1998 civic HX Tune up questions.

[Xhifer]

I just put in some NGK ZFR4F-11 out of the box and it struggled to start but starts. Gapping issue? Or should I drive it and wait a bit?

[mswehx]

really good car i've almost got 376,000 on my 97 hx and still have orig. clutch ball joints,radiator,deer took out the a/c condensor but i avg.42-50mpg ,most tanks are over 500miles,run full syn oil engine and trans,5w20 and maybe a quart of ow20 for winter time ,only run ngk plugs zfr4f-11 gap is1.1mm or .043in .i tried other plugs no good. Even have AEM cold air intake and full stainless exhaust (moved the cat underneath like the EX civic) works good,replaced both o2 sensors bosh on the cat oulet and the spendy honda 5wire on the header,you know when that one goes bad. the othe thing is the EGR ports located under the fuel injector rail,theres a cover 5bolts or so but you have to pull the fuel rail and injectors to acess it. i clean mine every 100k or so,will afect gas mpg,other thing is try to use non ethenol gas stuff is junk.good luck with yours. Mike

[mswehx]

do you get any ck eng light

[Xhifer]

Nope. It's running fine now and starts quickly every time.

For coolant, should I only use Honda or can I use something else, for instance, prestone. Honda charges $30+ for a gallon of their antifreeze.

I'm torn between using 10w30 regular motor oil or Honda MTF or GM Synchromesh. The transmission shifts fine right now but previous owner doesn't know what was put in. Some people said 10w30 was okay before Honda MTF came out. I searched around and some people said GM Synchromesh is best hands down. I did use GM in my 2004 accord v6 and it did shift like butter, but I want a transmission to last 300k miles. The GM stuff look extremely thin. I have 2 1/2 quarts of Honda MTF, should that b enough?

[Ryland]

I've tried AmsOil MTF, regular 10w30 motor oil, AmsOil 0w30 motor oil, royal purple 5w30 motor oil and the only one I've had issues with that may or may not have had to do with the transmission fluid was the AmsOil MTF, it's pretty thin and 10,000 miles after I put it in the main bearing went out on the transmission, switched to 10w30 motor oil and drove it for another 5,000 miles before swapping transmissions, at that point the car had 235,000 miles on it and the MTF could easily gone 100,000 miles without being changed before I bought it.
From what I read everyone like the Honda MTF no matter how old their Honda is, my 2nd choice would be a 0W30 oil.
Also if you want slightly taller gearing the Civic VX transmission bolts right in to your vintage of Civic HX.

[brucepick]

2.4 qt. trans fluid should be enough. The book spec is 1.9 qt - I just looked it up. The Haynes book is pretty decent. Or a junkyard often will sell the manuals that come with the car. 1996-2000 Civics are all the same generation so you can consider those manuals pretty much interchangeable.

I added my trans fluid through the speedometer sensor insert hole. From where I see it that's easier than pouring sideways into a little hole. Speedo sensor is on top side of trans, pretty far back. Basically it's below the curved air intake tube, but down-down-down. It has a wire connector with I think 3 wires?? Been a little while since I was down there.

Of course that location allows you to put more in, because the hole is at the top instead of part way up the side of the casing. I'm an old Volvo guy before I shifted to Hondas. There's an old Volvo 5-spd where you pretty much have to overfill it otherwise it gets oil-starved and dies an early death. So personally I'm OK with putting in a bit more than just up to the top of the side hole.

[Xhifer]

Thanks. I'm going with the Honda MTF. How about coolant, what's the next best thing after Honda Antifreeze?

[brucepick]

I only know that it's an aluminum block with steel cylinder sleeves, with an aluminum head. Pretty sure the radiator is aluminum + plastic. Make sure the anti freeze materials are compatible with those. Hopefully others will add to this meager info.

[Ryland]

VolksWagons are the only car that I know of that is picky about anti-freeze, Honda's are not so much, just make sure it's good down to the temps you get in the winter and that it is clean, I've always just used part store coolant and every time I take something apart the inside of the engine looks clean, coolant looks clean too.

[mswehx]

i use prestone premix 50/50 seems to work good car heats right up i finally had to change my thermostat,used one from napa ,i use valvoline syn10w20 in my transmission been running it since i hit 100k no problems at all with trans.