Hi, I’m Tony. Meet my 2003 Honda Civic DX Coupe. I named her “D,” short for DX. The milage as of February 2018 is 209,xxx miles and counting. Honda’s are know for being some of the most reliable cars, so I’m curious to see how many miles I can get out of mine. As of now, I’m setting a goal of 300,000 miles, will it make it?
My Civic was running great and then one day, the engine started to stall. It felt like a misfire and the ‘check engine,’ light came on. So I went online to check the boards, went thru the chat rooms, watched some videos and did some research. All signs pointed to the spark plugs. I made a trip down to Auto Zone to buy some brand new ‘Platinum NGK’s’ for my Civic, but they didn’t have them. I didn’t like how my car was running, so I bought some Bosch Platinums that they had. Went home and put them in my engine; the car ran fine after that.
I purchased my Civic in 2014 with 167,xxx miles. This was the first time I had changed out the spark plugs at 209,xxx miles in 2018.
OEM D17 1.7 Liter Engine Dead @ 215,ooo miles
It’s been a while and a few miles since my last update. So I’m gonna fill you in. The original D17 engine that came in my Civic had over 215,000 miles on it and it was still in working condition. I would drive it to work and back (25 miles one way, 50 miles roundtrip) and it was still reliable, but at that point it did have its share of problems. One of the biggest problems was that the engine would overheat. That combined with a major oil leak really made me think about what I was going to do next. Should I repair my car? Save money to buy a new one? The options were pricey and endless. The repair on the head gasket was quoted around $800 USD. That would not fix the oil leak. The cost of the oil leak repair, my guess-timate was $200 to $400. Luckily, I searched the internet and I found JDM Motors in Long Beach, Ca. They had a D17 Vtec engine that I picked up for $660.
