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

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

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.

Did I miss something and the 99 Accord has been sold?

[Xist]

I drove it down to my sister's house, gave her the title and the key, and she gave me $250, but we never signed anything.

She had said that they would take care of repairs from now on, but then the dealership tried to convince her to pay $670 to replace the valve cover gasket--they quoted me $200--and she asked me a bunch of questions, so I am still trying to fix that car.

[redpoint5]

Why did your sister take the car? I thought she was the one always criticizing your car collection?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

I drove it down to my sister's house, gave her the title and the key, and she gave me $250, but we never signed anything.

She had said that they would take care of repairs from now on, but then the dealership tried to convince her to pay $670 to replace the valve cover gasket--they quoted me $200--and she asked me a bunch of questions, so I am still trying to fix that car.

1. Congratulations on breaking the cycle of Honda hoarding
2. Why did you sell your car to your sister for roughly 10% of the value?

[Xist]

My sister criticizes everything about me.

It is one of the things that Mom loves about her.

My sister convinced our sister-in-law to sell me the car for $250 years ago.

I wouldn't feel right turning a profit on family, although arguably, I should have lowered the price.

I finally went back and tried to remove the coolant jacket drain plug, but I was limited by my ability to hang from a 1/2" wrench with one hand.

I weigh 235 pounds and I was lifting myself off the ground. I didn't think I could fit a breaker bar in there.

I sprayed PB Blaster on it and then finally tried to figure out why Mom's new refrigerator is peeing the floor.

I had just fixed the water dispenser in the old one when she had it hauled off!

I saw a client and bought crowfoot wrenches for my serpentine belt removal tool, but they didn't have 19mm, so I exchanged it for a ratcheting wrench.

I wanted a long wrench, but I could not just buy one.

The normal wrench was cheaper and longer, but I figured I would still need to double-wrench, so I bought the ratcheting one.

It required PB Blaster, two wrenches, and a surprising amount of force, but I broke it loose, and after a great deal of ratcheting I loosened it as far as I could.

I couldn't fit my hand past the intake and I couldn't move the intake enough, so I climbed under to remove the bolt, and all of the contaminated water in the coolant jacket dumped on me.

I wanted to have a professional look at my head today, but I will need to do that tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Xist

It says to reinstall the oil filter, but we are still removing stuff!

I am moving that step!

I guess that I am here:
59.Remove the intake studs with two nuts and a socket wrench. Remove the dowel pins, intake and exhaust gaskets and clean the cylinders, intake, and exhaust mating surfaces with brake cleaner and a Scotchbright pad.
61.Clean out this EGR passage with throttle plate cleaner and a flathead screwdriver.
62.Clean the radiator hose connections inside and out with a Scotchbright pad.
63.Vacuum all that debris.
64.Clean the bore on the tube with the o-ring that goes across the back of the engine block to the back of the water pump with a Scotchbright pad and put silicone paste on the o-ring.

I am going to look for my gauges. I don't feel like cleaning an engine that may be bad, the gallon of brake cleaner won't be here for two days, and my latest can of brake cleaner is clogged again.
[I ended up spending all evening writing this]

The lower timing cover is broken. Only one bolt hole is still intact at all. I want to do this right, but the soonest I could get a replacement was two weeks, and I don't want to wait that long!

I am checking again. Oh boy! I am checking again!

I looked at twelve dealerships, including Majestic. The cheapest was $21.28, the most expensive was $26.24, the cheapest shipping was $5.86, the most expensive was $33.05, the cheapest total was $29.95, the most expensive was $62.06, the fastest was 6 days, and the slowest was 16.

I looked at 16 eBay listings for OEM parts. The cheapest was $25, the most expensive was $72.39, 13 offered free shipping, the most expensive shipping was $39.99, the cheapest total was $26.95, the most expensive was $82.98, the fastest was 6 days, and the slowest was 9.

One place is selling a Honda cover through Walmart for $27.78 with free shipping. It is supposed to be here in 14 days.

I looked at 20 aftermarket ones on Amazon. The cheapest was $26.95, the most expensive was $26.24, the cheapest shipping was $5.86, the most expensive was $33.05, the cheapest total was $29.95, the most expensive was $62.06, the fastest was 8 days, and the slowest was 15.

RockAuto has it for $24.79, plus $9.99 shipping, and $2.94 in tax.

It would supposedly be here in 3 days.

The machine shop was supposed to machine the head in 2 days years ago.

If I dropped off the head the first thing tomorrow and they had it back to me in 48 hours I could start putting the car back together on Friday.

I could save $8 by ordering a Honda cover through eBay, but it wouldn’t be here until Monday, and I wouldn’t be able to start reassembling until then.

Without paying extra, the cheaper of the two dealerships that should get it here by Monday would charge $41.30.

How many bolt holes does it really need?!

I entered a 5% off coupon into the "How did you hear about us?" box and saved $1.24.

This is the only thread that I can find about replacing the head gasket in Chorizo: Would you resurface your own cylinder head?

I commented that the local machine shop charged $85 to mill .003" off that head--and I need to park in front of the "Office" sign.

I also acted like that head was heavy.

I carried the 1.7L head up the driveway and into the garage. I hurried because I didn't want it dripping all over the concrete, but I didn't think it was that bad.

I had looked for those heater core screws that I lost, but didn't see them on a diagram. I figured that I needed to talk to a human about 50¢ screws, but in that thread I shared a picture of the diagram, and I figured that if I searched for the heater core cover I could find the screws.

I did, but the diagram was for the heater core assembly, so I should have been able to find it earlier. Honda 90122-SR3-003Screw, Tapping (5X12)

[freebeard]

I wanted to have a professional look at my head today, but I will need to do that tomorrow.

About time.

My Metro is starting to stumble at 5MPH but I don't want to touch it. It looks nothing like a VW Beetle. I don't know what each thing is let alone how they work.

The only thing I would trust myself on [except fluid levels] would be to change the spark plugs. I think I could find those.

[Xist]

Follow the spark plug wires!

[Xist]

Chorizo was only warped .003"!

I removed the camshaft pulley because the inner timing belt cover is melted, so I need to order one of those, too!

Since I have 4-5 days and I just looked up prices for the lower cover, I should be able to find a good price for an OEM inner cover.

Conicelli would have charged $29.01 total and shipped by the 15th while Majestic would have charged $34 and shipped by the 21st.

Much worse!

Google shows 15 dealerships, plus 6 eBay listings. Google only shows estimated deliveries for 7 dealerships and only two would allegedly arrive by the 14th.

Conocelli would be the cheapest at $36.82 and would ship by the 16th while Majestic would have charged $42.25 and delivered by the 22nd.

HondaPartsNow is the only one that figures out my city and state from the ZIP, but it doesn’t give a delivery estimate!

I cannot wait weeks!

The dealership in Chandler would charge $5 for a pickup!

None of them estimate deliveries by the 14th. Helpful Honda Parts estimated the 13th, but would charge $38.20 to ship!

I found 9 on eBay, 5 would arrive by the 14th, and the cheapest would be $33.99, $2.83 cheaper than Conocelli, 3 days faster, and less than half as much as the fastest dealer directly through their site.

Do you think the dealerships that use eBay have separate departments for it?

None of these eBay sellers showed up under Google Shopping, but they consistently ship faster and cheaper.

All right, $36.86 for that, $36.37 for the lower cover, $125 to resurface, and I think that is everything recent.

Mom replaced her old refrigerator as soon as I fixed the water dispenser and then the new one started leaking a month or two ago. Curiously it only seemed to leak at night, but late last night Mom made me drop what I was doing to look at it.

I finally pulled out the fridge and looked around; the water line had a pinhole leak where it went through the cabinet.

I don’t know who ran the original line, but they just drilled a hole in the cabinet. It wasn’t a smooth hole and I was surprised there wasn’t a gasket or something to smooth the edges.

My brother got a drink of water while I was back there and when the water shut off the line moved, so apparently it rubbed a hole.

It is possible our old refrigerator didn’t do that, so it didn’t develop a leak.

My sister ordered braided stainless-steel lines when she ordered the fridge, but I felt annoyed enough figuring out the water without replacing the lines, but I was younger and more innocent then! ��

I couldn’t cut off the water under the sink. I tried my locking hose clamp pliers, but they are from Harbor Freight, and when I tightened them they bent.

Dad bought a vise when we bought our first house when I was a kid. There was a workbench in the garage. We haven’t had a workbench since, but we still have the vise.

That did a pretty good job of clamping the line, but it was difficult to use! ��

I got to bed after 2 and woke up at 5:45 to run to Home Depot, buy a tub just big enough for my cylinder head, Scotch Bright, and dishwashing gloves.

YourMechanic says to soak cylinder heads in soapy water, which didn’t sound right, but I don’t have my brake cleaner, so I tried.

I used a tub for the greasy parts of my Camry, but it was bigger than I wanted, although I planned on putting the new tub in the larger one, in case water leaked.

Apparently the new tub wasn’t strong enough for a large piece of aluminum, I started running the bath, went to grab something, and the bathtub was full of greasy water!

There were giant cracks in my new tote!

I still haven’t cleaned that…

I scrubbed everything, but just got an even coating of grease. I rinsed it off, took everything outside, and used my compressor to dry it the best I could.

There was a ton of grease on my table, but my cylinder head looked pretty good!

There was a ton of grease on me, too! ��

I couldn’t use my exhaust nuts to remove the studs, there wasn’t enough room for my wrenches, so I figured I would buy some from Ace, except they do not open until 8. I drove another 4 miles to Home Depot for 2 nuts, but they only came in a 5-pack, and then I immediately lost 2 nuts and a stud.

I eventually found them in the engine!

Maybe I should have removed those studs before I tried to clean anything. It is possible that one of them poked a hole in the plastic, instead of a heavy corner.

I think that I should have bought a metal pan instead.

I didn’t drop off the head until 10, but that did not seem to matter. I came home and replaced the water line, which required removing the dishwasher.

The wood was pretty damp!

I set up my shop fan and left it until my brother came home, about 4 hours, but it didn’t dry very well.

I will try again with my brother’s bathroom heater when he leaves on Friday.

I napped for 3 hours, saw my client, and then tried to replace the stupid plastic handle on the valve under the sink, but I couldn’t get it to go on, even though it looks identical, and it looks like it should fit.

I want to run to Ace when they get around to opening tomorrow, buying a slightly longer screw, and see if I can convince them to cohabitate, but I might just strip the screw hole.

Can you buy ¼” washers?! ��

I think the valve is busted. I used pliers to turn it and it just spun forever, but we finally have cold water in the sink, and the water dispenser in the refrigerator works right! ��

[Xist]

I found rebuilt ones on eBay for around $400, but I cannot find heads elsewhere like I can engines and transmissions. I found a used one for less and cart-parts shows a-grade heads starting at $150, but nowhere near Arizona.

For once we didn't have snow, I didn't toss and turn until late, and I didn't need to do anything this morning, so I called to see if my client was at his day program. The manager got back to me at least 20 minutes later. He was there, so I went to see him.

The communication app that we have used for over 10 years showed a cloud download button. I tried to load it, but it kept saying it couldn't download. I turned on my hotspot and it said the same.

Once again it tried to update, but doesn't want to run on my old iPad, so it simply deleted itself.

I spent most of the session figuring out how to install the old version again and waiting for it.

When I thanked him and told him to have a good week he said "More," so I grabbed another 10 flashcards, and he said "Finished."

"No, you said more! We are doing these flashcards!"

This repeated until we had worked for over an hour and we went through 150 cards or something.

My brother had telespeech with the 4th-best speech therapist we know while I was gone. Mom has set up Zoom many times, but said she couldn't make it work, so she used her iPad.

How much do you want to bet I can pull it up right away?

My Friday morning mom canceled saying her kids are already down in the valley for spring break.

"Can we still do Zoom?"
"No, Mom is old, and technology scares her."

Doubt!

Well, I can try to make up a session with that client in a day program.

Hopefully the app still works!

How do I prevent it from updating?

Since it will not update, just self-destruct?

[Xist]

One of the spark plugs had agoraphobia and was harder to remove than the head bolts!

It came out with threads from the head and was stuck in the socket.

The shop charged $18 to install an insert.

I guess that is cheaper than buying a kit and doing it myself.

I was going to change the oil in the Camries and use that to flush the 2002 Civic. Since the shop was taking longer I was going to do that first.

I would rather take care of the cars that just need an oil change before discovering what exciting new drama awaits me.

The friend has been in the hospital since Sunday. All that she knows so far is that she has at least one marker for cancer. They have taken 13 vials of blood (that she has mentioned), had various scans, and a biopsy.

I have seen my clients, but otherwise have stayed on the computer as much as possible so I can respond promptly to her updates.

I would have started resurfacing Mom's picnic table, but I couldn't find my sander!