2002 Honda Civic LX auto - repair & modding

[MetroMPG]

Woohoo!

Many moons ago I once did a valve adjustment where I mixed up thousandths of an inch with hundredths of millimeters or something like that, and completely messed up the adjustment of every valve. The motor started and ran (just), but the valvetrain sounded Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers were having a party with the entire extended Tappet family.

What's left to do?

[Daox]

There is still a short list of things that'll take a bit of time to do:

1) ATF change
2) fix a click from the front end, I assume sway bar end links
3) replace cabin air filters
4) repaint the remaining 2 wheel covers, 2 are already done
5) buff out some scratches

[Daox]

I forgot to add, I want to repaint the wheels too. They are rusted where the wheel covers didn't protect them from the sun. My 05 Aveo had the same problem. Its a pretty easy fix. Just knock the rust off with a sander or wire brush, prime and paint em.

[Daox]

I worked on the Civic for the first time in a while last night.

First up was the tranny fluid change. It was pretty nasty looking IMO. It looked like chocolate milk... I wonder the last time it had been done, if ever!

I also noticed the AT dipstick is super loose in the hole. I'll be replacing that too.







Next up was a simple cabin air filter change. Again, pretty nasty.

[darcane]

Wow! I've never seen tranny fluid like that on a functional tranny. Looks like water is getting in there, any idea how? Just the dipstick?

My cabin filter was about the same when I replaced it at ~160k miles. I'm sure it was the original.

[Daox]

Well, the car was from Texas. With that dipstick loose and dusty conditions? The engine bay was pretty dirty with dirt in it. Its also been sitting since I got it. It has only been fully warmed up a couple times. The dipstick is seriously horrible though. There has to be 3/16" of total slop where it should be a snug fit on the rubber pug. It fits in the hole, but just kinda flops around in it.

[samwichse]

Does that thing have a loop to the radiator? Because I'd be looking for antifreeze coolant getting into the ATF and emulsing for something to look THAT bad.

[Daox]

Haha, good point! I did check the oil when I poured it into the empty containers from the pan. There wasn't any water in it. At least none that had separated out in the hour or so that I was out there messing around. It was just that nasty.

[Daox]

A bit earlier this week I threw on new front endlinks. They didn't do anything. I still have a click / slight clunk in the front driver's side when I hit a bump.

I should have checked it earlier, but I'm thinking perhaps the strut mount.

[Daox]

I finally sold this car about a month ago to my brother and sister in law. I never got the suspension clicking noise figured out. I didn't feel like continuing to throw parts at it. They were fine with it anyways...

However, since selling it, I've been fighting with p0300 (random misfire), p0303 (misfire on cyl #3) and p0304 (misfire on cyl #4) codes. It only misfires at idle which is odd, and its not misfiring that badly at all, just a little lope at idle, and only once its fully warmed up. While driving it you can't even tell. I've checked the plugs, I've checked the coils, I've checked the injectors, I've replaced the O2 sensor, and cleaned up the IAC valve. I'm really running out of ideas and what I'm guessing it is now is a couple sticky valves. When I had the head off, I found that I had two sticky valves (they didn't reseat when manually spinning the cam with the head out of the engine). I didn't think too much of it. I removed them, cleaned them up and put them back in. Now, I'm thinking that there are others that are sticking.

So, I'm wondering what is the best way to test this? Leakdown? The compression test reads fine. You guys got any other ideas?