2004 Civic repair thread

[Daox]

Yup, getting very close now.

Last night was another good work night. I got the new ball joints put in.





And the new poly bushings.







My 'press'. I used one of the adapters from the ball joint press to hold the bushing. Even then they both went in cocked. After retrying several times I finally just kept pressing it in after it cocked. It eventually popped in and through.







So, I got those back on the car, bolted everything up and was very proud of myself. Then, I saw the CV axles laying on the ground... DOH! Off some parts came, and I put those in and buttoned things back up again.

Now, I'm just waiting on my Honda MTF to arrive so I can fill up the trans and fire it up and make sure all is well.

[MetroMPG]

Then, I saw the CV axles laying on the ground... DOH!

I can just picture the "HELP!" thread on a Civic forum. "WHY WON'T MY CAR MOVE???"

[Daox]

Haha, yeah that and the puddle of transmission fluid would probably be good hints as to what was wrong.

[Daox]

Its aliiiiive!

I filled up the transmission with Honda MTF last night. 1.5 quarts per what I found online. I popped out the reverse switch on the top of the trans to fill it up. It worked quite nicely.







While doing that, my wife decided to help out again. She installed the new mirrors I got. The passenger one was missing the glass, and the driver's side had been screwed to the door because the guts busted inside the mirror. For anyone looking to replace these items, they're incredibly cheap on amazon. One side was $20 and the other was $22.







With those items taken care of, I installed the battery and fired it up. It took a little bit of whirring around until it fired of course. The fuel lines had been disconnected for nearly a year as the engine sat. It sputtered to life not too long. Then it died. So, I started it up once again, a bit more sputtering and the IAC must have broke loose cause it revved way up for just a second, then came back and was rock solid idling smooth as glass and it continued that way. I bled the coolant system and took it for a little spin around my circular driveway. I then had to head out to my Wednesday night church group. I'm super happy to have it running though!

Here it is seeing the light of day for the first time in over a year. Really needs a wash!

[MetroMPG]

Congrats!!

So it's officially ready for the road? When's the big day?

[Daox]

That is a good question. I'm not quite sure yet. I have to take it for a real spin tonight to see if there is anything else going on that I can notice that might need fixing. There are still a few things on the to do list, but they're mainly cosmetic things like buffing out some scratches and getting rid of the rust around the rear brake light. Those can mostly be done in an evening or over a weekend.

Once I do get the Civic on the road, I'll be taking the Insight off the road so I can fix the transmission input shaft bearing and 2nd gear grind on it along with some other things. I'd like to have that mostly lined up with most of the parts ordered so it can go relatively quickly. I'd ideally like to be done with the Insight in less than a month so the Civic can be put up for sale.

[ECO-AKJ]

When you get all done, you will have to take your wife out to a nice dinner for helping you on this project.

[Daox]

Minor set back last night with getting the Civic on the road. I went for a quick spin and the speedo wasn't working. Came back and found I hadn't plugged in the speed sensor on the transmission. Easy enough fix. Then I went to air up the tires and the rear passenger tire started hissing more and more as I filled it. I found the hissing and found a plug. I'm guessing this will need to be replaced as its right on the corner of the tire tread. Now I'm debating 4 new tires vs 1 craigslisted tire... The tires on the car are probably 50-60% worn, still at least a summers worth of tread, possibly two. Not sure I'd want to go through winter after a good summer of driving on them... even though I just did it in the Insight last year and it was fine. Eh, decisions...





While I was at it, I decided to go after the rust by the rear tail light. Upon further inspection, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Here was a picture I shot when I got the car.





Here is a picture I shot yesterday after going at it with some rubbing compound. I also put some rust converter over it. I'm still debating shooting a little paint on it or not.





After reinstalling the light, its almost unnoticeable. This may not seem bad to most, but for a 13 year old Wisconsin car, its pretty amazing for this to be the only real visible rust spot.

[Daox]

Ended up making an appointment at the local discount tire place. $240 for a full set of tires isn't too bad.

[Daox]

Phew, glad I got those new tires. I pulled off the other rear tire and it was bad! The two front ones weren't too bad, but the back... Well, take a look for yourself.

The new ones aren't anything special, but they got tread and will be safe to drive!