Hey guys, i'm new to the forum and new to the "civic world" and first off, i just wanted to say that this forum has helped me fix numerous problems on the 94 civic ex i bought for a commuter car. so all that leads me up to my next question,

what can i do to my motor or rather what needs to be done to make this motor, well, bulletproof in the sense that it is going to hold up for several years to come? it has about 150k miles on it, runs pretty strong and healthy right now with a slight tick in the lifters or valves i'm assuming and it has fresh oil and a full oil level.

On these engines, what is the first mechanical part to start giving way? is it the head gasket, the valvetrain, the bottom end or something more? I have come to realize that the electronics on the car will probably give way before most of the bottom end, so in trying to preserve the top end of the car for future bolt on mods and reliability, should have a valve job or equilavent done and replace the belts and distrubitor cap and etc...

i don't believe i will ever turbo it, because it is only a SOHC v-tec but i will add a intanke, header and exhaust, at the least over time and I am going to be driving in 300 miles chunks to go back home and visit so i don't want to be smoking on the side of the highway

thanks for all the help!, hopefully i did not ramble too much
~James

 

well if its got a tick then i would see about adjusting the valves... could just be one valve that needs tightened up alittle... nothing to big..

tho main thing with a honda motor to make it last longer is timing belt replacement!
and while you got the motors front apart its best to replace the water pump as well as both the upper cam oil seal and the lower crank oil seal. its cheap insurance since the motors face is opened up already.
a busted timing belt is the #1 failure causing motor damage! if it snaps it can easily bend a valve and even damage the piston.

and with the oil seals.... well obvious!!!!!! no one likes a oil leak!!!!!

 

haha, yeah good call on the leaks.. thanks for that,

i think it does pretty well now with holding all of its fluids, is the timing belt a pretty deep install on those motors? and i heard a rumor of them burning some oil, which i havent seemed to notice...this true at all?

the only other thing would be the valves, is that something that is a DIY? and do they just tend to get out of adjustment over time and how about the valve seats...do they start to wear out as well?

thanks for the help, just trying to figure out how these little guys work, i'm used to american v-8's lol..
~James

 

its not to tuff to change the timing belt...
i would advice buying a repair manual for your car..... and simply follow the instructions.

i myself am used to american muscle v8s and such, BUT i got pulled into hondas from there milage!

everything wears out... reason why youd have to adjust the valves. pretty straight forwards.
all motors are pretty comon same concepts

 

+1 on buying a service manual.

Adjusting valve lash isn't hard and the manual says do it only at 30k miles but eventually the engine will start to "tick" a little bit (basically sound like a pissed off sewing machine) then you can adjust the valve lashagain. It's a 30 min job for anyone who is decent with a wrench.

Valve seals will wear out over time eventually too but they are cheap to replace if you can do it yourself.