Mark: Hi, it’s Mark from Top Local Lead Generation, we’re with Bernie Pawlik, Vancouver’s best auto repair service experience, Pawlik Automotive. They are 16 time winners of Best Auto Repair in Vancouver as voted by their customers. How’re you doing today Bernie?
Bernie: I’m doing very well.
Mark: So, we’re going to talk about a Honda Civic, now this is a little bit unique. You did an engine replacement on a Honda, that’s kind of different. What happened?
Bernie: Yeah, so we replaced an engine on a Honda. It’s a little unusual. Basically it’s a 2006 Honda Civic, came to us for a maintenance service and it had a coolant leak so we pressure tested the cooling system and we found the engine block was actually split and was leaking coolant right out of the engine block. I’ll just go straight into sharing a couple photos because it’s interesting to look at here. Now are you seeing this? Ok - so that’s the front of the engine block on the Honda Civic, that sort of dark reddish thing you see up above with the two bolt holes, that’s the exhaust, that’s where the exhaust manifold bolts up to the engine. The red arrow points to the area where the coolant was leaking and you can see a bit of a bluish discolouration below it, that’s the Honda antifreeze. Now here’s a closer up view of that area and you can see the bluish stain now, the crack is actually not visible and I kind of regret not taking a photo when we had the pressure tester because you could see coolant spraying out but that red arrow points to the leak, it’s on that sort of casting web of the engine was where the coolant was leaking out so basically nothing you can do about that but replace the engine.
Mark: So is that a common occurrence on this kind of motor?
Bernie: Well strangely enough it is, although this is the first time we’ve ever seen it and prior to this week I would of told you that Honda engines are bullet proof and they pretty much are, but this is a common occurrence on this engine and actually Honda has issued a TSB. They’ve extended the warranty on this vehicle to ten years for any engine problem for this particular issue - 2006 to 2009 model years.
Mark: So you know that is a common occurrence because of the, how do you know that it’s a common occurrence if you guys haven’t seen it that often?
Bernie: Well, what I judge as a common occurrence, even though our shop is growing, we’re still a pretty small shop, I mean we don’t do Honda’s all day long so, there’s a whole world of things that happen that we don’t see. But the first thing you do, our junior technician, he’s the one that did the diagnosis, he looked up, looked for technical service bulletins which is something that we do in our business and found a bulletin for this particular issue and there’s a 10 year warranty. So sadly enough for the customer, we got the repair job because this vehicle is just a few months out of the warranty period. Sadly for the customer, it’s too bad it didn’t happen four months ago because then he would of got the engine job done for free. So once there is a technical service bulletin issued that becomes a common problem because manufacturers identified there are issues and they need to rectify, they need to deal with it and they tell their service departments and the general public that this is something that needs to be done and this is how you fix it.
Mark: So no warranty on this vehicle, I guess it was, what kind of motor did you replace this faulty engine with?
Bernie: We got a good used engine, it was a low mileage used engine. I don’t anticipate that they’re going to see any problem with this engine. Obviously it’s used and you’d think well it might happen again and yes, it could possibly. But these engines besides this issue were incredibly reliable and we do work on a lot of these Honda’s and this is the first time we’ve seen one. So, just to go a little further just because it’s a bullet, doesn’t mean every single one of these cars has the problem, it’s just a more frequent occurrence than it should and that’s why Honda extended the warranty to give good will to their customers.
Mark: So is there anything that a Honda owner can do to prevent this from happening?
Bernie: No, it’s just basically a manufacturing defect that will show up on some engines and just to keep in mind if you have a 2006 to a 2009 Civic and the engine block splits, there’s a good chance that you’ve got a warranty. Although with the 2006 model, again that time is passing so by the end of the year it will be in the 2007 range. You can do the math. So yeah nothing you can do just, change your oil, flush you cooling system, change your fluids and do your service. These are very reliable cars, they’re excellent.
Mark: So if you need some service on your Honda Civic on your Honda anything, these are the guys to call in Vancouver, Pawlik Automotive 604-327-7112 to book, they’re busy give them a call or check out the website pawlikautomotive.com. Remember Vancouver’s best auto repair service experience. Thanks Bernie
Bernie: Thanks Mark, talk to you soon.
