1991 Honda Civic LX review from North America

The timing belt snapped while driving on the freeway in 1997. I was in the process of accelerating to normal cruise speed (55 miles per hour) when I lost power. Amazingly the engine survived!I replaced it at the Honda dealer and the car continued to drive wonderfully.

I recently replaced the second timing belt, but something else malfunctioned.

And that malfunction was due to a bad piston ring which cracked. The engine now runs roughly with oil burning and reduced power. A splitshot plug placed within the bad cylinder makes little difference in performance. A local mechanic indicated that the only solution is to rebuild the old engine or replace it.

A third problem was the tendency of the tail light fixtures to fill up with rainwater and burn out the bulbs. I replaced quite a few of these bulbs until I replaced the fixture gasket and re-tightened it carefully. This problem has been gone for nearly six years now.

After more than ten years and nearly 187,000 miles of driving, my 1991 Honda Civic sedan is no more. It is very unfortunate for it has been my only Honda and I bought it from my sister who acquired it at a dealer in Bakersfield, California in 1991. She gave me a great deal on purchase. I just paid $4500.00 for it. And this was in 1994. The car had 76,000 miles on the odometer at the time.

It is both a smooth driving and very comfortable vehicle. The body is in fairly good shape. Only some extensive rust around one of the wheel wells. The paint while pretty (it is called Celestial Blue Pearl) has a bad tendency to peel. Most of it is gone from the top of the car. I got the rear of the car fixed and repainted in 1997 after someone damaged my trunk while a waiting at a stoplight. That makes the car look real nice. Almost brand new!

Some interior fabric that is exposed to the sun has faded, but the rest looks very good since I made use of car seat covers and sunshades.

I had hoped this car would make it to 200,000 miles, but the cracked piston ring within one the of cylinders causes the vehicle to run roughly while doing stop-and-go driving within the city limits. It drives better and more smoothly on the freeway. I will miss this car very much, that is, unless I can sell my 1992 Toyota Corolla (80,000 miles on the odometer) for enough to replace with a new engine. But I think that is unrealistic.