General questions for a 93 lx!

[airstrike]

Hello all! I'm new here and have just purchased my first civic! It's a 93, and is the lx submodel, with the 1.5l. Prior to me buying the car, it was sitting in a parking garage for 5 years! Now I have gone over the csr a few times and I have a few questions for the minds of this forum. Please keep in mind that my mechanical experience is limited (I do all my own work on my 2000 v6 firebird), and that this is the first non American engine I've worked on.

1) I have a fluctuating idle. I was told about the IACV, and I sprayed a good amount of carb cleaner in it, and the cleaner came out clear then let it sit and dry for 20 minutes before a reinstall. Now I guess it's important to say that the idle is only fluctuating after it warms up.

2) I can't change the temp of the air in the cabin. Seems that the lever is stuck?

3) coolant leak! I flushed out my coolant, and noticed that all the coolant I put in dumped itself out! I'm not to positive of where it's leaking and was wondering if this generation had a problem with that or not. I can tell you that it's dripping under the car, kind of where the cat is. Any ideas?

4) I can't get in my trunk. The keys don't work, and the lever in the cabin doesn't either. I'd like to not have to cut a whole in the trunk to get in it haha.

5) brakes are still squishy after a new master cylinder, and brakes being bled. This is the one that's stumping me at the moment.



There's a few more questions I have, but they can wait. I just wanna get this car figured out! Thanks all!

 

[HeX]

1) I have a fluctuating idle. I was told about the IACV, and I sprayed a good amount of carb cleaner in it, and the cleaner came out clear then let it sit and dry for 20 minutes before a reinstall. Now I guess it's important to say that the idle is only fluctuating after it warms up.

Where is it idling when its not fluctuating?
Does it fluctuate constantly when in neutral or sporadically?

2) I can't change the temp of the air in the cabin. Seems that the lever is stuck?

Follow the cable that goes from the temp unit to the AC box and see if its obstructed or stuck somehow.

3) coolant leak! I flushed out my coolant, and noticed that all the coolant I put in dumped itself out! I'm not to positive of where it's leaking and was wondering if this generation had a problem with that or not. I can tell you that it's dripping under the car, kind of where the cat is. Any ideas?

Did you reinstall the flush plug? Is the lower hose properly tightened? Did you replace the hoses or use the old ones? If so, inspect the hoses.

4) I can't get in my trunk. The keys don't work, and the lever in the cabin doesn't either. I'd like to not have to cut a whole in the trunk to get in it haha.

Is the key lock at the trunk latch not functioning? Did you try spraying the key cylinder with lube?

5) brakes are still squishy after a new master cylinder, and brakes being bled. This is the one that's stumping me at the moment.

You likely didnt properly bleed each line and still have air stuck in one.

 

[airstrike]

Thanks for the reply! Sorry it took me a bit to get bsck to you, I put the civic repairs off for a bit.

The idle fluctuates from 1500-2000 rpms, only after the temp gage gets to about a quarter from the bottom. I've seen it in all gears. I haven't had a formal drive it in just yet (the brakes), so I haven't seen what it does in the road yet.


The AC lever is stuck in max cold position, without taking the dash apart, I can tell you that it won't budge at all. So the lever is attached to the lever?

Sadly I used my original hoses, as I didn't want to sink to much money into this. I'll inspect hoses and replace as needed.


The key won't budge either way at both the lock on the trunk, and the lock inside the cabin. It might be that the key I have is still the original, and that it's in pretty bad shape. I do notice that when I plug the key into the trunk lock, it has a lot of free play vertically.

I bled all the brakes in two sessions so far. First session was a ghetto rigged hose with one end at the caliber and the other in a mountain dew bottle. I bled the wrong order the first session, going rr, lf, lr, rf. Second session I used a bleeder bottle kit from orielys, and bled rr, lr, rf, lf. The only time the master cylinder was bled was before first session. I don't have a vice, so the best I could do was to push the piston against the side of my house until I didn't notice any bubbles. I also striped one of the nuts on one of the input hoses attaching to it. The last time I had this happen, I ended up cutting the line and re flaring it. Is there any way around that? That was the absolute worst day of my life.

Thanks again for all your help. The car is at a friends house St the moment, so I can only work on it here and there. Any help is appreciated!