2016 Civic engine recall - piston pin snap ring issue affecting some VINs

[sdfrades]

Recalls are public record and disclosed to the government, who accepts or reject the manufacturer's plan of action. Accepted ones are documented not just by the manufacturer but by the NHTSA. They are also documented by the manufacturer. Honda's public statement about this one went live very recently (like last several hours):

http://hondanews.com/releases/state...ip-recall-2016-civic-sedan?query=civic+recall

I'm expecting to see the NHTSA listing soon. But it's not there yet.

Honda lists the site www.recalls.honda.com as a place to determine if your Civic is affected. Inputting my VIN results in "There are no current safety recalls for this vehicle.". Conversations I have had with Honda corporate and the dealer told me my VIN 'is' one that needs to be checked.

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[lalajuju]

My VIN number on the https://www.honda.ca/recalls site does the same thing (... not working properly). Looks lie the Canadian site has not been updated to deal with the changes in the 2016 VINs. I have found NO site that lists my CIVIC EX 2.0L as part of a 'Recall' yet I know it IS. Honda has not made the information publicly available. It has been reported to the US NHTSA.

Here is the key posting: http://www.civicx.com/threads/2016-...e-affecting-some-vins.1669/page-15#post-23965
It contains links to the original memo from Honda to the Dealers (Jan 30, 2016) and the original Service Bulletin 16-017.

No, actually canadian recall site seems to be updated as I noted down few VINs from local dealer lot and entered that in the honda canada recall site and all of them came out with recall notice. However the dealer gave me two VINs from the lot that he said are not part of the recalls, the service manager also showed on his system that those two VINs showed no entry under "outstanding campaigns". So I got good confidence in them but when I punch in those two VINs at home on honda canada recall sites I get this (I would have expected an explicit no recall message):
"
The VIN entered appears not to be working properly.

• Check to see if letters and numbers have been accidentally inverted.
• Make sure the letter O was not entered in place of the number 0........"

may be I am being too skeptical, but the nervousness I have is that could it be possible that those two VINs were indeed in a recall list but the dealer may have inspected those and on not finding any issue, could they or honda go ahead and remove the warning/recall notice from the system hence showing no outstanding campaigns in their system?

Those two canadian VINs are on mid-to high 12,000s.

And I can't even get started on how clueless dealer salesmen were (or acting dumb) on this issue, that's a story for another day.
But guys on this forum are awesome, so much great information I am gathering from here.

I am looking to buy first new and first honda vehicle of my life and I don't want to buy that has any recall on it.

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[dick w]

He also thought that Honda's recall web site "might" be only showing info for cars that had already been sold. BTW, the recall web site does not say that this is the case.

Perhaps that's consistent with the site being called owners.honda.com?

 

[dick w]

Honda lists the site www.recalls.honda.com as a place to determine if your Civic is affected. Inputting my VIN results in "There are no current safety recalls for this vehicle.". Conversations I have had with Honda corporate and the dealer told me my VIN 'is' one that needs to be checked.

They will get there. This stuff doesn't happen in moments.

 

[sdfrades]

They will get there. This stuff doesn't happen in moments.

I agree. We are ALL anxious and want the systems to update in real time; I'm afraid that's not to be.

I called Honda corporate again and they confirmed my Civic is on the 'possible issue' list and needs to be inspected (s/n 4,687 out of the Indiana Mfg. Plant)

 

[daroza]

The VIN number that the Honda recall tech confirmed was on the list ended with 16678.

I am referring to the Canadian numbers only. Not sure if the number sequences are independent for each country.

 

[Jamm_95]

I scheduled my appointment for this Thursday to get my car checked, so I'll keep you updated on what they say after.

 

[daroza]

For those who want to check here is the dealer who lists the VINs on their in stock vehicles
https://groupeparkavenue.com/en/honda-brossard

 

[Streamliner]

I purchased a 2016 Civic EX on 21 Jan 2016 9 days before the recall/stopsale notice was sent to the dealers. My VIN number is on the recall list. On 1 Feb I visited the service manager with a copy of the recall in hand and explained that due to a possible engine seizure my new Civic was unsafe to drive until properly inspected. He denied all knowledge of such a recall and refused to discuss it further. I called Honda Canada and explained the same and after some lengthy discussions they agreed to contact my dealer and arrange for an inspection and a rental vehicle. I was instructed to return the vehicle to the dealer which I did on 5 Feb awaiting inspection. The service manager said he has the borescope but was waiting for inspection instructions from the experts. They still have it today 24 Feb and have not provided any further information as to its status.

Having built a few engines in the past I understand them well. There is no way they can see piston wrist pin retaining clips with a borescope as they are fully captured within the cylinder. The only way to positively confirm retaining clip presents or lack thereof is to remove the pistons. A borescope will show cylinder wall scoring which is a sure indicator that a clip is missing. Other indicators would be black oil from metal wear and high oil consumption due to leakage through the scoring grooves. Im hoping they find nothing and declare it safe to drive. An engine change by the dealer makes me shudder to even think about. If that's the case I will push for a replacement new car with all its parts which is what I paid for. Ownership for 2 weeks and 900KM and then and engine re-build is not fair. Will update as this progresses.

 

[dick w]

Having built a few engines in the past I understand them well. There is no way they can see piston wrist pin retaining clips with a borescope as they are fully captured within the cylinder. The only way to positively confirm retaining clip presents or lack thereof is to remove the pistons. A borescope will show cylinder wall scoring which is a sure indicator that a clip is missing.

We've covered this ground multiple times in this thread. Honda has built a few engines in the past as well.

 

[lalajuju]

I purchased a 2016 Civic EX on 21 Jan 2016 9 days before the recall/stopsale notice was sent to the dealers. My VIN number is on the recall list. On 1 Feb I visited the service manager with a copy of the recall in hand and explained that due to a possible engine seizure my new Civic was unsafe to drive until properly inspected. He denied all knowledge of such a recall and refused to discuss it further. I called Honda Canada and explained the same and after some lengthy discussions they agreed to contact my dealer and arrange for an inspection and a rental vehicle. I was instructed to return the vehicle to the dealer which I did on 5 Feb awaiting inspection. The service manager said he has the borescope but was waiting for inspection instructions from the experts. They still have it today 24 Feb and have not provided any further information as to its status.

Having built a few engines in the past I understand them well. There is no way they can see piston wrist pin retaining clips with a borescope as they are fully captured within the cylinder. The only way to positively confirm retaining clip presents or lack thereof is to remove the pistons. A borescope will show cylinder wall scoring which is a sure indicator that a clip is missing. Other indicators would be black oil from metal wear and high oil consumption due to leakage through the scoring grooves. Im hoping they find nothing and declare it safe to drive. An engine change by the dealer makes me shudder to even think about. If that's the case I will push for a replacement new car with all its parts which is what I paid for. Ownership for 2 weeks and 900KM and then and engine re-build is not fair. Will update as this progresses.

If you don't mind sharing, what were the last 6 digits of your VIN (as in 6000s, 7000s etc.)

 

[Jamm_95]

I have about 3400 miles on mine and after learning my car is on the recall I have been driving my car more "spirited" because if my snap rings are missing or installed correctly, I would rather have them replace my motor with a new one as opposed to them having to rebuild the internals.

 

[bobwang]

I called 800 this morning, they confirmed my car was on the list, VIN ended with 206114.

 

[bobwang]

 

[dick w]

Looks like they copied the "Summer of 2016" text from the most recent airbag recall. That is not consistent with what they had in their press release just yesterday.

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