. He tried some penetration oil and some baking soda and tried to get rid of the corrosion. We couldnt get the last bolt off so we decided to just give up. We bolted down the old battery and it wouldnt start. In the morning I got the car jumped so I could go to work. It was fine on the way to work (about an hour drive) I got there no problem. Right when I parked the car a little bit of white-ish smoke came from the hood. I freaked and called my Dad and he said it was probably just the oil burning off. I got it jumped again so that I could go from work to Sears to have them swap out the battery. On the way there it started to smoke a little bit and come in the vents. I wasnt sure if it had to do with the oil burning or something else. Didnt see any gauges high or anything. Pulled over and had it towed. I told Sears that I couldnt get the old battery out. They put the new battery in by using bolt cutters and were really having a hard time with getting it out. I could see about 4 guys struggling..Anyway they said the car was done. It was making a loud sorta of revving sound and I asked the guy if that was normal. He said: “Oh yeah probably just the new battery” I said okay thank you so much!!! And left. I was leaving and on the highway when the cars temp gauge went right up over the H and started to smoke really badly. The smoke was really coming into the vents and out the hood and I had to shut the car off and jump out. I had it towed AGAIN to a mechanic …a different guy ..they said the radiator blew and that it blew the head gasket in the engine. I am baffled by the whole thing because I havent had any problems with the car at all. I find it sorta funny that right after I leave ( could have been my brother in law too but I really dont think so because we didnt even take the old battery out) it started to overheat so badly and now the car is dead. Is it possible Sears hit a radiator hose or disturbed some other things in the process that caused the damage? Or is this completely unrelated?
I am just so confused..
Also , not like its a huge deal but when the tow truck came to get me and looked under the hood just to see where it was coming from he literally just picked up the terminals/ bolts
….they never even bolted the new battery down at Sears. Dont know if thats important???
Also, if I was having radiator problems prior to the battery fiasco they should have picked up on it at Honda when I got the oil change? It says they looked at all of the hoses and everything.
There are 3 Answers for "Honda Civic 1999 Help"
A 1999 Civic… 121,XXX miles… Something is bound to happen. I love Honda’s have on of my own, but with an older model and it being a civic the lowest Honda, i would expect something to happen; specially if whoever had it before you got on it alot. Either way i don’t know for sure that Sears did it, since it started smoking b4 they touched it. It is probably all just a coincidence, to be honest.
Wow…this sucks…first off. i would make sure its the head gasket, radiator, etc…one at a time..first thing first…when the engine is cold, take the cap off and refill with water…leave cap off and start engine..look for any leaks also look down into the radiator=look to see if the coolant is circulating…it should not until the thermostat opens=5 minutes…..if it has a blown head gasket you will see bubbles, coolant coming back out the radiator,,engine running rough….white smoke coming out the pipe after the engine is warm=all cars have white smoke during first startup when cold…i believe that when you brother in law accidental cut the hose…that’s why you seen smoke coming through the vents,,,after that YOU overheated it..but remember these cars come with steel gaskets and its very rare for a head gasket to blow…but will if over heated/////
It sounds like a number of things went wrong all at once. At 120,000 miles the battery was probably just worn out. Or your alternator needed to be replaced especially considering the mileage. As for the car overheating, it sounds like someone loosened a radiator hose and the pressure blew it off. Honda engines are reliable, but not robust when they overheat.
The same thing happened to my brother’s car when he took it to Sears. They didn’t connect the radiator hoses correctly and he blew a head gasket on the freeway.
It could be your brother in laws fault or it could be Sears fault. It is hard to determine. If your brother in law accidentally loosened a radiator hose, the Sears mechanic might have missed it because he wasn’t looking for radiator issues, he was doing a battery job. On the other hand a new guy on the job might have made a rookie mistake.