2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker, 1st post...

I just turned over 182,000 miles on the '03 HCH 1, automatic transmission. The car has been as absolute dream to own since I got it with 14,000 miles from a Honda dealer. Ive always been nerdy about owning the car, and ive used the iphone app called Gas Cubby since '07 to track fuel purchases and mx expenses. Here are the details:

1 year of use (7/16/10 - 7/16/11)

Average MPG: 41.48
Maximum MPG: 55.28
Minimum MPG: 34.28
Total costs: $1011.22
Total miles: 12818.0
Total gallons: 308.98
Cost per mile: $0.08
Cost per gallon: $3.27
Cost per day: $2.77
Cost per fill up: $36.12
Gallons per fill up: 11.04
Miles per fill up: 457.79
Miles per day: 35.12
Miles per $: 12.68

Now I'll tell you what I've had to do to the car since i got it in '06:

EGR Valve @ 113,688
Shifter Cable @ 152,090 (This was a very uncommon mx issue. It turns out moisture got into the shifter cable between the transmission and the shift lever. I lived with it for about 3 years before it got so bad the car wouldnt shift out of park one day. Dealer replaced the cable to the tune of $467.71 and it has shifted as smooth as a baby's butt ever since.)
12 volt battery @ 158,474

...and thats it for unscheduled mx!

Ive done the oil every 10K miles and the transmission every 25k, but the caveat to that is after i got the car, i drove the same transmission fluid for 110,000 miles before i saw a maintenance schedule and thought "yikes! I better have that done."

I opted to use the dealer as little as possible for the 180,000 mile service because its a BIGGIE. Here is what i did for that:

K&N Air Filter from sparkplugs.com @ 37.49
Cabin Air Filters from sparkplugs.com @ 14.09
8 spark plugs from sparkplugs.com @ 26.08
Two new front tires from mom & pop tire shop @ 154.13
Alignment (dealer performed) @ 69.95
Oil change (dealer performed) @ 36.17
Transmission fluid service (dealer performed) @ 86.95
Valve adjustment, which i did using a step-by-step tutorial i found on this site, YEAH!! Prior to the adjustment people commented my car sounded like an unoiled industrial sewing machine. After i did the adjustment, all you hear is the whirring of the fan & belts. Love it!

I also replaced the 6" front speaker in the drivers door that blew years ago and would make an awful flapping sound when you turned up the volume. I used Pioneer TS-G1643R 6.5" speakers from Best Buy @ 42.49

The dealer had quoted me approx 7-800 for the 180,000 service, and that DID NOT include new plugs and labor to change them. He quoted the plugs at 12.99 each and about 200 in labor! No way, i'll do it myself!

I was able to get out the door with all of the above costing $467.35

A couple of cool details about the car:

It still has it's original brakes, and they're looking fine. I use regenerative braking to slow as much as possible before i put real pressure on the brake pedal.

I only replace two tires at a time, and i get about 3 years out of each tire.

Never had a single problem with the hybrid system.

Occasionally i'll get the check engine light comes on, but it goes out within two tanks of gas. I used to get concerned about it but now its nothing more than an annoyance that doesnt affect mileage.

Sometimes you'll be at JUST the right throttle setting and grade of the road and you'll feel it lurch in and out of the assist motor kicking on and off. Just goose it a little.

The car has been involved in a few accidents that required repair and bodywork. Its been hit, tapped, scraped, spun around into a guardrail in the snow and each time it comes right back like a trooper.

The leading edge of the hood has quite a few chips of missing paint from the highway.

All in all, i would say this is a FANTASTIC CAR to own. Extremely forgiving of owner neglect (some say i procrastinate at times ;) ) and it feels GREAT to only have to shell out about 35 bucks each time you hit the pump. Every now and then I eyeball my buddy's Toyota Tundra longingly, but when i ask him what a fillup costs and how often it happens i nearly choke.

The ONE thing thats bugging me on this particular car is the A/C compressor pulley wobbles occasionally when the A/C is not turned on. It'll be idling quietly and this warbling rattle will rise and fall in tempo over about 5-10 seconds. The air still blows cold so i say "1500 to make a rattle go away? Nope, cant justify it."
I wish the **** thing would just BREAK already so i could justify getting it fixed.

The one last thing i think im going to do is add a native iPod input to the audio so i can listen to my iphone directly through the audio system instead of using the FM charger/adapter cable i have now. Its worse than listening to AM!

That's it! Hope someone finds this post useful!

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

Thanks for your post.

I also bought my '04 HCH (CVT) used from a Honda dealer when it had just shy of 27,000 miles on the odometer.
It's good to hear from someone whose car is serving them well.

Thanks again for the info, and best of luck with the car in the future.

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

Update: 186,000 miles

Well, I've had to put some more money into the car. It turns out that wobbly compressor pulley got worse and worse until my nerves just couldn't take it anymore. If that clutch pulley let go it was going to compromise the entire serpentine belt system, and that was a risk I couldn't take. I went to the dealer and they wound up replacing the entire compressor assembly for $1100.00. I had originally requested they replace just the clutch but the service guy said that it's just a little bit more money to replace the entire compressor and with the car being as old as it is..."today the compressor clutch, tomorrow the compressor." So I went with the whole enchilada.

I was very happy with the repair. Then, five days later I notice the transmission is making a little grunting sound every time I accelerate from a stop. This went on for the afternoon as I drove around town. What finally prompted me to pop the hood was I could hear the electric assist motor screaming with each acceleration no matter how mild. That was a new sound for me, so when I stopped for gas I opened the hood and found transmission fluid sprayed everywhere!

I backed the car into a spot and called AAA to bring a wrecker and have it taken to the dealer. As I was waiting, I started digging around under the hood to see if I could find where the source of the leak was. I stuck my hand way down towards the bottom rear of the radiator to check the transmission oil cooler hoses to make sure they hadn't slipped off, and when I wiggled one of them, the entire fitting crumbled in my hand from corrosion! Off came the hose, the aluminum fitting the hose slips on to, and the nut assembly from the radiator. As soon as it broke you heard it puke out the last of the transmission fluid. On a scary sidenote, the kid working at the gas station was trying to tell me I could still drive it home with no ATF in it, then he was trying to sell me a quart of ATF "to get me home" for $15.00, offered to fill it with no idea how to really check it as it filled, and then, when I politely declined all of his "services" he got pissed and told me the car better not be there when he got back to the station in the morning.

The dealer replaced the radiator and refilled the ATF and radiator fluid for $496.00. I'm not HAPPY about that, but considering the car was LONG overdue for a radiator fluid service and was coming due for an ATF service, those were kind of like freebies for me. I'd be 40 times more pissed if I had had the radiator and ATF serviced a week ago and watched it all spill out onto the pavement.

It's still my baby, and I'm still in with this car for the LONG haul.

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

Amazing the car made it to that sort of mileage without the start clutch acting up (judder). An awful lot of 2003 HCH 1's have judder problems at or before 100K miles, sometimes much earlier than that.

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

Did they make the CVT in 2003 or is it a normal automatic? H

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

Just a side note about the plugs:

I've heard from several sources the spark plug electrodes have to be facing a certain way when snugged down, and the thread milling for the spark plugs in the head varies from hole to hole, so the factory stamps a number 1-4 for each cylinder and the replacement plug must carry the correct number to match. If the numbers are mismatched the electrodes will face wrong.

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

They only offered the CVT and the manual.

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

CVT for the hybrid, normal automatic for the regular non-hybrid Civic that year.

(Ha...same timing on the responses!)

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

Questions for Dan,

Do you live in an area where there's a lot of bad weather (rain, snow, salted roads) that might have caused that part to rust out, or do you think the hoses just got brittle from being old? Does your car still have the plastic shielding covering the underside of the engine compartment?

Re: 2003 HCH 1 @ 182,000 miles
 

I live in Massachusetts, more specifically the semi-mountainous western part of the state. There is no doubt in my mind the salt from the roads in the winter contributed to the corrosion that rotted that fitting. I do my best to wash it when I can in wintertime, but even with a washing, as soon as you pull out of the car wash and hit the road, you're re-exposing the car to salt.

The car DOES still have the plastic shielding underneath. I'm glad it was there when the oil transmission cooler line leaked because I was able to find the greatest concentration of fluid on the topside of that plastic shield which led me to the rotted fitting.