1992 civic si issues, first time working on a car.

[GrumpyBSTRD]

Hi everyone, thank you for looking at my post. I appreciate anyone's input and advice, I will take any price of Advice I can get. Especially since this is my first time getting deep into fixing a car in which I am interested in and always have been.
So a couple of days ago I bought a 1992 Honda Civic si with 216 k miles on a D16z6 ( but wierdly enough I don't see the vtec on the cover )
Engine still runs well for its age, interior is in amazing shape as well, exterior was definitely not taken care of. I'll post pictures as soon as I can figure this out on my cell phone.

So without further delay im gonna list the problems

- electrical: dash lights don't turn on, but warning lights work fine. Bulbs are fine for the cluster, I trailed this to the dimmer being bad so I jumped the wires and turned the lights on and hey it work. But I haven't solved the the climate lights and all the fuses are fine so that's not the case and my wiring is extremely nice for its age.

- mechanical: this is the fun part
Idle: revs go up and down at a stop when in neutral or clutch pressed down. I'm thinking it's either the tps and or dirty throttle body.
-Power steering pump is going out, also found out today that the rack and pinion is leaking fluid so it's shot as well. Might explain the extremely loose steering wheel (or it could be its age)
- timing belt (might or might not, no history known of whether it has been changed)
- spark plugs (easy)
- I don't know the name, maybe it's the shift linkage but it has a heavy amount of grease that doesn't look great. I'll post pictures so you can see if it needs to be replaced.
- transmission: reverse grinds even when clutch is fully pressed down, second grinds every now and then. First is a little notchy to get in ( I hear it's most likely the age)
Clutch seems fine, I suck at stick since I haven't driven one in over a year and that was when I learned so the clutch might not last long
- oil pan: this one is pretty disgusting, previous owners(s) stripped the damn bolt to drain the oil and also it looks like someone ripped the oil pan and hit something. And covered it with this thick red putty I heard its gasket sealant and also they put duct tape too..yay. Might need a new one later.
Suspension : yeah that needs to be replaced corners feel like I'm gonna roll the thing lol
- wheel: the front passenger wheel has a pretty gnarly dent that causes my tire to leak significantly overnight since here in Oklahoma it's cold at night. I'll leave it at 42 ( to compensate overnight) then I'll wake up to 30 ish psi
-Radiator: the radiator is all gunked up by this nasty mess. Owner said he did a flush in January. I'm gonna flush with distilled water and get another oem radiator. Then put blue Honda antifreeze

I really want this to be a project since driving it makes me feel like it has so much potential

So this is all I have for now, if anyone has any input again I'd really appreciate it.
I'll post pictures as soon as I can
P.s I tried looking in junkyards for parts for body and interior pieces ( the dimmer) but there's no civic si's of that year for 200 miles
Also anyone know where I can get an oem spoiler? Or a nice looking one

this is the part that I think is the shift linkage.
same as above shift linkage??
dash now due to finding electrical issue

the radiator gunk

I will post more body and will show engine pictures when I'm off work
Body isn't important at the moment But still wouldn't mind some input.

 

[CaptainJochem]

Hey there, first off, welcome to the community! I hope that we'll see you around a lot more. I can't say that I can answer all of your questions, but I definitely can give you a little input.

-I also had a problem with my climate lights when I bought my EJ2, as you mentioned mine didn't work either and it seriously bothered me every time I drove at night (which is very often considering the winter months in Europe). Most likely your climate light bulbs are just burned out. They usually come on once you turn your lights on and if they don't then your lights are just dead. I see you've already removed everything from the dash EXCEPT the climate control? If you look behind it you should see a green connector (or white, I don't remember). Remove this connector and the climate control will slip out. I will warn you though, it is a bi**h to get out... So be patient. Haha. Before you pull it out though be sure to also remove your climate control cable which can be disconnected under the passenger dashboard close to the blower. The hot/cold selector moves the cable so when you re-attach the cable make sure to have it on the same temperature or else the selector will not make sense. You'll see what I mean when you do it. There are two very small bulbs in the climate control itself and these are the bulbs that are burned out. You might need to disassemble it a little to get to them.
-When you're at idle and your revs go up and down, is that only behaving erratically when at idle and/or does your car rev very high (around 15-2,500) after driving around? I've had this before and it was due to the previous owner not bleeding out the cooling system. People forget that when they are bleeding out the system on Honda's that they have to put the climate control to FULL HOT and then undo the return screw to the radiator and start the bleed. If this doesn't do the trick then you probably have a vacuum leak somewhere.
-Do you actually lose power steering fluid? Drive around for a few days and inspect the levels.
-As for the timing belt, if you really don't know, don't risk it and just change it. The engines are interference engines and if that snaps you can add this item to your already long list. Not fun.
-The shift linkage and grinding transmission. The fluid that you see is probably transmission fluid. Can you check to see that it looks like oil? It should be a dark golden, almost brown looking fluid and it smells much stronger than regular motor oil. If this is the case then fluid has slowly been leaking out of your transmission and this can also cause the gears to go bad as no oil creates heat; and heat causes excessive wear and tear. There's a filler bolt on the top of your transmission, open it up and stick your finger in there. The transmission oil should be at the underside of your finger (barely able to leak out of your filler hole). If you can't feel this oil then your transmission has probably been leaking with your previous owner and it is very possible that your transmission is now fu**ed.
-The oil, although it may look very ghetto on your car, might be in working order. As long as it isn't leaking any oil from the seals then it should be fine. But do get that drain bolt changed! I don't know how long the previous owner drove around with the oil in there, but if the drain bolt is stripped I wouldn't be surprised if the motor oil is long overdue for an oil change. Get this done immediately.
-The wheel as you mentioned simply just needs to be replaced, but maybe a little bit of sanding down can do the trick. Air particles are very small and as soon as they find the smallest leak it will cause your tyre to soften. As mentioned before, go check to see if your local garage can sand down the rim and maybe that will seal it up again!
-Lastly, the radiator. I don't exactly know what this gunk is, but that definitely doesn't look right! Indeed give it a flush and see if that helps a little. Also check to see that you don't have a blown head gasket. I don't think that one could give as much gunk as this, but considering how much *care* the previous owner put into the car it is worth checking.

If I was living in the area I would be more than happy to help you, but sadly this isn't the case so this is the best I can do. Good luck and keep me updated on how it all goes!!

 

[CaptainJochem]

I coincidentally have a few pictures of the climate control, I don't know if it'll help you but here they are anyways!

 

[GrumpyBSTRD]

Hey there, first off, welcome to the community! I hope that we'll see you around a lot more. I can't say that I can answer all of your questions, but I definitely can give you a little input.

-I also had a problem with my climate lights when I bought my EJ2, as you mentioned mine didn't work either and it seriously bothered me every time I drove at night (which is very often considering the winter months in Europe). Most likely your climate light bulbs are just burned out. They usually come on once you turn your lights on and if they don't then your lights are just dead. I see you've already removed everything from the dash EXCEPT the climate control? If you look behind it you should see a green connector (or white, I don't remember). Remove this connector and the climate control will slip out. I will warn you though, it is a bi**h to get out... So be patient. Haha. Before you pull it out though be sure to also remove your climate control cable which can be disconnected under the passenger dashboard close to the blower. The hot/cold selector moves the cable so when you re-attach the cable make sure to have it on the same temperature or else the selector will not make sense. You'll see what I mean when you do it. There are two very small bulbs in the climate control itself and these are the bulbs that are burned out. You might need to disassemble it a little to get to them.
-When you're at idle and your revs go up and down, is that only behaving erratically when at idle and/or does your car rev very high (around 15-2,500) after driving around? I've had this before and it was due to the previous owner not bleeding out the cooling system. People forget that when they are bleeding out the system on Honda's that they have to put the climate control to FULL HOT and then undo the return screw to the radiator and start the bleed. If this doesn't do the trick then you probably have a vacuum leak somewhere.
-Do you actually lose power steering fluid? Drive around for a few days and inspect the levels.
-As for the timing belt, if you really don't know, don't risk it and just change it. The engines are interference engines and if that snaps you can add this item to your already long list. Not fun.
-The shift linkage and grinding transmission. The fluid that you see is probably transmission fluid. Can you check to see that it looks like oil? It should be a dark golden, almost brown looking fluid and it smells much stronger than regular motor oil. If this is the case then fluid has slowly been leaking out of your transmission and this can also cause the gears to go bad as no oil creates heat; and heat causes excessive wear and tear. There's a filler bolt on the top of your transmission, open it up and stick your finger in there. The transmission oil should be at the underside of your finger (barely able to leak out of your filler hole). If you can't feel this oil then your transmission has probably been leaking with your previous owner and it is very possible that your transmission is now fu**ed.
-The oil, although it may look very ghetto on your car, might be in working order. As long as it isn't leaking any oil from the seals then it should be fine. But do get that drain bolt changed! I don't know how long the previous owner drove around with the oil in there, but if the drain bolt is stripped I wouldn't be surprised if the motor oil is long overdue for an oil change. Get this done immediately.
-The wheel as you mentioned simply just needs to be replaced, but maybe a little bit of sanding down can do the trick. Air particles are very small and as soon as they find the smallest leak it will cause your tyre to soften. As mentioned before, go check to see if your local garage can sand down the rim and maybe that will seal it up again!
-Lastly, the radiator. I don't exactly know what this gunk is, but that definitely doesn't look right! Indeed give it a flush and see if that helps a little. Also check to see that you don't have a blown head gasket. I don't think that one could give as much gunk as this, but considering how much *care* the previous owner put into the car it is worth checking.

If I was living in the area I would be more than happy to help you, but sadly this isn't the case so this is the best I can do. Good luck and keep me updated on how it all goes!!

Thank you for the warm welcome! im so glad to see a response so fast!
i had read everything and i apologize for the late reply, i have been busy with work and organizing work days for this car.

- Thank you for the climate light instructions! you're right it is a pain to get to. i havent managed to pull the whole assembly out but maybe this weekend i will have some luck.
- my idle is sigficiantly revving. id say around 1300-1500 and going back down to what feels like 300-400. It happens most after driving when the engine is warmed up. i feel like it is what you said, previous owner(s) not taking proper care. all my vacuum hoses look really good. (surprisingly)
-It is a little low but im not seeing major loss like some people say when a rack and pinion is shot. i will have to replace this later thats for sure.
-Before i posted i had ordered another timing belt from rockauto, i've seen some horror stories on timing belts snapping...not fun
- actually i touched the fluid, it was more grease like than transmission fluid like. didnt have a smell. i tried looking for the filler bolt but it seems i have to lift the car to find it. i hope it isnt low. but i will find out for sure Saturday.
-yes that is true, no there isn't any leaks so it is functional. i conducted an oil change shortly after this post. oil was black as black can be...nasty. i ran some cheap mobile 1 oil, drove around then did another oil change (fluid again came out black and disgusting) with filter this time to amsoil premium oil with their oil filter. checked just the other night and the oil was still as clear as when it was brand new oil. when draining the oil there was nothing out of the ordinary, so thats good news.
- yeah the dent is actually alot worse than what i had anticipated. it looks like someone at a high rate of speed hit a curve and cause a huge dent. going to be looking at all new wheels and tires since these wheels are 17 inch and make the car feel like a truck when entering a turn regardless of speed. looking into some 15 inch enkies. mostly because no shop in town fixes aluminum rims :/
- me neither, but it is certainly disgusting. im going to do a flush with distilled water and giver her a oem radiator i got from a friend and genuine Honda coolant.

oh i wish you did, its gonna take more than the brains i have and my friends have to figure out most of this cars issues. i will definitely post updates!! thank you for your response and help.

 

[GrumpyBSTRD]

*update*

So this Saturday im going to be working on the car.im doing a radtiaor/flush. power steering pump/water pump, throttle body cleaning and new tps installation, rear brakes, timing belt, seafoam, and installing the interior because the new dimmer came in (finally dash lights!). im probably forgetting some things right now but its definitely going to be a long day on saturday. after that day i will post how it went, with pictures of the rack and pinion as well as anything else that spark my interest.

Also yesterday i did a compression test on the civic si. These are the results
From left to right
1st cylinder: 160
2nd cylinder: 155
3rd cylinder: 165
4th cylinder: 170
I read that the brand new engine reads at 180, and a dying engine reads at 120. for a car is 24 years old with 216k miles, im extremely impressed.

 

[CaptainJochem]

Thank you for the warm welcome! im so glad to see a response so fast!
i had read everything and i apologize for the late reply, i have been busy with work and organizing work days for this car.

- Thank you for the climate light instructions! you're right it is a pain to get to. i havent managed to pull the whole assembly out but maybe this weekend i will have some luck.
- my idle is sigficiantly revving. id say around 1300-1500 and going back down to what feels like 300-400. It happens most after driving when the engine is warmed up. i feel like it is what you said, previous owner(s) not taking proper care. all my vacuum hoses look really good. (surprisingly)
-It is a little low but im not seeing major loss like some people say when a rack and pinion is shot. i will have to replace this later thats for sure.
-Before i posted i had ordered another timing belt from rockauto, i've seen some horror stories on timing belts snapping...not fun
- actually i touched the fluid, it was more grease like than transmission fluid like. didnt have a smell. i tried looking for the filler bolt but it seems i have to lift the car to find it. i hope it isnt low. but i will find out for sure Saturday.
-yes that is true, no there isn't any leaks so it is functional. i conducted an oil change shortly after this post. oil was black as black can be...nasty. i ran some cheap mobile 1 oil, drove around then did another oil change (fluid again came out black and disgusting) with filter this time to amsoil premium oil with their oil filter. checked just the other night and the oil was still as clear as when it was brand new oil. when draining the oil there was nothing out of the ordinary, so thats good news.
- yeah the dent is actually alot worse than what i had anticipated. it looks like someone at a high rate of speed hit a curve and cause a huge dent. going to be looking at all new wheels and tires since these wheels are 17 inch and make the car feel like a truck when entering a turn regardless of speed. looking into some 15 inch enkies. mostly because no shop in town fixes aluminum rims :/
- me neither, but it is certainly disgusting. im going to do a flush with distilled water and giver her a oem radiator i got from a friend and genuine Honda coolant.

oh i wish you did, its gonna take more than the brains i have and my friends have to figure out most of this cars issues. i will definitely post updates!! thank you for your response and help.

Hey there, I'm very happy to hear that you feel so welcomed here! When I first started working on my car (with absolutely no experience beforehand) I also had no idea what I was doing, but you learn fast with these cars. They're great for beginners.

-Yeah, it really is tough to get that climate control out... I have relatively long and narrow fingers but even then I couldn't quite get them to reach the plug. I ended up using a long screwdriver to press and pull on the tab and that did the trick thankfully!
-Because you now know your vaccum leaks are all good that does help to narrow down the problem. When your car is at temperature put your climate control to full hot and open the bleeder screw found on your radiator hose and that'll get the air out of your system. Very often the idle is erratic in Honda's because there is air trapped in the system.
-You don't need to lift the car to find the transmission filler bolt. If you're standing on the passenger side (left hand drive) front fender and you look down at the transmission you should see it about halfway down the engine bay. Open this bolt and physically inspect the fluid with your finger.


Otherwise I'm very happy to hear that all your oils are now changed and that you now have a little weekend project! It looks like you have quite a list for the weekend, and I don't quite know if you'll be able to do ALL of it in one day, because the 17mm crankshaft bolt can take EXTREMELY long (the first time it took me 2 hours to get off; haha!) when performing the timing belt. Of course, I have a trick for this without the Honda tool.

And yes, Honda definitely wanted to build a sturdy long lasting engine, it sure is impressive that even after 20+ years that it is still giving good compression! Good luck for this weekend and I'd love to see some updates!

 

[CaptainJochem]

That's where your radiator bleeder screw is located (correct me if your engine doesn't look the same, I have a European spec.).

And that's how it looks like.

I would take pictures personally, but I'm not currently at home with my car so I snatched these off of the net!

 

[theron hill]

hey i need some advice my honda has a complete rebuilt motor d16z6 around 3k miles on it and recently it started to smoke white smoke alot. No water in oil it does run hot not to the point its overheating but just more than normal and sometimes it starts up fine sometimes its a b***h and thats when it smokes when it dosnt want to start someone said that the timing could be off ? if thats true wouldnt it run bad all the time. and for you i wouldnt keep it unless you know what you are doing honda is difficult especially all the newer ones

 

[typec]

Your cooling system really need flushing also consider replacing your rad due to clog. Also, 2nd cylinder is a bit low, do a wet compression test to see how bad it is.

 

[GrumpyBSTRD]

Hey there, I'm very happy to hear that you feel so welcomed here! When I first started working on my car (with absolutely no experience beforehand) I also had no idea what I was doing, but you learn fast with these cars. They're great for beginners.

-Yeah, it really is tough to get that climate control out... I have relatively long and narrow fingers but even then I couldn't quite get them to reach the plug. I ended up using a long screwdriver to press and pull on the tab and that did the trick thankfully!
-Because you now know your vaccum leaks are all good that does help to narrow down the problem. When your car is at temperature put your climate control to full hot and open the bleeder screw found on your radiator hose and that'll get the air out of your system. Very often the idle is erratic in Honda's because there is air trapped in the system.
-You don't need to lift the car to find the transmission filler bolt. If you're standing on the passenger side (left hand drive) front fender and you look down at the transmission you should see it about halfway down the engine bay. Open this bolt and physically inspect the fluid with your finger.


Otherwise I'm very happy to hear that all your oils are now changed and that you now have a little weekend project! It looks like you have quite a list for the weekend, and I don't quite know if you'll be able to do ALL of it in one day, because the 17mm crankshaft bolt can take EXTREMELY long (the first time it took me 2 hours to get off; haha!) when performing the timing belt. Of course, I have a trick for this without the Honda tool.

And yes, Honda definitely wanted to build a sturdy long lasting engine, it sure is impressive that even after 20+ years that it is still giving good compression! Good luck for this weekend and I'd love to see some updates!

-yeah, i did it but it after a replacement still no luck, lights dont work as well as dome light doesn't work :/ looks like i have to go fuse hunting once more!
- i put a new radiator, and genuine honda fluid, when i was bleeding i did the hot air thing and so far idle is better but im going to clean the IACV and or replace it since that is the last thing i can narrow it down to after a thorttle body cleaning and gasket replacement.
-yup found it...bone dry less than a pint of fluid came out when i drained it :/

yeah im happy too! I will post the update right after this reply. alot of work got done thats for sure.

mhm, honda definitely made this motor like a tank. I'm happy i got lucky with such a good deal. And since this isn't my daily its a great car to make into a project.

 

[GrumpyBSTRD]

hey i need some advice my honda has a complete rebuilt motor d16z6 around 3k miles on it and recently it started to smoke white smoke alot. No water in oil it does run hot not to the point its overheating but just more than normal and sometimes it starts up fine sometimes its a b***h and thats when it smokes when it dosnt want to start someone said that the timing could be off ? if thats true wouldnt it run bad all the time. and for you i wouldnt keep it unless you know what you are doing honda is difficult especially all the newer ones

Well, thank you for your input. but the car seems to be running quite well despite its previous owners abuse. I have friends, coworkers and the internet to assist me with this "difficult" Honda. I did the timing belt today, other than getting that special tool it really really wasn't difficult just time consuimg. I havee chosen to keep this civic, so far it doesnt give me a reason to sell but more reasons to keep. I agree, new Hondas are a nightmare to work around. have you seen the new 1.6l turbo engine?! its a nightmare.

Your cooling system really need flushing also consider replacing your rad due to clog. Also, 2nd cylinder is a bit low, do a wet compression test to see how bad it is.

i did the best i could today with the time i had. cleaned hoses and drained the system. there was no gunk in my water pump so that was a good sign. im going to drain the system again in a few weeks and let her run with the new fluid. whats a wet compression? but the 155 isnt too bad. im not expecing all of them to run at 160+ but maybe the results were off a bit because it was a cheap tool rented from oreillys

 

[GrumpyBSTRD]

**UPDATE**

Today was a success, Timing belt was replaced along with water pump, power steering pump, valve cover gasket and sparkplug seals, sparkplugs, radiator/radiator fluid as well as draining and adding trans fluid in which it barely had any. I could have done more but the auto hobby shop closed early today sadly.
Only issues i ran into were parts not fitting, crankshaft pulley requiring special tool, and the wind broke a plastic piece under the bumper and collided against the tire at 80 mph its shredded.. -_- gotta love the Midwestern wind. ( speaking of 80mph, idk if its the rack and pinion or the wind or the divets on the road or these stupid 17 inch tires but when i go 80, car shakes, and when i brake car hugs the left alot. any ideas?)

took the car for a drive, trans is smooth as ever other than reverse grinding when its cold and an occasional

now whats left is the rack and pinion.struts ( maybe) and wheels/tires. then i will be saving money for cosmetic detailing as well as huge upgrades later this year. Hopefully if time and money permits she will look how a Honda is supposed to. that's all the mechanical and cosmetic plans left.
I still have that pesky electrical issue. I jumped the wires for the dimmer and all of a sudden my cluster lights are finally on, dimmer doesnt work neither does cruise control, anyone have any ideas here? i went through the fuses and they were fine.
My dome light does work, I'm gonna take it apart to see whats going on behind the plastic.
My climate light bulbs dont work even after replacement...never taking that thing apart again, I don't have a/c since the car was originally sold in Alaska (i love this feature actually) so maybe i wont really care since there only one setting .....hot...and hotter lmao.
currently my dash is almost all together but i wanna fix the issue with the dimmer first.
my trunk light also doesn't work but when i popped it out there were no wires connecting to it.
idk if one of the owners having an amp screwed with the electrical ( i found their wires for it -_- but they cut them of course)
but for the price i got this i shouldn't complain too much.

Anyways for now i guess im going to take a little break and just drive and enjoy the car. haven't really had the chance to do so yet but now that its pretty sound and able to drive around the town. i want familiarize myself more with a standard. Also, again anyone know where i can get a spoiler for a good price? prefer oem or aftermarket similar to oem. it just looks odd without it, i dont know what happened to it, bought it without the spoiler on.