FYI for Civic '01 Owners (7th gen/ES): Defective sensor causing engine stalling

[vinj]

Just FYI to the Civic ES (7th gen) owners out there. I recently found out that there is a defect to the Top Dead Center (TDC) sensor of this model with both the 1500 and 1600 engines.

The symptom I experienced is while you're driving, you'll feel a sudden engine cut with the engine (even when you're running at speed or at high rpm) then the check engine light will turn on and your engine will just lose power and eventually shut down. If you start the engine, it will start normally and run again but the problem may recur until you park and give the engine some idle time. In my case it happened when I was driving Kennon Road at the dead of the night (of all places)! I had to start the car several times before i eventually made it up to Baguio. I also did was some engine checks (look for loose vacuum hoses, sensor connections, spark plugs, etc). After i disconnected the battery to let the ECU reset and restarted the car, the problem did not occur again; i had an engine scan done and nothing came amiss... until the problem occured last week once more. When i brought the car to Honda Marikina, I was told of the defective TDC sensor and they changed the part for free (my car is an '01 model) and the problem was solved.

The defective TDC sensor basically mismanages the firing order, thus causing the engine to shut down even if you're revving it or driving at speed... IMO, this is dangerous as it can just cause the engine to shut off anytime; imagine what can happen if it occured in a situation where one is passing other cars on a two lane highway (which i was doing when it happened on my way up to Baguio). I don't know when and how this concern was addressed by Honda as my car had been serviced by the previous owner at the dealer until i bought it last year and the part was never changed (it was only changed when i brought it in and mentioned the problem).

Thus, my advise to ES owners there is to have check with their Honda dealer to see if their car is affected by the defective part. I also did a search on the other local Honda sites (CSG) and there was mention to the problem as well but i did not see any recall bulletins unlike with the fuel tank issue... (CMIIW)

[niky]

Might be one of those "secret" defects like the Lynx ignition coil... which was redesigned due to the defect (new ones seem perfect...), but no local recall was issued.

[speedyfix]

yeah, also sometimes the cam angle sensor is at fault. just fixed a problem like that last week on an ES. no way to read the code without an obdII reader though.

[an0nim0us]

Happened to our Civic once! could be the same problem.

Happened to our Lynx too, more than once - Cam sensor naman.

I hate this kind of problem, very inconvenient.

[Zdre_Wulf]

yes boss.. sakit yan nang honda... it took my offismate 3 moths to diagnose the system himself kasi di madidagnose nang honda... intermittent kasi... tapos research kami ayun... TDC nga.... dala nya oto sa honda... pinapalitan...ok na......

[afrasay]

Thanks for heads up, Vinj. Made it a sticky for everyone to see.

[pete_o_lim]

[quote=vinj;755225]Just FYI to the Civic ES (7th gen) owners out there. I recently found out that there is a defect to the Top Dead Center (TDC) sensor of this model with both the 1500 and 1600 engines.

The symptom I experienced is while you're driving, you'll feel a sudden engine cut with the engine (even when you're running at speed or at high rpm) then the check engine light will turn on and your engine will just lose power and eventually shut down. If you start the engine, it will start normally and run again but the problem may recur until you park and give the engine some idle time. In my case it happened when I was driving Kennon Road at the dead of the night (of all places)! I had to start the car several times before i eventually made it up to Baguio. I also did was some engine checks (look for loose vacuum hoses, sensor connections, spark plugs, etc). After i disconnected the battery to let the ECU reset and restarted the car, the problem did not occur again; i had an engine scan done and nothing came amiss... until the problem occured last week once more. When i brought the car to Honda Marikina, I was told of the defective TDC sensor and they changed the part for free (my car is an '01 model) and the problem was solved.

The defective TDC sensor basically mismanages the firing order, thus causing the engine to shut down even if you're revving it or driving at speed... IMO, this is dangerous as it can just cause the engine to shut off anytime; imagine what can happen if it occured in a situation where one is passing other cars on a two lane highway (which i was doing when it happened on my way up to Baguio). I don't know when and how this concern was addressed by Honda as my car had been serviced by the previous owner at the dealer until i bought it last year and the part was never changed (it was only changed when i brought it in and mentioned the problem).

Thus, my advise to ES owners there is to have check with their Honda dealer to see if their car is affected by the defective part. I also did a search on the other local Honda sites (CSG) and there was mention to the problem as well but i did not see any recall bulletins unlike with the fuel tank issue... (CMIIW) [/qu

[pete_o_lim]

[quote=pete_o_lim;879787]

Just FYI to the Civic ES (7th gen) owners out there. I recently found out that there is a defect to the Top Dead Center (TDC) sensor of this model with both the 1500 and 1600 engines.

The symptom I experienced is while you're driving, you'll feel a sudden engine cut with the engine (even when you're running at speed or at high rpm) then the check engine light will turn on and your engine will just lose power and eventually shut down. If you start the engine, it will start normally and run again but the problem may recur until you park and give the engine some idle time. In my case it happened when I was driving Kennon Road at the dead of the night (of all places)! I had to start the car several times before i eventually made it up to Baguio. I also did was some engine checks (look for loose vacuum hoses, sensor connections, spark plugs, etc). After i disconnected the battery to let the ECU reset and restarted the car, the problem did not occur again; i had an engine scan done and nothing came amiss... until the problem occured last week once more. When i brought the car to Honda Marikina, I was told of the defective TDC sensor and they changed the part for free (my car is an '01 model) and the problem was solved.

The defective TDC sensor basically mismanages the firing order, thus causing the engine to shut down even if you're revving it or driving at speed... IMO, this is dangerous as it can just cause the engine to shut off anytime; imagine what can happen if it occured in a situation where one is passing other cars on a two lane highway (which i was doing when it happened on my way up to Baguio). I don't know when and how this concern was addressed by Honda as my car had been serviced by the previous owner at the dealer until i bought it last year and the part was never changed (it was only changed when i brought it in and mentioned the problem).

Thus, my advise to ES owners there is to have check with their Honda dealer to see if their car is affected by the defective part. I also did a search on the other local Honda sites (CSG) and there was mention to the problem as well but i did not see any recall bulletins unlike with the fuel tank issue... (CMIIW) [/qu

i also experience same problem and i wrote a letter to honda shaw to definetely recall this defective part. i wrote them since dec '06 as of this writing no word from them... imagine cruising at high speed on dark strong rain and suddently engine shuts down with your family on board. honda shaw doesn't seem to care might as well file a suit....

[vinj]

[quote=pete_o_lim;879798]

i also experience same problem and i wrote a letter to honda shaw to definetely recall this defective part. i wrote them since dec '06 as of this writing no word from them... imagine cruising at high speed on dark strong rain and suddently engine shuts down with your family on board. honda shaw doesn't seem to care might as well file a suit....

When i bought my car, the previous owner had it serviced with Honda Shaw, (and it was done every 5,000kms until i bought the unit with 50,000kms) and they never changed the part. I would suggest you seek another dealer as it seems also that Honda Shaw has a bad reputation for service as well... Mine was done by Honda in Marikina w/o any questions when i presented to them what the problem was (some peeps used to suggest Honda Kalookan to me before). Yes it is a dangerous problem if it happens to your car, as i earlier related... mine shut off when i was passing a slow truck and jeep on Kennon Road, just right after the Lions Head, at 11 in the evening!

[jopet26]

thanks a lot for this thread since we do have a plan to buy a 2nd hand automatic ES. how i wonder what other problem does ES have so we can check on hand... ty

[marv25]

Is the problem still present on a 2004 Vti M/T? It happened once na while turning at a small intersection and changing gear from 2nd to 1st since there was a hump the RPM dropped for no good reason to about 500RPM, and the battery light was illuminated na, and when the gas pedal was immediately stepped on, the RPM went up and the engine was immediately revved to about 6kRPM, then everything was normal. This only happened once.

[Bernard Ferrer]

Just FYI to the Civic ES (7th gen) owners out there. I recently found out that there is a defect to the Top Dead Center (TDC) sensor of this model with both the 1500 and 1600 engines.

The symptom I experienced is while you're driving, you'll feel a sudden engine cut with the engine (even when you're running at speed or at high rpm) then the check engine light will turn on and your engine will just lose power and eventually shut down. If you start the engine, it will start normally and run again but the problem may recur until you park and give the engine some idle time. In my case it happened when I was driving Kennon Road at the dead of the night (of all places)! I had to start the car several times before i eventually made it up to Baguio. I also did was some engine checks (look for loose vacuum hoses, sensor connections, spark plugs, etc). After i disconnected the battery to let the ECU reset and restarted the car, the problem did not occur again; i had an engine scan done and nothing came amiss... until the problem occured last week once more. When i brought the car to Honda Marikina, I was told of the defective TDC sensor and they changed the part for free (my car is an '01 model) and the problem was solved.

The defective TDC sensor basically mismanages the firing order, thus causing the engine to shut down even if you're revving it or driving at speed... IMO, this is dangerous as it can just cause the engine to shut off anytime; imagine what can happen if it occured in a situation where one is passing other cars on a two lane highway (which i was doing when it happened on my way up to Baguio). I don't know when and how this concern was addressed by Honda as my car had been serviced by the previous owner at the dealer until i bought it last year and the part was never changed (it was only changed when i brought it in and mentioned the problem).

Thus, my advise to ES owners there is to have check with their Honda dealer to see if their car is affected by the defective part. I also did a search on the other local Honda sites (CSG) and there was mention to the problem as well but i did not see any recall bulletins unlike with the fuel tank issue... (CMIIW)

Sir,,, na eexperience ko din to.. walang mekaniko may alam. nagpalit na ako ng cam sensor, lumabas pa din ung sira. sinu name nung HONDA Marikina na mekanio mo Sir? and anung free ung TDC replacement ? free pa din kahit old model?


thanks Sir sana reply ka agad