If you have got surging, bouncy or an erratic engine idle read on. If you have a really nasty idle issue and tried the usual tuneup and it doesn’t seem to work then Click Here for a writeup on Honda-Tech.com on how to fix this issue.
Lets face it building or rebuilding an engine is not cheap, lots of time, money and sweat have gone into your precious engine so why treat it like crap. Always do a proper break in by NOT USING synthetic oil, change the oil and filter after first 25kms and make sure you have proper cooling. But hey don’t listen to me and kiss your new engine good bye, it’s up to you!. Here is another great link on what to do and what not to do on an engine break in. Click Here for link.
I bought the 2009 Ultimate Buyers Guide last night and man this thing is a must for any car tuner enthusiast. It’s got everything from from body kits to clutches, steering wheels and turbo chargers. If your looking at buying any after market parts for your Honda Civic this summer then you better pickup a copy as there are lots of products listed that will fit your Civic. If you want a custom racing seat then turn to page 118 and BAAM! you got the picture, pricing, website and phone number of the manufacture so you can get your self setup. The magazine has a parts reference guide starting on page 10 that lets you know whats available for your car whether it being a Honda Civic, BMW or Toyota. So go to your local store and pickup a copy and save yourself the headache and the cash this summer.
Have you put put a crap load of your hard earned cash into your Honda Civic? And wanna keep adding more because you love to pimp out your ride. Then you must have an alarm or kill switch of some sort, if you don’t then I this is the page for you. You can add a kill switch, start kill or an ignition kill into your car and immobilize it so the common thief can’t steal your Civic, otherwise kiss your car goodbye.
I found a great site that has all three of these write ups and there easy to understand. Here take a look below.
Kill Switch
Starter Kill
Ignition Kill
Finding great resources can sometimes be really tricky specially when your looking for something really specific. I found this 62 page manual on the 1992-1995 Honda Civic transmission and thought I would share it with other EG (92-95) Civic enthusiasts that might need it for reference.
Click Here for 92-95 Civic Transmission Manual
Adding on performance mods on your engine will only go so far without a proper Air/Fuel gauge, otherwise you could risk running your engine too lean and blow it up.
The most popular one on the market now is the AEM Wideband UEGO Controller and sells on eBay for around $200-$300. There is also the Inovative Motorspotrs LC-1 Kit with red or blue gauge which is around $289. Well I was searching around today and I found an alternate solution the JAW(Just Another Wideband) reader for $115 assembled with display. The only other major part that you will need to make JAW work is a Bosch Wideband sensor which sells for around $50-$70. Click Here to see a video of the JAW reader in action.
Have you ever wondered what type of tranny you have in your Honda Civic, or wanted to buy an Si tranny from the wrecker and wanted to be sure your were getting the right one? Well I have 2 great pictures below that show you where to look to distinguish between an Si/Ex and the DX/CX tranny. The Si/Ex tranny has P20/B000 stamped on the casing and the DX/CX has P20/A000 stamped on the casing as shown in the pictures below. The difference between the 2 types of tranny’s is the gearing, you will accelerate way faster with the Si tranny as the gears are shorter. You will have to change gears faster but you will speed up faster. My personal opinion of the Si/Ex tranny if it’s matched with a D16Z6 engine or any other D16 engine with similar horsepower is that it’s an awesome upgrade. It is easier to drive in traffic because you don’t have to use 1st gear as often. As long as the car is barely rolling in traffic I can start with 2nd gear and then go up to 3rd and then back to 2nd if needed. Where as with the old DX tranny and the D15B7 engine I was always bouncing between 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd and sometimes 3rd. Acceleration is way faster and much more torque can be felt in the first 3 gears. So if your thinking of upgrading to a more powerful engine then your D15B7 then the Si/Ex tranny is the way to go.
Si/Ex Tranny – P20 / B000 - DX/CX Tranny – P20 / A000
Today I will talk about the starter, a very important part that allows you to start your engine. Back in the day, they had to use hand cranks to turn over the engine to start it, but these days you just turn your key and go. This is only possible because of the modern day electric Starter. An electric starter is a part attached to the outside of your transmission housing or engine that uses power from your battery to turn your engine over. It uses the Bendix drive which is attached to the end of the starter shaft to turn your flywheel fast enough till your engine starts. Once your engine starts spinning fast enough the Bendix drive disengages and the engine is running on it’s own. I found some images of the possible starter variations that you might have in your Honda Civic. You can Click on them to see a bigger image.
My friend’s car broke down this morning and her engine light came on but being a newer car she needs an ODB2 reader to find out what’s wrong with it. This got me thinking about the possible ODB1 engine error codes that the engine light in a Civic would show if you had a problem. So I made a table below of the possible engine error codes that a 1992-1995 Civic owner could encounter. These codes are easily readable by the number of flashes made by the engine light in diagnostic mode.
To get into diagnostic mode you have to short out the diagnostic plug that is under the right side of the glow box. This is a green 2 wire plug that should be in a rubber sleeve. Make sure your ignition is in the OFF position, then pull the plug out of the sleeve and short the two pins with a small wire. Then turn your ignition to the “II” position and count the number of flashes.
You might encounter long flashes or short flashes, each long flash means 10 and each short flash means 1. So if you get 2 long flashes and 2 short flashes, your error code is 22 - VTEC Pressure Valve Switch. If you get 3 short flashes this means error code 3 – MAP Sensor malfunction. Read your engine error code and use the table below to find out what’s wrong. Once your done turn off your ignition and pull the wire out and put the plug back into the protecting rubber sleeve and tuck it back under the glove box.
1 – O2A – Oxygen sensor #1
2 – O2B – Oxygen sensor #2
3 – MAP – manifold absolute pressure sensor
4 – CKP – crank position sensor
5 – MAP – manifold absolute pressure sensor
6 – ECT – water temperature sensor
7 – TPS – throttle position sensor
8 – TDC – top dead centre sensor
9 – CYP – cylinder sensor
10 – IAT – intake air temperature sensor
12 – EGR – exhaust gas recirculation lift valve
13 – BARO – atmospheric pressure sensor
14 – IAC (EACV) – idle air control valve
15 – Ignition output signal
16 – Fuel injectors
17 – VSS – speed sensor
19 – Automatic transmission lockup control valve
20 – Electrical load detector
21 – VTEC spool solenoid valve
22 – VTEC pressure valve Switch
23 – Knock sensor
30 – Automatic transmission A signal
31 – Automatic transmission B signal
36 – Traction control found on JDM ecu’s
41 – Primary oxygen sensor heater
43 – Fuel supply system
45 – Fuel system too rich or lean
48 – LAF – lean air fuel sensor
54 – CKF – crank fluctuation sensor
58 – TDC sensor #2
61 – Primary oxygen sensor
63 – Secondary oxygen sensor
65 – Secondary oxygen sensor heater
71 – Random misfire cylinder 1
72 – Random misfire cylinder 2
73 – Random misfire cylinder 3
74 – Random misfire cylinder 4
80 – Exhaust Gas Recirculation insufficient flow detected
86 – ECT Sensor (Engine Coolant Temperature) circuit range / performance problem
90 – Evaporative Emission Control System leak detected in the fuel tank area
91 – Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor low input
92 – Evaporative Emission Control System insufficient purge flow
If you need complete D Series engine specs, I found a great link that covers head, block, piston and cam. Click Here for more info.
