I recently bought a 2003 civic at a good price with about 165k on it that is in great shape. Of course it developed the head gasket leak that this generation is known for. Fortunately I caught it very early and it was just an external loss of coolant and the car never got to the point of overheating. I had the repair done by a local garage with a great reputation.
The repair ran $750 including machining of the head, which seemed very reasonable. The garage automatically does this with any head gasket repair, to get a perfect surface, although it likely didn't need it. The repair seems successful so far after several highway and stop and go trips in hot weather. The car is running great, is not smoking and seems to not be leaking or burning any coolant or oil or making any odd noises. Anything else I should be on the lookout for? The timing belt, tensioner, and water pump have about 15k on them, so should be good for a while. If the repair is done well, and there is no engine damage done by the leak fortunately, should I expect any shortening of the engine's lifespan due to opening it up. The mechanic said the valve train looks very clean. It replaced another 7th gen that took me to over 300k miles that still ran strong but had about everything else falling apart on it and needed prohibitive repairs to pass state inspection. The airbag recalls have also been done on the car. I'm hoping I can get to 300k again, car has no rust amazingly.
The repair ran $750 including machining of the head, which seemed very reasonable. The garage automatically does this with any head gasket repair, to get a perfect surface, although it likely didn't need it. The repair seems successful so far after several highway and stop and go trips in hot weather. The car is running great, is not smoking and seems to not be leaking or burning any coolant or oil or making any odd noises. Anything else I should be on the lookout for? The timing belt, tensioner, and water pump have about 15k on them, so should be good for a while. If the repair is done well, and there is no engine damage done by the leak fortunately, should I expect any shortening of the engine's lifespan due to opening it up. The mechanic said the valve train looks very clean. It replaced another 7th gen that took me to over 300k miles that still ran strong but had about everything else falling apart on it and needed prohibitive repairs to pass state inspection. The airbag recalls have also been done on the car. I'm hoping I can get to 300k again, car has no rust amazingly.