HX is in full swing now!

[syty]

So I reccently tracked down a replacement intake.

Those of you that have seen my introduction post my have read that the last owner sold me the car with a 1999 EX intake on it. Originally I thought that the shop he took it to stole it to make a quick buck given its a rarer item. However after seeing the damage to the intake I bought, they probably didnt know any better on how to deal with it.



after a few hours cleaning that out with a pick i traveled to my friends house to install it.
to preface this, my friend lives 365 miles away and I have more than a capable shop for this work. But I hadn't seen my friend in a while, and I wanted to see what sort of mileage I would make there, and back.
Getting there took a whole tank and then some, at a measly 31 mpg. I spent the first day driving around town and solving a few other problems, then came the swap.
First thing I noticed was no more error codes or stuttering at idle, I also noticed that my torque app was measuring WAY off on MPGs, I later learned that this is due to the fact that torque does not use pulse width modulation of the injectors vs wheel speed to calculate mileage, and now that my ECU was able to enter lean burn mode, it would be useless.

I'll start right off by saying that it made a HUGE difference in performance. The car ran very smoothly, it engaged vtec correctly and I could see engine stats that had not previously shown up before.

On the way home I filled up, and kept a steady 65 all the way. I was excited to see what the mileage was when I filled the tank back up however the result wasn't so pretty. another friggin 31 MPG.
After doing and oil change and running another week on that tank I filled back up, 34 MPG.
the next week, 36 MPG.

This weekend I went 272 miles up north to buy a nice pair of 2000 civic EX seats to replace my worn out HX seats. Its a nice upgrade for anyone curious, the leg adjustment makes a big difference in comfort and the firmer foam helps keep my back from hurting after long hauls. (pic for anyone interested http://i.imgur.com/ztdhI1t.jpg)
On the way there I made 37 mpg, and booking it back because I was excited to get my seats in I made 36 mpg.

Not too incredibly bad for my driving. I assume the ECU had to reset itself (should have done that earlier). Next up on the list is to see about my oil issue.
The car burns oil fast, however compression warm and cold is 180 across the board and it holds it. I want to say valve stems, but it only smokes under hard acceleration.

Regardless, im one step closer to 40 mpg.

[Sean.Heihn]

I was just reading something about how the old 1.9L Saturn engine would consume oil when the oil control ring become fouled from deposits.

[syty]

Originally Posted by Sean.Heihn

I was just reading something about how the old 1.9L Saturn engine would consume oil when the oil control ring become fouled from deposits.

It should be a dead giveaway that its oil control rings. no smoke when cold, smoke when warm and accelerating, and steady oil consumption.

HOWEVER, it has great compression warm or cold, so if the compression rings are holding back pressure then oil shouldn't be much of an issue which is what confuses me.

Lots of people say its rings, I want to agree, but the problems just aren't lining up right.

[Jakins]

man i hate that! i bet the stupid shop in reality didnt even know there was a difference between the hx and ex. my friend who is a "honda enthusiast" had a civic vx and was like "the ecu is bad, it always had a check engine light for the o2 sensor." i asked. was it a 5 wire wideband o2 sensor? he responded, "wtf are you taling about no its stock!"

[MilanoVX]

I definitely agree with you about swapping about the seats.

[turbovr41991]

Congrats on working out the kinks.

Are you getting into lean burn? Most HX owners use an ultra guage or scan gauge to see when the rear O2 sensor reads 0 to tell when they are in lean burn. Also, the monitoring features will help you get into/ stay in lean burn anf get 40-45 mpg without an issue.