94 honda civic vx issues

[Ryland]

I lowered my first vx and didn't see any improvement in mileage the lowering suspension did however cause a rougher ride and seemed to wear out other parts of my suspension causing me to replace the spend about $600 putting it back to stock height, LRR tires do help, 45 to 50psi in the tires helps too, my next plan is light weight smooth wheels like the first generation Honda Insight used, there are a bunch of low rolling resistance tires in 14" sizes that would fit at that point where there are very few 13" options.
Other things that work:
Changing your transmission fluid (it takes motor oil or Honda MTF, NOT GL5 GEAR OIL, unless you like replacing transmissions!) I tend to use 0w30 synthetic motor oil in both the transmission and engine, it makes the transmission shift super smoothly and helps the engine with cold starting.
NGK v-power spark plugs are OEM and $10 for a set, they also work great, much better then expensive spark plugs, I have sets of 4 different brands of "high end" spark plugs that made my VX run poorly, the worst were the Bosch +4 and the Pulstar pulse plugs.

[RatherDashing]

Originally Posted by Ryland

I lowered my first vx and didn't see any improvement in mileage the lowering suspension did however cause a rougher ride and seemed to wear out other parts of my suspension causing me to replace the spend about $600 putting it back to stock height, LRR tires do help, 45 to 50psi in the tires helps too, my next plan is light weight smooth wheels like the first generation Honda Insight used, there are a bunch of low rolling resistance tires in 14" sizes that would fit at that point where there are very few 13" options.
Other things that work:
Changing your transmission fluid (it takes motor oil or Honda MTF, NOT GL5 GEAR OIL, unless you like replacing transmissions!) I tend to use 0w30 synthetic motor oil in both the transmission and engine, it makes the transmission shift super smoothly and helps the engine with cold starting.
NGK v-power spark plugs are OEM and $10 for a set, they also work great, much better then expensive spark plugs, I have sets of 4 different brands of "high end" spark plugs that made my VX run poorly, the worst were the Bosch +4 and the Pulstar pulse plugs.

Thats my plan.synthetic oil change.ngk performance wires and plugs
and yeah most definetely not going to lower it. i read the same thing to online sumwhere some guy lowered it even just a little and everything started screwing up.the previous owner had a really nice set of tires on it before but wanted extra for them. but i really wanted to trade my 97 buick for it. so worth it in the long run especially got gas.

what are some signs of the head needing shaved down or something.iv looked inside the spark plug tubes(im very new to engine work only replaced spark plugs, wires and valve cover gasket before) and they dont seem as smooth as my d15b2 was. i remember hearing something about sending the head to a machine shop and them resurfacing it or something. how exactly does that work? i was also looking to see if i cud find a cheap head replacement and cant find one ANYWHERE

[RatherDashing]

oh yeah. i payed attention to my driving and realized i was shifting somewhat high. also noticed that definetely in lean burn mode the car hesitates pretty bad.def gunna look for that pcv valve

[Ryland]

shaving the head is a step below a full engine rebuild, $1,000 to have someone else do it is my guess, you can get a whole engine used and have someone install it for $1,000, so I don't think it's worth it at all! you would get your head shaved if you race and over heated your engine, if you ran it dry on coolant, or if you otherwise drive really hard all the time for 50,000 miles or more! you shave the head if it's warped, your engine is already a high compression engine.

[RatherDashing]

ouch. definetely dont wanna go through all that. tommorrow i am definetely gunna do a synthetic oil change and from checking online it looks like autozone carries the PCV valve for 3 bucks so since I have the day off I am going to try and tackle it. I've taken a couple of good looks out on the car and still having trouble finding the valve location even with the diagram. its probably just me though and i need to look at it more closely

[Ryland]

when you are looking at the engine, the first half of the PCV hose is this.



it's a mess in there, but here is another view.

And that is where most people think the valve is, but is on the underside of the intake manifold! right here... see that little white bit of plastic way down there? the one you have might be blue or black and dirty.



you have to get to it from the drivers side of the engine compartment, with your long skinny arm, reach under the intake manifold till nearly your whole arm is in there, you will scrape your hand and arm up and everything is hard to see, if that is not the case either your arm is really skinny or you have the wrong part.

[RatherDashing]

Very helpful.the top two pics now i know where that tube is at.so the part at the end of the tube is the pcv valve? Im kinda confused about the second pic and what exactly im looking at

[Ryland]

just fallow the hose under the aluminum intake until you get to where it enters a tin box, replace the grommet too as that is often the source of the problems with poor idle or the engine running faster then it should.

[RatherDashing]

alrighty. well ill have to look around locally see if i can find the pcv valve and grommet. none of the autozones around here carry it. im actually in the middle of an oil change right now letting the oil drain out. i decided to take another look at the IACV. the shop said they cleaned it out. i dont see how they did because the two parts where the hoses connect to the valve are beyond stuck on there and definetely look aged on there. HOPEFULLY when i get this thing off and do a more thourough cleaning of it my major idle problems will be fixed. also cleaned out the throttle plate which was quite dirty. i think i see what your talking about with the tin box. thankgod im skinny as hell to be able to reach in there.

[RatherDashing]

wow. sooo i just managed to get the two tubes off from the iacv. is there supposed to be fluid in the tubes? when i got each tube off a bunch of fluid idk what it is came off. i thought it was supposed to be a vacuum line going thru the valve?