What is wrong with this $800 2002 Civic with 250,000 miles? Is it a melted crank position sensor?

[Xist]

As I mentioned, several weeks ago she asked if I wanted to attend some Church thing with her.

I said "You go on ahead. I will join you the next time, but I need to work on my 2002 Civic."
"Actually, I am super sleepy!"
Then she curled up on me and I stared into space for altogether too long.

I also mentioned that some weeks ago she asked if I needed any help with cars. I replied "Yes, my 2002 Civic," and she didn't want to do anything but cuddle.

We alternated visiting each other, but with my appointments in the valley I drove down twice for those, which was awesome when the dentist canceled my appointment the morning of, saying he was sick.

Mom wondered if he just wanted to visit his 4,000-square-foot cabin up here.

I excitedly went to work on my car on Friday, but couldn't remember what I had bought more recently. I found where i mentioned it here and couldn't find those items.

I spent an entire day looking. My room is much more organized [again], but I didn't find it.

Then I happened to see it in a kitchen cabinet.

Why?!

I wanted to work on the car as soon as I came back, but I felt exhausted, and I kept falling asleep.

I managed to stay awake until the one client that I was able to see on Friday and then I read the rest of the novel I had started reading that morning before driving out to that dental appointment which had already been canceled, but I wasn't using my phone, I was reading a book.

I read the entire 340-page novel and still felt exhausted, but not sleepy.

So, I read 87 pages, drove home, tried to see my 1300 client, but the mom said the office still didn't have the authorization, so I drove past their street, rushed home, and sent a copy of the e-mail saying we had a new authorization, but she didn't answer.

Then I kept myself awake until my telesession, saw one client, and finished a book.

The whole time I felt exhausted and aggravated that I hadn't even started working on the 2002 Civic.

Saturday morning I drove to Holbrook, but the mom said the second client wasn't feeling well, so we wouldn't even try with him.

I drove an hour each way for one client.

My girlfriend called me while I was driving and I tiredly told her that I was okay, I just needed to not talk for a while.

I tried to take a nap, couldn't, ate a big lunch, and then tossed and turned for hours and hours.

She called the house phone saying she convinced her mom to let her drive the mom's Subaru because I needed her.

"I just need to rest and work on my 2002 Civic."

On Sunday she told me that I clearly didn't want her there and I responded that I wasn't dealing with her perseverating anymore.

"What does that mean?"
It means she can't read a room.

She tried to make me talk about it this morning and I told her I wasn't discussing it.

She tried again and I replied "It is over. I told you that I am not talking about it further and you insisted on talking about it further. Good luck in your endeavors."

I figured that my friends and family would want to know about it, so I mentioned it, but then everyone wanted to discuss feelings they continue to insist that I have.

"I just need to work on my 2002 Civic."

I found everything that I thought I needed and completed the first 11/95 steps.

The next was to remove the oil pressure sensor, but it didn't say where that was. This forum guide didn't say where it is, either: Head Gasket + Timing Belt DIY

It does show it, though, the plug between the intake and the oil filter:


I read to be careful to not damage the boot, but Eric just popped it off, saying to not worry if it gets damaged, that happens all the time.

He used a notched prybar and acted like it was the easiest thing, so of course I was stuck on this for 4 hours!

I watched some more videos and the boot popped off for everyone else.

Mine was super hard and kept breaking when I tried to pry it.

This reminds me of one of the spark plug boots in my 2000 Civic after I overheated, so I wonder if it is heat-hardened.

I decided that it was too late to be careful, I would just break off the rest of it and hope the connector finally pops off, but when I used a notched trim tool the boot simply popped off, as well as the connector.

Eric removed the axle because he couldn’t remove the lower bolts holding the plastic intake otherwise.

I didn’t have a problem, so I left the axle.

He loosened the alternator fasteners and he used an old socket with a slit cut in it to remove the wing nut.

I ordered a tool, but that is a drill attachment, not a socket.

I cannot fit my cordless screwdriver down there, nor can I fit the attachment, a 1/4” socket, and a 1/4” socket wrench.

I tried to find the socket version, but all that I could find was a Snap-on for $44.50.

However, the power steering pump is on top of the alternator, and also has a wing nut right on top, so I will remove the power steering pump, and then see if I can get the cordless screwdriver in there to remove the alternator wing nut.

Skipping the axle removal I am on step 24.

I already did #27, drain the radiator.

I didn’t get ahead, #8 is “Remove the radiator plug!”

Eric said to drain the radiator twice!

Removing the intake should be easy.

Hopefully I don’t have too many problems with the rest.

I should see three clients tomorrow, though.

Goodnight.

[JSH]

So the TL / DR summary:

You broke up with your girlfriend because she wanted to come see you but you wanted to spend the day working on your Civic instead. The same Civic that on Friday you didn't work on but instead spent all day either reading a book or trying to nap.

I agree with your family - this is about a lot more than needing to work on your Civic.

However - congrats on getting some work done on the Civic. One step closer to getting it mobile and out of the driveway.

[redpoint5]

Congrats on the breakup with dysfunctional GF. Best of luck with your breakup with the dysfunctional extra vehicles you've got.

[Xist]

I needed space, she refused to give it to me, so I broke up with her.

I think that I am on step 32.

25. Unplug the crank sensor, cam sensor, and the knock sensor--I only figured out how to remove 2.
27. Loosen the drain plug on the back of the block and drain it there--Loosening it was also #7. I guess that you were supposed to break it loose and then come back and loosen it enough to drain.
Why mess with it twice?
I couldn't get it loose before removing the oil filter. I haven't tried since.
I know that some people say you don't need to and I was shocked how little coolant came out. I figure that much of it was in the oil, but that was less than 5 quarts.
The oil capacity is 3.7 quarts and coolant capacity is 5.2 quarts.
I don't know if a ton of coolant leaked out, but I topped it off before driving it to Crazy J's, and oil and stop leak floated up.
It looked far clearer when I drained it than it should have.

29. Tighten the coolant jacket plug to 58 pound-feet.
30. Remove the 8mm and 10mm fasteners holding the air box assembly--there is one piece stuck to the intake. I need to figure out how to remove it.
31. Remove the last of the lower intake manifold bolts now--I cannot even get my ratcheting wrench on them. It has a hinge, which keeps bending before I get it properly on the fastener. I am going to try breaking them loose with normal wrenches and maybe wrap the hinge with masking tape.
32. Remove the air temperature sensor--I unplugged something! I need to see if it was this!
33. Loosen the intake manifold from the cylinder head and push it back against the firewall; don’t disconnect anything on the throttle body--I need to remove the last piece of the intake and those 4 fasteners underneath.
34. Move aside both o2 sensors.
35. Remove the coolant temperature sensor.
36. Remove ten-millimeter fasteners to remove two brackets blocking the short radiator hose.
37. Remove the radiator hoses, using WD-40 if necessary.
38. Remove the thermostat; replace with new genuine Honda.
39. Remove and label fasteners on top of the valve cover.
40. Remove the dipstick.
41. Disconnect the alternator; there is a 10 millimeter nut on the back--removing this was #31, but it didn't specify to disconnect it, although I did.

I need to see if my day program client is in today and write notes for that agency. Then I have two teleclients starting at 1500.

[Xist]

She has health problems that cause emotional problems.
She is in therapy and on medication, but it seems those medicines periodically require adjustment, and there can be a great deal of drama and trauma.
Then there are people who decide they don't need prescriptions anymore and everything spirals.
She is a social worker and deals with crazies every day.
Her family is nice, but they also have far too many emotions, which complicate her life.
She needs someone who can handle all of these emotions and I burned out after 3.5 months.

I wish that she had just accepted it was a bad weekend to visit me and not pushed it, but I hope that I left her better than I found her.

[Xist]

It looks like the crankshaft position sensor is under the lower timing cover, which is held in place with 10mm fasteners.
There is an 8mm Phillips hose clamp holding the filter housing to the throttle body. I loosened it quite a bit, but the hose clamp didn’t seem to get any looser.
However, that seems to be the problem.
As far as I can tell, the air temperature sensor is in the airbox, and I already disconnected it.

[Xist]

Bizarre. I couldn't access the site yesterday and when I finally could I posted this, but where did it go?!

I removed the three 12mm nuts holding the intake manifold on the bottom. I did not need to drop the axle. It wasn’t easy, I couldn’t fit my ratcheting wrench in there, at least at first, and then I used a 13mm wrench to double-wrench the 12mm to start the nut.
When I had it finger-loose I used a screwdriver to spin it the rest of the way.
There are two surprisingly-long 12mm bolts that attach the plastic portion that makes up at least 90% of the intake manifold to the metal part, which is only about an inch thick, and bolts them to the block.
I couldn’t reach those from below, but I was able to move hoses and cables out of the way and remove them with a ratchet from above.
I desperately wished that I had a long 12mm wrench! I tried find long 12mm ratcheting wrenches in my area, but I cannot imagine one as slim as my non-ratcheting wrench.
We are expecting 8-12” of snow by late Thursday morning. I climbed into the car to see what was next and the wind rattled the hood.
I am pretty sure that the wind knocking the hood off the prop would be about as bad as my brother forcing the hood closed despite being propped!
The wind blew some gravel in my face when I was under the car.
The next step, #34, is “Loosen the intake manifold from the cylinder head and push it back against the firewall; don’t disconnect anything on the throttle body.”
I have a ton more to remove!
Number 47 is “Push the intake manifold and everything connected to it back off the studs.”
I watched that part again and Eric says that you will push it back and to not disconnect anything on the throttle body.
He didn’t say to do that yet!
I cannot log in right now, so I updated my copy.
I am on 34/90! ��
I got everything to this point on video, but when I set up my tripod my phone wouldn’t stay on it. I don’t know what the problem is, but I hope that I don’t have any problems with the “reinstallation is reverse of removal” section and wish I could review what I did.
All of that footage is 32GB, plus I have other videos that I started that I should also move onto my hard drive.
Google Drive has told me to pay for more storage tons of times since I came in today!
24: Loosen fasteners for the alternator.
31: Remove the power steering pump, the alternator, ac belt, and the upper and lower radiator hoses
41: Disconnect the alternator.
48: Remove the 12-millimeter fastener and wingnut on the alternator, then the alternator belt.
42: Disconnect everything else on the wiring harness.
43: Move the wiring harness out of the way.
45. Loosen the power steering reservoir, remove the 12 millimeter fasteners and wingnuts holding the pump.
46. Remove the 10 millimeters fasteners on the bracket holding the power steering lines; remove the bracket, and move the pump out of the way.
47. Remove the three 14-millimeter fasteners holding the power steering bracket; remove the power steering bracket.

I reorganized and simplified those.

Since I don’t need to reinstall the axle, I am technically on 35/87!

The snow still wasn’t sticking, so I went out again. I focused on disconnecting hoses and connectors and removing brackets.
I may not have disconnected both oxygen sensors, #35.
I disconnected the coolant temperature sensor, #36.
I removed fasteners to remove brackets, #37.
I removed radiator hoses, #38.
I didn’t remove the thermostat, but I believe that I can just pop it out now.
I didn’t remove the valve cover because it was snowing, #40.

So, I am on 39/87? ��
So, tomorrow:
Clear off the cars and shovel snow.
Remove the oxygen sensor, thermostat, and valve cover, and I will be on #41.
Remove the dipstick, any remaining brackets [that are in the way), everything else on the wiring harness, fold it out of the way.
He didn’t specify the fuel rail, but it looks like there are 3 fasteners under that holding the intake manifold, and then I can slide it back.
Once I do that I will be on #45—just past halfway!
Halfway removing!
I still need to reinstall everything!

I don’t know if I removed the bracket for the power steering lines, but the pump is loose.
Do I really need to remove the power steering bracket to replace the head gasket?
Remove the catalytic converter.
Clean.
Remove the coil packs and the valve cover.
I was supposed to remove the fasteners in #40!
That brings me to #50.
Remove the spark plugs and timing cover—I already removed the fasteners.
Put the engine in time.
Set the ignition timing, remove the crank pulley and the timing cover.
Remove the timing belt
It says to reinstall the oil filter, but we are still removing stuff!

58: Remove the cylinder head.
59: Loosen the 14-millimeter fasteners with a breaker bar starting at the outside and spiraling inward, remove, set aside, and clean if necessary.
60: Carefully remove the cylinder head and set it somewhere safe.
I am combining those into 2 steps.
Remove the intake studs, inspect the head, clean, and fill in as necessary.
62-65 are cleaning and I will start reinstalling at #66! ��

So, I am on 39/65 of removal, with 66-86 being reinstallation.

I spent an annoyingly-long time cleaning the snow out of my tools. All of the chrome stuff should be fine, but I once got snow in the attachments for my cordless screwdriver and they started rusting.
The same with my giant pliers.

I put the sockets and extensions in the toaster oven. I put everything else on top of the dryer when I washed the towels that I have been using.

[Xist]

I was only able to work on my car for half an hour yesterday--and I was still late for work!

I had many distractions this morning, but I was able to remove the rest of the things blocking the valve cover and the top of the intake manifold.

I removed the valve cover, saw forbidden milkshake everywhere, and slid back the intake manifold.

I removed the head bolts and spark plugs.

They say to remove the power steering pump, but that is one of the motor mounts, and I didn't have a 17" deep socket for those nuts. I was able to remove one with a shallow socket and another with two wrenches, but the third started rounding.

Eric kept saying to loosen some fastener and then to come back and remove it.

I set the engine in time and tried to remove the crankshaft pulley bolt, but I forgot that you need a weighted socket for that.

I bought a tool when I replaced the timing belt on my Accord, but it immediately bent.

I borrowed one from Napa, so I need to buy a 17mm deep impact socket and borrow a pulley bolt extraction tool.

I was supposed to see my 09 clients at 1800, so I wrote my notes, but when I logged in I saw that the mom said 1900.

That is kind of late for kids!

I finished my notes [thus far] at 1830, but didn't have the time to run to Harbor Freight and AutoZone.

It looks like I am seeing my Holbrook client[s] tomorrow, so I will pick up those afterward and hopefully finally remove the head after noon!

[Xist]

I saw both clients in Holbrook on Saturday, gave the mother my hand sanitizer, and stopped at Walmart, Dollar Tree, and Big Lots looking for another one.

When I removed the valve cover in my 2002 Civic, I saw forbidden milkshake everywhere
I thought that when Dollar Tree finally had hand sanitizer in-stock it was 12 ounces for a dollar, but the bottle in my car is 8oz.

Dollar Tree hand sanitizer is thinner than I remember and no longer has a dispenser, but it is the best deal, which took me altogether too long to find out.

The individual deep impact sockets at Harbor Freight are 30% off, but the smallest one they have is the 19mm I just bought, and I needed 17mm.

I stopped at the car wash because they have a 10¢ cash discount and I have all of that Accord money burning a hole in my pocket. They only had premium, but were selling it for the 87 price, which they did not communicate well. I filled up there yesterday, but only put in $40.

The last time I filled up there I used all of my cash and topped off with credit, but somehow I thought I was finished.

I was not.

I returned after Holbrook, calculated that I needed almost 8 gallons of gas(!), which would cost almost $25, but the best I could do was $30, and it cut off after $20.16.

My receipt was supposed to have a code to get change from a machine, but it didn’t, and I didn’t see the employee, so I went home and e-mailed.

I tried before I left, but my mail app wouldn’t load!

I took care of my brother, who apparently woke up at 1300, while Mom slept in another half hour.

There wasn’t a single crankshaft pulley bolt extraction tool available to borrow in-town!

I ordered a Lisle weighted impact socket for $22—and oil filters.

Apparently the only one Walmart had that fit our Camries was $11.44, but Amazon has the Fram one for $6.13!

Eric the Car Guy recommended this pressurized dispenser for brake fluid: Performance Tool M715 Eco-Friendly Non-Aerosol Reusable Liquid Sprayer

It sounded interesting. You use air from your compressor instead of aerosols and I would rather do this than go through a bunch of cans of brake cleaner, which I cannot recycle, and always seem to have liquid I cannot use.

It is only rated 3.8/5, though, so I bought this one: Vaper 19419 Red Spot Spray Non-Aerosol Sprayer (Red) - 32 oz. It is rated 4.3/5 and was slightly less.

So, you just pick up a jug of brake cleaner from the parts store?

Not in my town!

He linked this: CRC 5086 Brakleen Brake Parts Cleaner, 5 Gallon.

It costs $202!

Do any of you think you have used 5 gallons of brake cleaner in your life?!

I didn’t find many places selling a gallon and Advance Auto had it for $40, plus free shipping.
One of my add-ons gave me a 15% off coupon, but it was no longer eligible for free shipping!

CRC Brakleen Brake Parts Cleaner: Chlorinated, Degreases Instantly, 1 gallon

I cannot find one of my $16.50 spark plugs, so I ordered one through them, which got me free shipping again.

You could say the double platinum spark plug is free! 😊

Unfortunately, while the hazardous material is being shipped, I need to pick up the spark plug from the store!

An hour trip for a $6.50 spark plug!

I picked up the 17mm impact socket, but due to AutoZone rewards, it was free! 😊

My brother bought a Batman logo and a Batman figure when we were at Walmart.

When we came home he put both on my dresser! 😊

It was disheartening to not get further. I was positive that I was going to pull the head on Friday and the socket isn’t supposed to arrive until Tuesday!

[Xist]

The Lisle socket [and the oil filters] arrived while I was seeing my second client.

I was supposed to have one at 1400, but I have only seen him twice since October, when they transferred him from another client.

Transfers are rarely good!

A month ago, the mom said that our day and time didn’t work for them. I asked when they were available and never heard back.

I messaged each of the last 3 weeks and never heard back.

I was going to ask to put them on probation, but he was no longer on my caseload! I asked about it and days later someone replied “The mom asked to be reassigned. We didn’t see a reason to inform you.”

They are wasting a third therapist’s time?

Did they have multiple therapists before me?

I really wish they would realize certain families are wasting everyone’s time, will never respect it, and finally say they don’t have any available therapists!

I hurried out, removed the two 14mm nuts from the power steering\motor mount, switched to the Lisle socket, and removed the crankshaft pulley bolt within seconds!

The pulley wouldn’t budge until I used a prybar.

I put the keyway in a Ziploc bag in the glovebox.

I needed to remove the power steering bracket to remove the timing belt. I watched a video about replacing the timing belt and it said there was a 14mm bolt on the side.

There were two!

Eric never mentioned them!

I removed the head, but I needed to remove the thermostat housing to check the head for warping. I started to when I struggled to remove the coolant pipe.


I cannot find my go\no go gauges, so I just used my light, and it seemed like there was a gap between cylinders 2 and 3, but we will see once I find the feeler gauges.

Hopefully it will have drained much more of the contaminated oil by then!

I used several shop towels on top of an old bath towel and I am sure this is only the beginning!

The head itself looked okay and I didn’t notice any light under my machinist’s straightedge, but the water jacket was full!


Shouldn’t that have drained when I drained the radiator?!

I removed the radiator hoses, what is keeping water in the engine?!

Yes, water! I think that Crazy J flushed my engine with tap water!