Hi all. I am on a quest to buy a pre-owned Civic. Today I test drove a 2000 Civic EX Coupe, 5 speed, with about 90,000 miles on it. It was at a small but reputable car lot in the town where I live. The car looked clean, inside and out, and they were asking $8,900. The salesman let me drive it off the lot for a test drive. I immediately liked the car a lot. The car responded nicely as I shifted. The engine purred. All the little items, power sliding roof, power door locks, windows, AC, heat, stereo, seat adjustments, worked perfectly. The interior and exterior of the vehicle showed little wear. I pulled into a gas station and called a friend on my cell phone. I have a CarFax unlimited license for a 30 day period, and I gave my friend the VIN. The report came back clean, 2 estimated owners, no wrecks of any kind reported. Whle at the station I checked the seat adjustments, hood and trunk releases, tires, wheels, under the hood and the trunk for any unusual or obvious trouble signs, and all looked good. This was looking good, I felt really comfy, and I liked the fact that the car had all the nice options too, sliding power roof, power mirrors, etc.

I drove it around a few more blocks, checking the handling. Horn, emergency flashers, headlights, brights, turn signals, wipers, etc. All worked fine. I was really beginning to wonder how much I could negotiate for the car. I was imagining me owning it already. One more test...the cruise control. Not that I use it a lot, but needed to check as much stuff as I could. So I took it out on the Interstate, got into the fifth gear, pushed the cruise button on the left side of the dash, and used the set button on the steering wheel to set the cruise at 60 mph. It engaged fine, and kept the speed up after I let off the gas. Then, as I neared the exit I planned to take, I pressed the brake, and the cruise did not disengage. I turned off the cruise button on the dash. The light went off, but the car was still going strong at 60. I braked again and it was not slowing down, so I pushed in the clutch, and the engine just whined and kept up its high rev. By this time I could not take the exit, it was going too fast (and seemed as if it wanted to go even faster) so I kept going straight, feeling a little panicked but keeping my cool, trying to apply the brake and finally, although I could not take it out of fitth gear, the car began to slow enough for me to pull off into the emergency lane. Then it got slow enough that the engine finally died. I tried to start it back up after a moment, and the engine sounded as if it was still in high gear, revving loudly. So I turned it off, waited a few more minutes, and tried again. This time everything was back to normal. I found the next exit and turned around, this time not attempting to check the cruise control again until I got back to the lot.

When I did, I told the salesperson about it, and he said he'd have a mechanic check it out. But he appeared to balk when I started to negotiate on price, because I was asking for this to be checked out and repaired, and he said the possible repair for the work might not leave him any wiggle room. He said he would let me know. So the deal is up in the air. For all I know, since I was a little too paranoid to test it again, it might be an intermittent issue, and hard to reproduce, but then again, maybe not. I Googled a search for "Honda Civic cruise control" but could not pin down a specific problem or solution.

The question, to anybody who may know, how serious a problem is this? Could it be computer related, and in fact, indicate a more serious problem that could manifest itself while driving and shifting normally, even when cruise is not engaged? Should I keep looking for another Civic, or try to negotiate a better deal while knowing about this existing condition on this particular car? This car lot warrants the drive train and engine for 1,000 miles after the sale on all their used cars, but not sure if this problem would be covered in such an arrangement.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Phil

 

If my understanding of how cruise control works is correct, the control unit physically adjusts the gas pedal (and hence the throttle cable) to try and maintain the constant speed. It sounds like the throttle cable was stuck in a certain position (60 mph in 5th gear), which is why you kept on cruising. BUT, if after you got the problem under control you didn't notice any sticky feeling in the gas pedal, my guess is that it's a seriously faulty cruise control unit. Could be as simple as replacing the unit (which is really easy to get at), or could be something more complicated in the wiring, which could maybe be why it wanted to stay engaged even after flipping the switch on the dash, and after you shut the car off and turned it back on.

My recommendation is if you're still interested in the car, take it to a mechanic on your own, and one not affiliated with the place you're looking to buy it from. See if you/they can repeat the problem, and ask what it would take to fix it. That would make sure you're not getting screwed by the dealer, and would give you an idea of what it would take to fix it.

Just my opinion, and I'm no mechanic, but that's what I'm thinking may be the culprit.

 

I HAD A SIMILAR THING HAPPEN. I ahve a 1998 Civic EX and gmy crusie bugged out on me one night for no apparent reason. My work around was to physically loosen the throttle cable at the Throttle body, drive it for a bit, then to tighten it right back down to where it was supposed to be. When this happened to me, my gas pedal was actually being depressed by the CC unit and I eneded up just turning the motor off to work around it. Its been about 3 months, and nothing has happened again, so My guess is that its either the Cruise unit itself, or somehow I got a kink in one of my throttle cables that i relieved by adjusting the throttle. Good luck with this, and its great to hear that you got back to the lot alright. I can only imagine the results if you hadn't thought as quickly as you did.

 

Hi to everybody and thanks for the replies. I am waiting to hear back from the lot, they have not called yet. If they say they fixed it I will want thorough proof and I will be taking it to another mechanic for a second opinion check, just to be sure. I don't really plan on using the car for a lot of highway driving, so I probably won't use the cruise control anyway, but I was worried it meant something else was going on, that could manifest while shifting, etc.

I plan on using the car for daily commute in Louisville, KY as my primary car. I like the car otherwise, it's black, really nice looking. But if this is not fixed, I will probably take a pass.

I will post back here on the outcome! I really want a Civic. I gotta find one.

Thanks again for the welcome!

Phil