[brucepick]

Thanks for the good word. But if you look back a couple months (when I was getting CELs daily) you'll see some pretty poor mpg, relatively.

Anywhooo, about Federal/CA.
The sticker says CA so that's pretty definitive but not FINAL. Get the engine # (I think there's a label on the timing belt cover??) or it has to be stamped on it somewhere, and see if a dealer will confirm that was a CA engine, and was it HX?. Always possible that the engine was swapped, or even whatever part the Emissions label is on. Make them look up CA/Fed, and if HX, from your VIN also. I think maybe you already did some of that.

I can't see someone putting in a wideband oxy sensor out of "laziness" because the ones for the HX cost far more than the regular type. Until a couple years ago, about $400. They've come down now, I think maybe $150-175 on the web, but still much more than the regular type.

I think you also should get your computer number - check that out and see if it's CA or Fed, and HX or not. Just because any part could have been changed before you got it.

One thing my HX has is the Hitachi version of the distributor. I'm told the HX's got that one, and all or nearly all the other Civics got the "other" version which I think was named TEC. The easily visible feature is the forward face of the dizzy cap. On the regular dizzy, the cap has a single flat face from top to bottom. The rest of the cap is basically a semicircle, so the whole thing looks like a backwards capital "D". On the Hitachi, the top and bottom corners are angled - so if the back face was the same as the front, it would be hexagonal if you looked at it endwise - from the viewpoint of the air filter housing. Did I confuse you yet?? Hope not.

And, continued good luck with it!!!