Honda D17 Engine: Longevity, Problems, And Specs

Honda engines are known to be very reliable, at least, more than average. It means that you will drive your Honda car for more miles than you can expect. But of course, it's not about all engines. Today, we'll be speaking about the D17 engine family - their longevity, main technical specifications, and also about their problems and special features.

The Honda D17 engine belongs to the D-series engines which were meant to be installed on compact and subcompact vehicles. The D17 is the engine with the biggest displacement in the family. And we think it's one of the best engines in the family, too, so we decided to pay more attention to its main features.

Key features and my opinion about the engine

• Production years:2000-2007
• Average lifespan of D17:190,000-220,000
• Fuel supply type:port injection
• Power range:115-350 hp
• Fuel efficiency:average
• Engine block material:aluminum
• Engine reliability score:medium
• The most common problems:oil consumption, bad cold start, throttle contamination, no lifters.

What do we know about the D17 engine?

The D-series engines are all four-cylinder units with quite a simple construction. Some of them were more modern while the majority of the D-series engines were pretty simple and traditional. The simple technologies actually became an important advantage and improved longevity.

Also, the D17 engine had two different lineups. One of them had VTEC (valve variable timing) while the other one didn't have it. Engines with VTEC are also reliable but they are more complicated and more expensive to repair.

Here are some facts you will want to know about the D17 Honda engine:

• the displacement of 1.7 liters is quite big for compact and subcompact vehicles;
• the power range is 100 to 130 horsepower, each type of engine had its own power;
• the torque range is 98 to 155 lb-ft which is also not bad (but pay attention to the big difference);
• the gas mileage for a Honda Stream, for example, is 24 mpg in the city which is good;
• the maximum RPM is 7200 revolutions per minute, it's not a sports ready engine at all;
• fuel injection is relatively simple, but it caused some problems.

We can't say the Honda D17 engine is technological. It's a classic engine that was made to last. In 2000, the D17 engines started their way in Japanese cars for an American and also for the Japanese market. They are still hunted for on the market of used cars because these engines are very durable and problem-free compared with any other engine of this type and displacement.

Anyways, in 2007, Honda stopped producing D-series engines and turned to more modern technologies with better ecology and better fuel economy. But the D17 engines are still interesting on the market of used cars and as swap engines for some Japanese cars.

What is the longevity of the D17 engine?

The longevity depends on what engine variant we are talking about. The VTEC engines were a little less durable because the valve variable timing system led to head problems and made the repair more complicated and expensive. While the engines without VTEC were more durable but less powerful.

We would say that the Honda D17 will last about 220,000 miles. Some people say that the longevity of these engines is over 300,000 miles because they heard that a brother of their acquaintance once hit this mark in his old Civic. But let's be honest, one car doesn't make it a rule that all engines of this series can last long.

The average longevity of all D17 engines will be around 220K miles. We've calculated it after investigating salvage cars with "engine damage" problems and also after reading loads of reviews of Honda owners. You can go more, but you will have to know about possible problems and be ready to spend some money.

This is what you can say about the longevity of D17 engines. We know some guys who had problems with their 1.7-liter Honda engines much faster than they expected. For example, quite a lot of owners say that head troubles come at 150,000 miles. But they are repairable and are not the reason to shorten the longevity estimation.

Fuel consumption of D17 engines - what about the economy?

Honda used this engine to equip Civic, Stream, and also F-RV. Acura used D17 engines to equip the first-gen Integra. All of these vehicles have different consumption because of different weight parameters and also different transmission settings.

But we can talk about the average consumption to give you an idea of what you will have to spend when driving a car with the D17 inside.

The average city consumption is 24 mpg while on the highway, your Honda will be able to show much better consumption - about 36 mpg. These figures are true for Hondas with manual transmissions. But the company used old and non-economical automatic transmissions, so the automatic versions had 10% worse gas mileage.

Unfortunately, D17 engines are not economical and not technological now. But they are reliable and this makes them wanted engines for some project cars and for swaps.

What are the common problems of the D17 engines?

All engines seem to have some problems and weak links. The interesting situation with the D17 engine is explained by its popularity all over the world and also by its age - millions of D17 engines were sold between 2001 and 2007, and so we have a lot of opinions and a lot of examples of what can go wrong with these engines.

Before we start counting the problems, we want to remind you that this is a reliable engine that is built to last. We just know a lot about its problems, so it may seem that this is a very problematic unit.

Here are some common problems of the Honda D17:

1. Disaster with oil leaking. It seems to leak oil everywhere and all the time. Whatever you do with this engine, it will keep leaking oil and you will not be able to stop this. So just make sure to check the oil level from time to time.
2. From 100,000 miles and further, this engine starts consuming oil. The amount will not be very huge, but at 200,000 miles liters of oil will be needed in your trunk to make sure you will drive safely.
3. A cold start in winter is also a problem. It's not a breakdown or something - just all D17s start poorly when it's cold outside.
4. The throttle causes a lot of minor problems. It will get clogged every other month and then the idling will not be smooth. Idling RPM problem is one of the most popular problems with this engine that is hard to solve.
5. The timing belt usually has to be replaced every 60,000 miles. But we know cases when it was broken before that. So, better reduce the service interval for the timing belt to 40,000 miles.
6. You will need to set valves in this engine every 20-25 thousand miles. This is an expensive procedure that you can't do without professional instruments.
7. The head gasket will blow easily when the engine overheats even a little. This may lead to mixing oil and coolant and sometimes it's dangerous for your engine.
8. EGR problems are common for all engines of this epoch that are equipped with the ER valve. But it's kind of a routine, just clean it regularly.
9. Coils and spark plug problems. Unfortunately, this Honda engine joined dozens of other Honda engines in the ignition problems. Ignition coils are not cheap at all.

You may see that D17 engines are really good and they don't have a lot of fatal issues that would bring to total death of the engine. But sometimes, these engines can get all the money out of your pocket because they fail all the time and need a professional mechanic to service them.

Again, it doesn't mean that this engine is bad. Just it needs a lot of attention, especially if you buy a 20-year-old car with high mileage and other problems.

By the way, a lot of people buy cars with D17 engines to turbocharge them or to make tuning and then turn their Honda into a project car. This is not the best idea, this engine will not be very durable with any mods that improve its power.

Final words

If you are looking for a project car, any Honda with the D17 engine will not be a good choice. This engine is basically good, but with any mods, it can fail at any moment. The good news is that the engine is extremely popular and finding parts for repairing it is not hard at all.

Also, this Honda engine is reliable in general and it doesn't bother you with a lot of big problems. But considering the age of the engine, you will always get minor problems and you will have to solve them for your own money. We can still recommend a vehicle with a Honda D17 engine unless you are going to modify it and turn it into a project car.