Jmaxey27

Hey Guys,

I bought my 94 DX about a month ago or so. I bought it off this guy who looked like a total druggy and the guy literally turned the thing into a banana. Almost no interior trim piece, door panel, or square inch of any material was safe from his spray can. He put a pretty thick body kit on it and dropped the coilovers pretty low. So it rides like a b*tch. Corners really well though because one of the TWO performance upgrades the guy did on the car was to put a strut bar on the front towers (the first upgrade being the coilovers). I'll post some pics here sometime soon.

One of our logistics reps from work started BSing with me and told me he ruined his 92 (or some year around there) Honda by not paying attention to the timing BELT. That was the part that confused me. Are these engines timed with a belt rather than a conventional chain? That sounded wrong to me but I don't want to say I know what I'm talking about.

I'm 19 and this is only my second vehicle. I tore my 99 Cherokee apart from bumper to bumper as I was fixing all of its little problems. So if you guys could give me a few engine maintenance "must-do"s that would be awesome. I searched for a thread of that nature but didn't find anything.

CO671

iTrader: (1)

They're timing belts, not chains.

Judging by the last owner, we can assume he almost never did maintenance.
Are there any issues? Check engine light? idle problems?

(be aware, Honda's are quite sensitive in some areas. For example: powersteering & automatic transmission fluids must be certified for Honda vehicles or simply OEM, some of the local parts stores universal powersteering and transmission fluids may say something along the lines of "NOT FOR HONDAS" on it)
Distributor Rotor / Cap
Spark plugs
Spark plug wires
Air Filter (find a washable replacement)
Oil
Oil Filter
Coolant
Brake Fluid & if present, clutch fluid
Transmission Fluid
Powersteering fluid
Brake Pads
Valve adjustment
Belt tension check
Might as well do timing belt/water pump/tensioner if you're willing to.


Best thing to do when you get a used vehicle (especially in the condition you're saying it is in), is to service as much as you can so you knock out any future problems and isolate any current problems.

purgat0ry

iTrader: (3)

"Might as well do timing belt/water pump/tensioner if you're willing to."

This
I cannot echo this enough...
Your pretty little project (lol banana) would become a very big roller skate quickly if your belt snaps, Honda's are NOT a non interference engine, that belt snaps due to shittly being maintained, Mr Valve meet Ms Piston, now make kids.

B_Swapped93

I want to see pics of that lol. but first I'd compression test it and take the valve cover off to see what shape it's in before you start dumping money into it.

Jmaxey27

Jmaxey27

Does this mean they need to be changed at a certain mileage? I have 144k on mine and I just don't want to burn up any valves or anything unknowingly.

The car is actually in pretty decent condition internally. Mechanically I really only have a few things on the to-do list:
Change the doughnut on the catalytic converter, change the oil pan gasket, and rewire a bunch of stuff. The guy put a venom 400 module in the car (i've never used it because I've heard it's garbage) but I've got a lot of trimming, splicing, and re-sleeving around the intake and such.

Any other tips/tricks you guys have up your sleeve would be much appreciated. I love the car, it gets 34ish mpg. that's like three times what my Jeep got lol.. I just want to make sure I keep her in good condition.

B_Swapped93

just do a full tune up, if he's already replaced something's great if not replace as needed.