2002 Honda Civic LX auto - repair & modding

[Daox]

Thanks. I re-gapped them for now, but I'll replace them with some Autolite iridium plugs once I order parts. They have a rebate going on, so its only $2 per plug.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by Daox

First off, its blowing the water out of the exhaust. I put my hand over the tail pipe and had droplets on my hand shortly. This makes me a little leery of worn piston rings. I'm now thinking an oil analysis might be a good thing.

Second, I did the compression test for the heck of it. It actually looks pretty good with 190, 180, 180, 193.

Other than that... WOW, this car is sooooooo rust free. I have never seen a car this old with this little rust... I haven't actually SEEN any rust on it yet (still haven't gone under it). Its a little crazy to me. Lucky Texans... Though, it does have noticeable sun damage.

Compression test is promising...

Water is a natural product of combustion, especially when cool water droplets in the exhaust are completely normal, even on a 100% healthy car.
Or it could mean you are losing coolant out the exhaust. When warm, do you get a white cloud behind you?

Welcome to the rest of the world. Non-rust belt cars are so much nicer.

[Daox]

There was also bit of a puddle where the exhaust necks toward the ground. This was just from sitting and letting it idle up to temp for the compression test. There was no cloud from the idling.

I think I'll test the oil assuming I can figure out how many miles are on the oil. Then, I'll start taking the head off. I gave my local autoshop a call and they only charge ~$30 to resurface a head, so I'll probably do that regardless.

[Daox]

From my reading, it sounds like the clicking from the front suspension is more likely from the control arm bushings. Is there any good known way to replace them (and not need an alignment after)?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Daox

From my reading, it sounds like the clicking from the front suspension is more likely from the control arm bushings. Is there any good known way to replace them (and not need an alignment after)?

I don't think so. You'll need an alignment I'm pretty surr. BTW, I found the FSM for this generation free online back when I did my transmissions specs research. You can probably duplicate that find, or I could try to send you the manual by email. Kinda a big file.

[ChazInMT]

Speaking of plugs....Don't ever go for the "Pre-Gapped" line. I don't know how many times I've heard it but it is bupkis. Gaps need to be set. You need to be careful with iridiums to not use the electrode as a prying surface, if you need to increase the gap, use needle nose pliers or the little gap opener thingy on the gap tool.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Daox

From my reading, it sounds like the clicking from the front suspension is more likely from the control arm bushings. Is there any good known way to replace them (and not need an alignment after)?

Nope, I had to replace both on the Corolla and had to have an alignment done twice. They are pretty cheap and you could probably do it yourself if you had a lift. I think they were like 75$ a piece for mine.

[ecomodded]

The control arms are not adjustable on stock vehicles , just after market adjustable control arms/race parts and 4x4 lift kit parts.

So you just swap the controls arms , no other parts come off or get loosened.


Put a wrench on the control arm bolts/nuts , maybe they are loose.

edit: if you payed for a second alignment after the control arms were replaced you were scammed , IMO.

What the control arms do is center the axle under the vehicle , left to right , non adjustable.

[Axsle]

Ill be interested to see how this car works out for you as mine is almost the same (01 ex auto). I will say that building an air dam on the car gave the biggest gain in mileage of anything, and its only about 2 inches long. It seems pretty hard to break 40 averages on these cars though, that seems about the max, unless you get into boat tailing it or do a manual transmission swap... if that's even possible. Is that possible?

[sarguy01]

Originally Posted by ecomodded

The control arms are not adjustable on stock vehicles , just after market adjustable control arms/race parts and 4x4 lift kit parts.

So you just swap the controls arms , no other parts come off or get loosened.


Put a wrench on the control arm bolts/nuts , maybe they are loose.

edit: if you payed for a second alignment after the control arms were replaced you were scammed , IMO.

What the control arms do is center the axle under the vehicle , left to right , non adjustable.

Not true. I put new bushings on my control arms and my alignment is a bit off.