Hello, I am a newbie with a few questions on a recently purchased 1993 Honda Civic EX.

It has a rattle either in the dash or under the hood that is only heard when going over bumps and when reving the engine into the upper range. Anyone else have this rattle? It almost sounds like pinging form the engine but I am sure it is not that because I put it into neutral over some bumps and it will still rattle. It seems to be on the drivers side. The engine reving seems to bring it out however.

Next, the back drivers side wheel hub is noisy and has a little bit of play in it. Any special tips on replacing one of these or is it just a simple hub job?

Any reccomendations or tipson replacing the timing belt and adjusting valve clearances? The car has 115K on it and we are not sure if it has had any of the major maintaince performed on it.

Can you use dextron III instead of the reccomended dextron II in the transmission?

Sorry for all the questions but our family has never owned anything but fords or chevy's. Thanks in advance!

 

you should get this done by a shop, anddont DIY. if u get it done at a shop theres a warranty.. likeif the timing belt is faulty, was installed wrong, etc. so the shop will have to pay to fix your ****ed up engine after the timing belt breaks and screws everything up. and plus, its best to have a reciept to prove when it was done if u ever sell the car

 

The rattle is probably your exhaust. Check your exhaust mani. for cracks and then inspect the part where the 2 pieces of mani. connect. Mine was rattling and I looked for cracks and saw that one of the 3 bolts was missing from that connection. If those things arent the problem, look under your car. Make sure the pipe is held in tight by those little rubber thingy's.

If you are cheap like me and dont want to take your car to a shop to replace a timing belt, then I have a few tips for you. Yesterday I had to replace my water pump which involves taking part of the pully system off and also the timing belt. Im no good with timing or anything so I didnt want to mess with it. If you are careful and dont move the crank or cam AT ALL during the process of sliding the belt off and on, then you wont disturb timing. Just get to where you can slide the belt off. But when you get to pulling the belt off, simply grab it and slide it off the cam and then the rest of the things. Then take your new belt and slid it back on. It may take awhile to get it but you will eventually get it back on without moving anything at all. Dont even mess with the tension thing.

Now if you do manage to move the cam or crank while the belt is off then your on your own with that. Its a little risky process but it worked for me!