I work on my other vehicles to a fair degree (62 Ford Falcon, 71 VW Camper), but I have been spoiled when it comes to my 96 Civic. She has put on nearly 111K miles without hardly a hiccup. I've replaced a battery once, a few fuses, a few stereos, some brake pads, some spark plugs and oil, a starter, a clutch, and the timing belt in all the time I have had her. But the time has come to get knuckle down and learn her engine. She's no spring chicken anymore.

I've got two major issues with her, and I'd like to get some good opinions on what's going on -before- I take her into the shop. They are as follows:

1) She makes a whistling noise when her engine is cold, maybe for about the first two minutes, then it goes away. For some reason I am thinking perhaps a pump of some sort? This might tie in with what is, for her, gas mileage that has declined over time to about 30 mpg. (Her tire pressure and size are fine, but she *is* in desperate need of a full tune up, and that may nail the mileage as a seperate issue.) My hope is that, once I find out what this is, it will be something simple I can do myself -- pull out the old, drop in the new.

2) When her engine is fully warm, I have trouble getting her into first. The more I have driven her in a day, the more a problem this becomes. It goes from being a slight hesitation, to a stutter, to a real problem hitting the sweet-spot of the firction zone to get her to catch. When it's really bad, it would be easier to lug her from a stop in second ... but I don't do that, of course. This problem has been going on for quite some time, but it has become progressively worse. It's time to take action. My fear is that her transmission is going. Good news would be if it were just the clutch. What do you think, folks?

Many Thanks,

 

1. Maybe it's just a belt that needs replacing
2. Make sure you are good on transmission fluid. Synchros might be worn.