New here with a new (to me) Civic VX

[thewanderer]

Hello everyone!

I recently picked up a 1992 Honda Civic VX since I now have a longer daily commute. I've been driving it for just about a month and so far have gotten a bit under 40 mpg (it's a California model.) I'm hoping to improve that, but it's still nearly double what my Subaru gets.

I did just pick up and install a federal ECU but now I'm getting a CEL that I didn't have before. I connected the service pins and it flashes 9 times (which I've looked up and apparently is an issue with the cylinder position sensor.) The car still runs as it did, so I'm not overly sure what the issue is at this point. Perhaps I'll be posting in the tech forum if I don't get it sorted.

I also have some old Honda 90cc motorcycles I use for around-town trips. They get well over 90-100 mpg without even trying

[user removed]

Check your timing and inside the distributor for bushing play, leakage, or other visible issues, craked cap, serious wear, trashed rotor, etc. I think they have an ignition module also. If the distributor has been fiddled with you may see a shadow where it was installed from the factory. Might try it back there if that is the case. It may also be a tooth off on the timing belt. Not a bad idea to at least confirm the condition of the timing belt on a new purchase, from someone who had one break 5 miles after I bought it (not a vx-old Sentra).

Welcome aboard
mech

[thewanderer]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Check your timing and inside the distributor for bushing play, leakage, or other visible issues, craked cap, serious wear, trashed rotor, etc. I think they have an ignition module also. If the distributor has been fiddled with you may see a shadow where it was installed from the factory. Might try it back there if that is the case. It may also be a tooth off on the timing belt. Not a bad idea to at least confirm the condition of the timing belt on a new purchase, from someone who had one break 5 miles after I bought it (not a vx-old Sentra).

Welcome aboard
mech

Thanks for the info... I'll give it a look but I think it should be fine as the previous owner was a mechanic and seemed to take very good care of it as well as keeping detailed service records. He replaced the timing belt, water pump, etc. a few thousand miles ago. Everything was running perfectly fine for the ~month I used the California ECU. Not a single CEL the entire time. The CEL only started when I hooked up the federal ECU. I'm going to re-install the California ECU and see if the CEL goes away, which I'm guessing it will.