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Honda Civic: How to Jack Up Your Civic

Want to complete your own vehicle maintenance? One of the first steps is learning how to jack up your car. It may sound simple, but it's important to do right. This step-by-step guide shows how it's done.

By Brett Foote - February 20, 2015

This article applies to the Honda Civic (1992-2000).

Any car owner with aspirations of being a home mechanic will need to learn how to properly jack up a car. It's an easy task to learn, but doing it properly is important to prevent damaging the car or injuring yourself. A factory scissor jack will get the job done, but an aftermarket jack will make the job much faster and easier. Other than that, it's important to have something to block the wheels with, use the correct jack point, and acquire some jack stands to properly secure the car once it's jacked up.

Materials Needed

  • Jack (factory or aftermarket)
  • Wheel chocks
  • Jack stands

Step 1 – Jack up the car

Park the car on a level surface. Place a pair of wheel chocks behind the rear wheels to prevent the car from rolling backwards. Look for the front jack point, and place your jack underneath it. While there are other suitable places you can use, this is by far the best and strongest jack point. The factory jack shows four other jack points, including two behind the front tires and two just behind the rear tires. Proceed to jack the car up to the desired height.

  • Figure 1. Location of the front jack point.
  • Figure 2. Lift the rear of the car by the tow hook.
  • Figure 3. Lift point diagram.

Pro Tip

If you're only jacking up one end of the car, be sure to chock the wheels at the other end. "Chock" basically means to block them with something large and heavy so the car doesn't move. Ramps, cinder blocks or large pieces of wood also work well.

Step 2 – Place jack stands underneath car

Place jack stands underneath the car to support it using the points behind the front or rear wheels. Jack stands are height adjustable by pulling the lever up, and then adjusting the length of the support rod by moving it up or down. Once you have the stands in place, carefully and slowly lower the jack until the car is securely resting on the jack stands. Take your time and adjust the position of the jack stands so they aren't leaning or off center.

Figure 4. You can place the jack stands at the jack points just behind the wheels.

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