"The Mothership" - 1998 Civic - Maintenance Log

[ctag]

Went to Florida to visit family for the past four days.

The Civic sat while I was gone, and almost didn't start when I got back. Suspect that fuel drained back past the check valve on the fuel pump.

Oh, and it looks like some brake fluid is leaking from the front of the car somewhere..

 

[dillon2swift]

Went to Florida to visit family for the past four days.

The Civic sat while I was gone, and almost didn't start when I got back. Suspect that fuel drained back past the check valve on the fuel pump.

Oh, and it looks like some brake fluid is leaking from the front of the car somewhere..

Leaking break fluid can be from the slave cylinder if you drive a manual. Been a while since I read your cars info.


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[ctag]

I can't seem to find the leak anywhere, but in 20 degree weather the clutch feels like it's filled with milkshake... So that might be a clue.

 

[ctag]

Flushed the clutch line with DOT-4 tonight to try and fix the weird pedal feel.

Looked under the car and saw a lot of oil leaking onto the oil pan, and some coolant leaking from... somewhere.

Also, it appears that the power steering pump is leaking onto to the A/C pulley a little, and the A/C is making a rough, raspy sound when the engine is cold.

Tomorrow I'll know if the fresh clutch fluid makes a difference.

 

[ctag]

It wasn't quite as cold today, but the clutch feels much better

Of course, there's also a new noise that started only as I was finishing my commute to work. With the car moving, the clutch engaged, and the transmission in gear, there's a raspy sound. Anything else -- clutch in, in neutral, or not moving -- and the sound goes away.

 

[ctag]

The raspy sounds (both from the transmission and AC) die down a bit during above freezing temperatures.

I got tired of really poor FM radio signal around town, so I bought a new head unit with HD Radio for The Mothership.

Installing it was a breeze. First step: butcher the old wiring harness.

Cut all the wires to the same length.

Add heatshrink

Strip ends:

Done!

And Done!

My initial impression of this unit is that it's chintzy garbage. Just about every aspect of the old unit (wire gauge, buttons, click wheel, removing the faceplate, etc) feels really high quality compared to this new unit.

In fact, I was prepared to uninstall it and go back... All the way up until I turned it on and started listening. The sound quality isn't audiophile or anything, but it's leagues ahead of my old radio! So I guess I'll put up with the drawbacks, because I think I could get used to listening to this thing

 

[civteck]

Pioneer is usually very good thats all i would ever buy, then again im not up on new models so i cant say. Last pioneer i bought was the avic-n3

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[ctag]

Pioneer is usually very good thats all i would ever buy, then again im not up on new models so i cant say. Last pioneer i bought was the avic-n3

Yeah, and this one came really highly recommended. I guess I just miss the build quality of yester-decades.

Now that I have a nicer radio, I want to keep improving the audio situation:

• Repair driver side tweeter
• Install amp and subwoofer
• Dynamat the cabin

 

[mymmeryloss]

Keep it up brotha


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[pmac193]

Looking good!

 

[ctag]

Keep it up brotha

I'll do my best

Looking good!

Thanks!

 

[ctag]

My friend convinced me to put premium gas in the Civic, and from that we can tell that it knocks a bit with normal gas. I totally couldn't tell on its own though.

So now I need to figure out what's causing it and decide what to do.

 

[dillon2swift]

My friend convinced me to put premium gas in the Civic, and from that we can tell that it knocks a bit with normal gas. I totally couldn't tell on its own though.

So now I need to figure out what's causing it and decide what to do.

No need to put premium in any vehicle unless it calls for it by the manufacturer.


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[civteck]

Check ignition timing, if its advanced too much (a few deg) this can happen.

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[ctag]

I checked the ignition timing last night, and it was maybe a degree off of of the center mark on the crank. The manual says 12 +/- 2 so I left it alone.

I was really hoping that would be it

 

[ctag]

Changed the oil today.

Castrol GTX High Mileage 5W-30 Synthetic and the regular Bosch 3312 filter.

 

[ctag]

Had a friend drive the car today, and he complained that the accelerator/throttle was sticking. So I put some oil on the pedal, cable, and throttle body, and it made a noticeable improvement

So since I've owned the car, it's had this rattle that only appears under light acceleration at low speed/rpm (~2K). It wasn't a problem for a long time because the transmission made so much more noise. But now that the transmission is nice and quiet, this rattle is pretty obvious and I want to hunt it down. It sounds exactly like a loose exhaust heat shield vibrating against the manifold, so I pulled the heat shield off.. And no dice, noise is still there. Not really sure what to check next.

 

[civteck]

What heat shield did you pull off? Theres some on the top of the tunnel kinda where the shift rods are and by the fuel tank... they can def drive you nuts if shaking...

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[ctag]

What heat shield did you pull off? Theres some on the top of the tunnel kinda where the shift rods are and by the fuel tank... they can def drive you nuts if shaking...

I removed the one by the exhaust headers on the front of the engine. I didn't know there were more by the tunnel, will look at that.

 

[ctag]

Just crawled under the car. The other heat shields feel pretty solid, so I doubt they're rattling.

I did find that the lower engine mount on the driver side (under the power steering reservoir) is missing a bolt... Probably need to fix that.