civicric

Put new plugs, wires, cap and rotor on my stock '93 dx and was using a common off the shelf manual for 5th gen '92-95 that got a little confusing for me. After the step that said to jumper between the BRN and GRN/WHT on the connector behind the rite kick panel it read in bold letters NOT TO JUMPER THE THREE PIN DATA LINK CONNECTOR ON '93 AND LATER CARS. Does this mean to only jumper '92s? Or is it a caution to jumper the BRN and GRN/WHT but not any other wires sharing that connector on '93-'95? I did try to jumper and the check engine lite came on. Is that normal? Thanks for any replies! Rick

z6hatchboy

there should be only one 2 wire connector or its color there, jump it and set the timing. Look in the sticky about find the cel's and its that connector

honda.lioness

That warning about the data link connector seems a bit superfluous. It is confusing until a person has done the jumpering at least once.

Yes, the CEL is supposed to come on.

Here is a link to factory service manuals for many of the Civics:

http://ww1.honda.co.uk/car/owner/workshop.html

They have info on setting timing and are way better than manuals like Haynes. The 95-97 Civic manual is there. The 93 Civic is in the 95 Civic generation, so this is the manual for you.

civicric

Im not up on the lingo. Wats a sticky?

civicric

Thanks for the reply. I see you have a '93 also. Mine is a hatch and except for the suspension, its all stock. How about yours?

honda.lioness

Mine's a 93 Civic DX sedan manual transmission, all stock. I bought the car in July at 185k miles and am its second owner. I think its condition demonstrates well that it was only a 1-owner car. Right now I am in the midst of a project to add cruise control to it, using OEM junkyard parts. The project is mostly for fun and education. Next summer I am thinking of replacing the various control arm bushings in the 93 Civic, because it is not quite as firm when driving as my 91 Civic LX. I put new OEM front coils and all new OEM control arm bushings in the 91 Civic a few years ago. I must have test drove a couple dozen c. 1990 Civics back in June and July when shopping for another Civic, and my 91 with 205k miles was still the best driving and handling one of all.

I am now spoiled by the 93's hydraulic clutch. My 91 does not have this. OTOH I sure miss power windows when driving the DX.

Enjoy! These cars are pretty darn easy to work on, and wrecking yards tend to have lots of parts. Plus online resources, such as parts sites and manuals, are abundant free online. See http://honda.lioness.googlepag...urces

civicric

We bought ours for our son about 5 yrs ago when he was a senior in high school. He was gonna make a little ricer out of it. Replaced the suspension (now it rides like a brick) but he couldnt ever get the money together for the engine swap. He headed out west to another college last year so I gave him 2500 for it and figured I would sell it for him. In the meantime I was driving it and discovered that car WENT FOREVER ON A GALLON OF GAS. Decided to keep it and have been doing what needs to be done to it since. Its got 120,000 on it and seems to be doing well. And youre rite theyre easy to work on. Kinda like the old VW bugs of yesteryear.
I have an old tach meter that just has pos and neg hook ups (alligator clips). If I remember rite when cars had external coils you would hook the tach to the pos output on the coil and could read the rpms that way. Could I use this meter on my civic? And could you tell me where to hook it up?
I was kicking around the idea of adding cruise awhile ago. I was gonna find a junk who had it but I was discouraged from doing that. I cant remember exactly what I was told but I think there are some difficult conflicts to overcome on
cars that are not set up for it. If nothing else a worn out modulator. I was chatting it up with some folks at gassavers.org. about it. Someone recommended an Audiovox CCS-100 for that. Said it resembled the honda one and that he and others had good luck with it. My father has a '91 civic with 4wd. He bought his new and Im pretty sure he said that the cruise was a dealer installed option but I may be wrong.
Anyhow you seem knowledgable about these cars and I hope you dont mind throwing some advice my way. Thanks! Rick

honda.lioness

Ha, re the VW bugs. I always admired the air-cooling feature of their engines.

I would so be searching the archives here for info on adding any tachometer. Lately I use yahoo's search engine, since it will search for phrases within this site. E.g. to look for info on adding a tach, try going to yahoo.com and typing in the search window:

"add a tach" site:honda-tech.com

One of the biggest barriers brought up here and elsewhere for adding OEM cruise is the fact that the DX gas-brake pedal assembly needs to be replaced with one from an LX. This is because the CC actuator cable connects, via levers, directly to the gas pedal. The DX gas pedal does not have the levers. But truth is, it is not that hard to replace. I thought it was going to be, but it went fine.

Using one of the Rostra (= audiovox, I think) aftermarket CCs works fine, from my reading, with one caveat: Most folks probably end up connecting the CC actuator cable directly to the pulley on the throttle body. The end result is that when the CC is on, the gas pedal is loose and floppy.

Not sure what you mean by a worn out modulator. It seems to me CC actuators and computers last a long time. Should a junkyard sell you a bad one, most take exchanges for 30 days.

I believe the LX version of the 90s Civics typically came with cruise installed at the factory.

This is a great forum. Some whackiness (and often some gross conceptual errors... not that I am always right) but the archives often solve a problem I am having or shed new light on one. Personally for me, even just reading posts that note, "if you can do a timing belt, then you should be able to manage this... " helps when I am trying something totally new.

120,000 miles on that little Civic, ha, it almost makes me wish gas prices would go up again. A few months ago I was getting all sorts of envious eyeballing of my wheels!

civicric

I thought maybe I was using the wrong word when I said "modulator". And I was probably remembering my Dads previous car, a 1980 Suburu, about that dealer installed cruise. Im sometimes amazed that I even remember my name anymore.
Im glad that honda cc worked for you. I dont know if you feel like me but I think these cars will end up as kinda collector cars so keeping them real would be important. I dont highway so much these days but when I do I like cc. For some reason Im feeling like the problem I was being told had something to do with the steering column and airbag but Im probably wrong.
I dont want to add a tach (now anyway). I just wanted to hook up my old meter to check the idle speed. I thought that there would be some connector or wire to hook to so as to read rpm. But I will spend the time you suggested to research.
My civic seems to take awhile to warm up. It takes about 15-20 min to get the barest of warm air. That seems long for such a little engine. And temps here are still in the 50's. Does that seem long to you? Maybe somebody popped the wrong thermostat in there at some time. Thanks for all the help! Rick

honda.lioness

Ideally anyone adding OEM cruise control will pull the steering column, because space is mighty tight in there to do the wiring. I found pulling the column not to be too awful, using a few good resources like this site and free online manuals, and taking my time. As far as the airbag is concerned, disabling it and then removing it per the manual is easy. Of course the thing gives me the creeps until it is fully removed. I took an automotive class on steering and suspension a few years ago, and the instructors detonated an airbag to show how powerful they are. Indeed they save lives, but gosh they're scary when they go off.

I too prefer to keep things stock and really thought long and hard before deciding to go ahead and add CC.

Yes, that warmup time strikes me as indicating something is amiss. Warm air is very quick on my 91 Civic, even when it is very cold out (and I have lived in the northern U.S. with it!). I admit I have not yet had a chance to try hot air on my 93 DX, though. Ever replace the thermostat? My 91 is on its second one; the first I replaced preemptively and so as to maximize good mileage yada at around 150k miles, 13 years. OEM thermostats are highly recommended. They cost just a few bucks more but like many Honda parts, tend to pay for themselves.

I think I would do a search for causes of cool air first. I see chatter about the air-mix controls and heater valve cable(?), to name two. I was under the dash on the passenger side looking at the evaporator, blower, and some of the climate controls a few months ago. It seems not too hard to troubleshoot.

Found a good junkyard yet with lots of old Hondas?