Okay so there have been people looking into buying an ep3 lately and have been asking the same questions I did 2years back. So I decided to make a thread on what you need to know and look out for when out searching for a civic also what you can expect through owning one.
COMMON ISSUES
1. Engine mounts, our ep3s werent hard parkers in japan during its life maybe when it retired in the holding yard waiting to be imported. They've been tracked in japan before, harder than us noobs going hard at wakefield or eastern creek. They will break at some point and that some point is between 65000-80000km. usually its the driver side mount that drops, you can tell by the silicon liquid squirting everywhere, its brown and hard to clean off.
price to fix the problem?
350-500 for mounts alone, labour will vary
Suggestions:
1. daily driven,part time track (2-3times a year) : Mugen mounts they look like oem mounts but stiffer slightly. unfortunately mugen only supplies driver,passenger and front mount so you can either buy a rear mount or buy inserts from energy suspension from the states or ebay. 50bucks over paying honda for a new rear mount that'll cost you 300 min.
2. Js racing: stiffer than mugen i think, offers complete replacement 4 mounts.
3. Innovative 60a good for track, gets annoying for daily drive when your car is at idle. though the vibrations go away when you accelerate
4. hasport 60a same as above just more bling than innovatives but at a added cost.
2. Steering rack, common fault on the 2001-2003 ep3 however that got changed somehow by honda for the 2004 and 2005 facelift ep3. Everyone gets it, costs you 50-80 bucks to get it regreased and clamped up again alternatively you can diy, search it up in the civic 01+ forum theres diagrams. will link here
3. Clutches : they say it'll last you 120000km but you never know how hard its been driven, I havent changed my clutch yet at 75k km. reason is probably everyone has to hold down the clutch inorder to turn the car on, i switched mine off when i first got it. when you have to clutch start it all the time, the torque delivered to the thrust bearing is too great and so destroys that bearing over time and so you need to replace the whole clutch. ask youre mechanics to disable the feature, takes 5mins if they know what they're doing. nothing to worry about because we dont have cruise control.
4. coilovers : from experience you'll need to get shortenned tie rods after installing them as the ends on the ep3 is too long, one solution is js racing tie rods. theres others like M&M but its abit more pricier than js. no matter what coilovers you put on from bc to tein monoflexes you'll get the same problem with toe adjustments.
Thats basically it other than that, its a quick grocery getter!
Differences in 2002/3 vs 2004/5 model
02/03
reflector headlights ( chromed/grey)
red recaros in suede
darkened rear tail lights ( dark red)
03/04
projector headlights
two tone recaros ( red on black)
clear tail lights, think of the jazz
different front and rear bumper.
different front lip
updated grille
IMG brings in alot more ep3s than other dealers, theyre easier to bargain with and very helpful people. just google up internationalmotorgroup
other importers along fivedock on parra road but i havent dealt with them yet. everyone else feel free to add any extra info.
The ones we get here are c-package ep3 that comes standard with aircon,hid and power windows.
Thumbs up..
Just what I need..
Are the differences between the preFL and FL just purely cosmetic?
Is it worth to pay extra for FL models over the preFL?
I read somewhere about lighter flywheel and LSD on the later model.
I have never driven a car with LSD before so I don't know what difference will it make.
Yep youre spot on with cosmetics and lightened flywheel 4.2kg?
oem lsd is pretty good but when you do a suspension upgrade generally you'll need a better lsd as i've noticed that on my car but i cant afford to buy an aftermarket lsd since im going for an evo anyways. the models are getting cheaper now youre basically only paying for the cosmetics and more recent model with possibly lower kms. but with imports youre never certain if km's are legit but its a risk you take, engines will last forever if you service it ontime.
Another common problem you might wanna add is the grinding of the starter motor during cold starts. 1 in 10 cold mornings or something.
Happens on on all k20a equipped cars. Prefl/FL EP3. All DC5R's. I'm not sure if FN2's starter motor has been revised or not as they are still fairly new.
It mainly affects owners who don't have garage because without it it's gets alot of colder.
about number 2: steering rack greasing doesnt cost 50-80 bucks ! where are you getting this price from?
it costs $15 tops really for white lithium grease and diy. all you need to do is pry open the clamps push the hose in abit spray heaps of the grease inside and turn the steering wheel to either side to get to all areas better. once youre done get some long cable ties and lock the hoses back in place. wallah, no more squeeking. (note that it would be faster and easier if you had a mate turning the steering wheel for you)
also the rubber seal on the doors tend to fall out of place or warp. you can easily run to IMG and grab them and diy or let them do it.
as well as add in, when it rains the water hits on the underside of the ep3, i think specifically the exhaust and makes a pretty cool (i reckon, interestingly) violent rumble that will vibrate the whole car especially when you let off on the throttle.
its weird but FL ep3's dont have side indicators. i dont know how that made sense to pass customs and all that
about number 2: steering rack greasing doesnt cost 50-80 bucks ! where are you getting this price from?
it costs $15 tops really for white lithium grease and diy. all you need to do is pry open the clamps push the hose in abit spray heaps of the grease inside and turn the steering wheel to either side to get to all areas better. once youre done get some long cable ties and lock the hoses back in place. wallah, no more squeeking. (note that it would be faster and easier if you had a mate turning the steering wheel for you)
also the rubber seal on the doors tend to fall out of place or warp. you can easily run to IMG and grab them and diy or let them do it.
as well as add in, when it rains the water hits on the underside of the ep3, i think specifically the exhaust and makes a pretty cool (i reckon, interestingly) violent rumble that will vibrate the whole car especially when you let off on the throttle.
its weird but FL ep3's dont have side indicators. i dont know how that made sense to pass customs and all that
The rumble drives me nuts lol. Sounds and feels as if my cat has shat itself.
Both prefl and fl have no side indicators before compliance. I have not seen a fl without a side indicator though. Unless you're referring to b16a2's ep3 which I believe is an early batch prefl but he installed the fl bar afterwards. I thought it was the only the very earlier batches which importers/compliance places ignored installing them on.
The rumble drives me nuts lol. Sounds and feels as if my cat has shat itself.
Both prefl and fl have no side indicators before compliance. I have not seen a fl without a side indicator though. Unless you're referring to b16a2's ep3 which I believe is an early batch prefl but he installed the fl bar afterwards. I thought it was the only the very earlier batches which importers/compliance places ignored installing them on.
Poeter is correct the early batches of Ep3's which was imported wasnt very strick with the indicators being installed well for compliance anyways, me and b16a2's are one of the lucky ones =)
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Originally Posted by Antv
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