Hey i've got a 1991 Honda Civic DX Hatchback(1.5L d15b2 engine) and i've got 2 questions about my car. The First is that i want to do a transmission fluid change on my car and i'm not sure on what fluid would be safe to put in. The owner's manual says to use Dexron 2, but the closest fluid i can find is Valvoline Dex/Merc which is suppose to be Dexron 3 spec. Is it safe to use? Also i found instructions to do the fluid change and it says to torque the drain bolt down to 29 ft-lbs and replace the washer. Is this right? I never done a transmission fluid change before so i don't really know much.

And second, my car has a start up issue where after driving it around(reaching normal operating temperature) and if i shut it off, then try to start it up and it won't start back up. Sometimes it doesn't want to start up if i sit it outside in the sun on a hot day and hasn't even been driven(this happened only a few times but only on a hot day). Besides that it runs fine.

 

to answer ur second question, it may be ur main relay. look at the stickies in this section. and as for ur first, i use castrol 10w40 and it works fine... as for the bolt... just think of it as the one for the oil pan. same thing

 

Ok thanks i found that troubleshooting stickie and will try to get a replacement main relay to see if it works. And i forgot to mention my car was an automatic.

 

The automatics are real fickle about what fluid to use, I would suggest Honda fluid from a dealer as that hasn't changed over the years. If you use third-party fluid be sure it is labeled that it meets Honda "ATF-Z1" spec.

On the second point you could resolder the main relay rather than replace it. Take the relay out of the car, pry the cover open, and resolder all the connections on the circuit board inside. There are write-ups all over the web about it. The original solder job was not good and a lot of people have had trouble out of them. Resoldered, it will last the life of the car.

 

I checked the owners manual and it said to just use Dexron 2 and all i can find is this Dex/Merc stuff. On the back of the bottles of Dex/Merc i have it says it can be used with Hondas(1989-1995 models), but it didn't have the ATF-Z1 on it.

 

go manuel bro! better and easier to maintain. IMO...

 

Ok so can someone tell me if this part in the picture is what the main relay for my car should look like?

 

Yes that is it. The part is bolted to the side of the car on the inside under the dash above the handle that you pull to unlatch the hood.

 

Thanks man. I would resolder it to see if that fixes it, but i don't have a soldering gun to do it. So i'll have to order the part.