Hey everyone! I just bought my first Civic yesterday, a '95 EX. This is our 3rd Honda - my wife traded her 02 Accord for an '07 Odyssey. I've driven the same '97 Pathfinder for 10 years now, and with gas prices on the way back up, I had to get something with better than 15MPG, so here I am.

I know nothing about the service history of this Civic, other than it's currently running now. The dealership I bought it from put a coil pack, dizzy, wires, and plugs in it, and that's all I know.

I can see there's a little oil around the motor, mostly on the underside of the distributor. It smokes just a little bit - I notice the smell when I turn the car off, and can see it just a little bit if I pop the hood as soon as I get out. It's coming from around the header area, but I can't pinpoint it because of the heat shield. I'd guess it's oil leaking, dripping on the header, and burning there.

Since I know nothing of the service history on this thing and it has 150k on the clock, I'm thinking about doing the head gasket. If I do that, I would also want to do the valve cover gasket and timing belt. Does this sound like the right course of action? If so, is there anything else I should do while I'm in there?

Thanks in advance!
Jeff

 

did you put a new o ring on the distributor when you changed it? Its a common issue and is really easy to fix.

 

Thanks for the reply, Shandles. I would assume that was done - I bought the car used from a Honda/Chrysler/Ford dealership near me. It was as-is, but when they took it in, it stopped cranking, so they did the work. I would assume their shop knew what they were doing, but then again, the dipstick wasn't actually in the tube when I got it!

Can I just pop it off and check it?