So, my son wanted a Honda. We found a beat up 2 door civic in his price range. Ran good for a week. He tells me it stalled. I want more details of how and when. I don't know, I was at a light and it stalled. Nothing else. So, clean the iac valve. Order correct gasket and remove throttle body, clean it. Re solder master relay since they are known for broken solder joints. Replace front axle (noisy cv). Change ATF. Runs good for a day. Says it stalled again. Then today finally stalled with no start. Towed it back to my house. No spark. Found Honda used a coil in the dizzy that has a spring to the cap. Well, wouldn't you know, this brand new looking cap was melted where the spring makes contact. I hope he can learn at least from this.

Glad you figured it out! The biggest problem with Hondas is they lead ROUGH lives. Most people who own one buy them because of their reliability which to me also means they don't know how to take care of a car properly, so the car makes of for their lack of upkeep. It might take a little work to figure out all of the things that need to be done, but I'm sure the car is in much better hands with you.

I think they are true marvels of engineering and almost "idiot-proof." Case in point, my dad. He bought an Accord with damn near 300,000 miles on it and didn't do the basics when he got it. That is, change the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fluids, TIMING BELT (very important) and thermostat. He called me from an hour and a half away and said the car was dead at a light and wouldn't restart. First thing I told him was not to keep cranking the car. If the timing belt breaks, it could bend a valve or worse due to the fact they are interference motors. I take two days off of class to come up and change the belt, along with many other things, praying the head isn't damaged. Fire it up, runs great. He makes it around the block and the car dies again. Let it cool for 15 minutes and it runs fine. Sure enough, the thermostat stuck closed and apparently Hondas will not allow the car to start again when the car is overheating, or if it senses that coolant is not flowing as it should. Car now has over 375,000 on it and runs great.

Moral of the story, change it all when you get a chance. Its a small price to pay for some reassurance and a car that should last a longgg time. Plus, the less time you spend towing it home and working on it, the more time you have for 914s!

I just picked up a Civic VX to commute in. Maintenance on this car has been neglected like thepaintedman said. It has been a very easy car to work on and parts are not to expensive. I have been getting over 40mpg!
It is possible to find the shop manuals online at
Hondahookup.com . These have been very helpful in trouble shooting the car.
Good luck with it.

Hey Rob, what does a VX signify? The DXs are the lowest of the line, correct?

The VX uses the D15Z1 VTEC-E engine that is super fuel efficent. In the rest of the country this engine goes into lean burn, but not here is Cali. Some guys are getting over 50mpg, or so they claim.
I think the VX and CX are the bottom of the barrel as far as features; they are the true econo boxes. I think in later years the HX is the fuel efficent model.

My son's 88 Civic HB DX has about 145-150k on it now (not sure since he's stationed back east), and he's driven it from Ft Drum NY (way upstate NY) to DC, NC & most recently to south GA for sniper school - with no problems.

Of course we did a full refurb of everything at 124k in 08, then a refresh & clutch last summer, before I drove it 3200+ mi SoCal to Ft Drum for him - in that huge heat wave last year with no AC!! (it never had AC).

Another biggie on them is to do the timing belt at the req'd intervals - each & every time, & you might as well do the water pump if even a bit iffy while you're in there!

Click to view attachment

You can see how much I shrunk from melting away in the heat, as compared to him!

Nice picture! Step son deploys for basic next week!


I honestly cant believe anyone saying parts are cheap. Body parts are, but I was shocked on how much some of the sensors and such are. Like 5X the cost the same part would be on my jeep or my daughters BMW. Good thing i didnt just start replacing stuff, an ohm meter goes a long way towards saving money I guess.

My crx is at 250,000+ and s still going. I spend about as much time and money fixing my jeep. I paid $700 and it ran like crap. Basic tuneup and timing belt the next day and been putting 350miles/week for 2 years at 50+ mpg and love it.

I have dreams of 60+ mpg with a vx engine though.

Those claims are probably accurate. If you pay just a little attention to how you drive, you can get 50 MPG out of one easily. If you work at it, you can get 60+.

--DD

DD is a 98 Civic LX with 211K. Orig clutch, two timing belt changes. About 10K ago it received a valve job and head gasket due to an overheat episode (cracked plastic radiator).