Is A Honda Civic Worthy Of An Engine Replacement?

By Author: lowmileageengines
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In my many years of work in the automotive parts industry, I've had the chance to speak with customers from all walks of life: Rich men putting used engines into hobby cars, single mothers doing the same for their daily driver, and other folks from every status in between. One of the common questions of late has been phrased o me in many different ways, but is at its core simple. Folks want to know if their Honda Civic is worthy of an engine replacement. No, I'm not talking about import tuners, but rather I'm talking about folks who are using a Honda Civic to get to and from work every day.

Let's define what we're talking about first. There have been eight generations of Honda Civics. Generation Six ran from 1996-2000, Generation Seven ran 2001-2005, and the current Generation Eight has run 2006 through the present. If you have an older Civic, good luck to you in your engine replacement. I have no expertise on Honda Civic used engines in that era, and I don't wish to make a fool of myself. Thus, I will only be writing about the engines used in generations six through eight.

Generation Six Honda Civics ...
... are famous because they introduced the radical and much copied VTEC engine onto the 1.6L D16 platform. Everyone copied this - Toyota, Nissan, Chevy, etc. Everybody. And some companies only copied it a decade later. VTEC is an acronym for Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control. In a nutshell, it's a way to make an engine more powerful without making it bigger. And it worked. The D16Y8 engine (otherwise known as the VTEC) gets 127 horsepower, while the D16Y7 base engine of the same size caps out at 102 horsepower. The VTEC-E D16Y5 engine gets a respectable 115 horsepower, and was only used in the HX coupe.

So are gen six Civics worthy of engine replacement? If the suspension and transmission are in good shape, yes! However, take note that tuners love Generation Six Civic engines so much that these engines are expensive used, and there are very few low mileage units available. In fact, if you have a generation six Civic with a bad engine, I do not recommend you spend hours looking through used engines to find what you need, but rather that you simply purchase a remanufactured engine. There's just nothing left.

Generation Seven Civic engines were built on the 1.7L D17 platform. The base model D17A1 engine has a respectable 115 horsepower, while the HX VTEC-E lean burn D17A6 engine has 117 horsepower. The champion is, of course, the EX with its D17A2 engine pulling 127 horsepower. Generation seven Civics are almost always worthy of replacement, and there is a great supply of low mileage used engines available for them - no remans required.

Finally, we'll talk about Generation Eight. It goes without saying that unless you've mangled the car beyond recognition, these are worthy of engine replacement, and that there are more used engines for these than you can shake a stick at. The 1.8L R18A1 i-VTEC engine pulls an impressive 140 horsepower, while the DOHC 2.0L K20Z3 i-VTEC engine throws an incredible 197 horsepower.

I hope this article has been informative about your engine replacement options on generation six-eight Honda Civics. If you need an engine, good luck in your search.

About Us:- There are several ways to pickle used engines, the most common being to pull the spark plugs and put a moisture displacing lubricant inside of it, turn the engine, and then put the spark plugs back in.