I have owned my 1996 Civic DX for @5.5 years now. 4 years ago, some douchebags tried to steal it. They broke my steer column and messed up alot of stuff. While trying to hotwire it, they blew a fuse and had to leave it.

I was angry. I was pissed at Honda. I searched forums about stolen cars.....and I kept seeing...'my civic was stolen..." I didn't search stolen civics, I just searched stolen cars. Yeah, I shoulda known better, but outside of the civic being a heavy theft car, it's a great car. I like the styling fine, love the reliability and the MPG I get.

However, I was pissed at my car. I blamed my car for douchebags trying to steal it. After that, I refused to do any maintinence unless the car actually wouldn't start. I didn't change the oil, didn't do any tune ups, rarely opened the hood. I just added gas and waited for the car to be driven into the ground. At which point, I was going to buy a brand new car. An old mans car. Probably an SUV, one that no theif would want anything to do with! But the civic won't die.

I am getting ready to move states and was planning to just sell the civic at a give away price, but someone that just started working at where I am got an old 1988 FJ62.....and made me think twice about if I really want a new SUV. Of course, at 15mpg, the FJ60/2 isn't a good daily driver car, but my civic is a great DD and it only cost me $35 a month in insurance and gas to own. So, now I decided to keep my Civic as a daily driver and I am doing a big tune-up.

Anyway, off to read about timing belt changes.

 

Welcome to the forum, and glad you decided to keep it =D that's the reason I love my civic, it's reliable and cheap to maintain, and like you said, hard to die! see ya around =]

 

I feel your frustration about thieves. They are the filth of the Earth and I relish at the thought of finding one breaking into my car. My Camry was stolen twice, and my Civic has been broken into three times. Cops will say "Well, that's what you get with those cars." <---------Excuse for not doing there job. Alarm that piece man. The attempts went to zero once I got an alarm with a kill switch. Good for you for sticking with it and looking to fix it up. Oil can only go up so SUVs aren't the place to be long-term. Welcome to the forum.

 

Yeah, when I called the cops, they came out and without doing anything, wanted me to sign some papers that amounted to saying I wouldn't press charges if they find the theives so that they wouldn't even try to find them. I refused and told them I will press charges. So he takes one minute to inspect my car for finger prints and tells me he can't see any. I point out to him my fracken window is full of their finger prints, how the hell do you not see that?!!! I got the impression that he felt I was wasting his time. Seriously, the cops seem worthless here.

I did complain to my apartment complex though and found other people in my complex that also had their cars broken into and got them to complain. We got a petition going and motivated the complex owners to get security and more lighting. It's just a retired guy driving around in a golf cart at night with a walkie talky, but for stupid theives, you don't really need much more then that to deter most of them. I really should get an alarm though. On the plus side, the people that live right in front of where I park my car are always outside at night drinking and shooting the ****.

 

Welcome to the forum. I hope you haven't done any permanent damage to the Civic by not keeping up with maintenance. Change that oil FAST. Timing belt and water pump are next. Transmission fluid may be on the list too depending on mileage. If you are looking for parts, I'm sure we can direct you to a few parts cars.

 

Miliage is at 146K+ and yep...for 4 years I did practically zero maintenance on it. I did have the little plastic clutch pedel stop break and I was thinking..damn, starter went! But it just seemed off. Did some googling and read about the plastic wear part, so took a look at the switch and sure enough, that part was broken. I forgot what I did, but it involved tape and a coin and it worked. I went ahead and ordered four of those plastic stops yesterday. Also had an electrical problem and I thought my battery or alternator went out, but when I went to have them check the battery, I noticed my brake lights remained on when I parked it......found yet another plastic wear part broke off and wasn't hitting the silinoid that turns off the brake lights. Easy fix, but I forgot what I did. I must be getting old.

I changed the oil and filter. Oil was so black that I decided to drive it for a week and change the oil and filter again. Even threw in some slick 50. Also changed the air filter, didn't look too bad

I changed my sparkplugs and wires. I do believe I have been running on three cylinders...probably for a while. My number one plug was barely on. I was having problems idling, had to run the A/C at #2 setting otherwise it wouldn't idle without dieing. After change, works much much better. I was going to do caps and rotors too, but the prior owner of the car snapped two of the caps screws off in the distributors thread holes and then completely screwed up the threads trying to get it out....and didn't even get it out. The cap was held on by a zip tie...loosley. I considered tapping the hole for a bigger thread, but ordered a new distributor for $139 free shipping (includes cap and rotors) and returned the cap and rotors I paid $30+ for at Checkers. I also used saftey wire (used in aircraft motors...great stuff, very usefull for a ton of things...I always carry some with my car!) to hold the old distributor together till I swap it out, works much better then zip ties and honestly, it's holding the cap on there as well as a screw can.....and no way it comes loose, you have to cut it off.

I changed the manual transmission fluid with some cheap 75w90 pensoil gear oil because my tranny shifts crappy. 75w 90 is supposedly 10w30 motor oil or so. I also ordered some Redline MTL and will once again change the tranny fluid. Just like the engine oil, the first change was more of a flush...although I didn't add any additives to help clean it, figure a second change is enough. I was hoping the first change would improve my shifting, but it's actually worse cold, but mostly fine once warmed up. Before, it was grinding when ever....and reverse still grinds when I try to shift. I think it takes 2.8 quarts? I just drained it, then refilled to where the fill hole started leaking fluid, let it go till it was done leaking, then closed back up. Did it on a lift and car was level. All I could get in was 2 and a half bottles (1 quart each). Alarms? Let me know, just did it yesterday and haven't driven much. Should get the redline MTL before next friday.

Will do the IAC..idle air control valve cleaning tomorrow or sunday. Will do valve adjustments when I do timing belt.


I have every part for the timing belt change, I think. Bought it locally from Checkers. Probably shoulda went to ebay for a full kit, but I peaced my own together.
Got:

Valve cover gasket (honda use o-rings right?) kit, which includes seals for spark plugs.
Camshaft and crankshaft seal kit
New tensioner...and had to special order the spring.
Timing, A/C, Alternator and powersteering belts (one of those is combined I think)
New water pump.....they wanted almost as much for a rebuilt and then add core charge, I figured I could use a spare incase it breaks on the road......then I am reading the proceedure to change it....yeah, won't be doing that on the road lol. I was thinking 350 chevy water pump change.
Coolant and stuff to flush the radiator.

Also got the crankshaft pulley removal tool

http://www.amazon.com/Powerbuilt-648...f=pd_rhf_p_t_3

Hopfully that is the correct one, read it can be 45mm or 50mm. I think that one is 50mm. Did a search on the reviews for it and several people saying they used it on SOHC 1.6L 96-00, so should be the one?

Got some polishing compound with more of a bite to it to hopefully improve the paint job. If it helps, great. If not, I am not loosing sleep or getting a paint job.....unless I do it myself. Military and have access to a paint booth. I am positive I can do a good spray job myself....not so sure about body work.


My problem is, currently the civic runs great. I am moving in less then 6 weeks. My car will have to be shipped and it has to be in good working condition....which it is right now. I doubt I will mess up on the timing belt change, but it can happen and then I will have big problems with zero time. I am thinking I will wait till I move and get situated at my new home and work. Probably get a new to me FJ60/55 or 62, get everything registered and then change the timing belt on the civic....just to be safe. I doubt my timing belt will break in the next 6 weeks or year even, but it is on my short list.


I use to have really good mechanic tools, but my ex sold it all when I was away. I spent a long time going to flea markets buying crappy craftsman tools and then taking em to Sears to get new replacements for that tool set, but that is all gone. I was just making due with crappy tools I got from walmart. Most are rusted now or broke, because they really are junk. I just went to sears an hour ago and bought a 260 piece mechanic tool set http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...000P?adCell=W3 with a tool box that has a good range of tools I will need....although no 19mm combo...wtf? And alot of standard tools....which I don't really need. Will supplement it later. If I was going to get a new SUV, I probably wouldn't invest that much in tools, but FJ60.....need tools. My Civic, I will work on it when needed. My goals for the Civic, keep it reliable and stock. Mostly can just use the base tools for that.

Also ordered a hopefully stock looking velour front seat covers for $179. Majestic and places like that wanted $140 just for the top portion of one seat...so would work out to @$600+ to do the front seats. What I ordered will supposedly fit like I am not even using seat covers. I was tempted to get the leather seat kit

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-97...Q5fAccessories

but thought it was just a bit much for my intended use of the civic.