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Hey Everyone, New to the world of Honda ownership. Just bought a 96 Civic 4 door with "132000" miles on it. Long story short, this is a "Get Out Of Debt Special" that needs to last me at least 3 years.
This is my first Honda to own after owning: 95' Sentra SE (GA16DE, MT, drover over 150k miles, 2004-2008), 93' NX2000 (SR20DE, MT, Drover over 100k miles, 2008-2013), 13' Forte 5 (EX, 2L, AT, selling to get out of debt).
I am mechanical skilled and am an engineer by trade, both Nissan's received new Engines by my hand.
So this 96 Civic had to of started life out at a EX (truck says EX, and it has a power sun roof), but at some point had a D16Y7 put in it (I think, the engine that is in there is not VTEC and has a down flow Intake Manifold). It also has a cheap @ss Ram Air intake installed.
I plan on doing a Timing Belt replacement just to be sure it'll last me these next 3 years. I've already fixed a few issues, and have a short list of thing to fix.
Long post for 4 simple questions:
1. The intake that is in there looks like it has a place for a Intake Air Temp sensor, but I cant find one in the engine bay at all. It runs fine as is, but if it should have a IAT sensor, then I would like to find it and get it installed correctly. So where on the Wiring harness/engine bay should I look for the IAT plug/sensor?
2. Speedo will only work about half the time. I plan on cleaning the plugs for the sensor at the engine and the cluster this weekend. If that dose not fix it what else should I look for? Would a Junk Yard Cluster be worth looking at? (My old Sentra had the same issue so that's why I think it probably has over 132k on it)
3. The hood latch wont latch the hood all the way down. Should i just loosen the bolts and move the bracket up? Also that hood rubs on that cheap RAI. Anyway to adjust how high the hood sits?
4. Any other issues that is common on these cars that I need to keep an eye on?
Check that the CEL comes on for bulb test when you turn key on but don't start. Pretty common for someone to have removed the bulb. Definitely change timing belt on any newly acquired Civic, the job is very simple on these cars. You may consider going back to stock intake for better filtration, less noise, and hood clearance. Yes if the hood doesn't latch fully, move the latch until it does. Also the two rubber bumpers at the sides of the hood may be adjusted up too high, preventing hood from going all the way down.
New question, I have not had time to research this yet. But whith the head lights on the instrument cluster goes dark. No matter how much you turn the dimmer.
Dash lights ON when the switch is OFF suggests that you've lost the ground. I think there is a big ground lug behind the cluster. This will also cause other instrument problems though.
Got the issue with the dash figured out. Had to bypass the dimmer switch completely.
Said screw it on getting the Odometer/Speedo working. Instead I just use an app on my phone.
Timing belt has been replaced, and the car is driving nicely now. Had to pull the wiring harness out of the Driver side door to re-do the splicing job the previous owner did. Now all of the windows and Power Door locks work!
Bad thing is that I'm missing the AC idler pulley bracket. So no AC until I can make it by a Junk yard.
So new question, Is it normal for the D16Y7 with the stock exhaust to be extremely loud inside the car when pass 1/2 throttle? With the windows down, no load, the exhaust sounds like it should (I think) when revving it. But on the interstate at 75 MPH (~3500 rpm) the car requires about 1/2 throttle to maintain speed, but at this throttle setting its so loud that you have to shout at the passenger to have a conversation. Is this normal?
I had an 4-2-1 Header and a full 2" exhaust with a 18" glass pack, and a Mangnaflow muffler on the 200SX and it was quieter than the Civic is.
Dimmer- I just crimp connected the wires together so the dash lights work at night. I always set those dimmers to the max brightness anyways.
Speedo- At one point in time I posted the CEL codes. All of them where for A/T except High AIT and High Primary O2 reading. No CEL code for VSS. Most times the Speedo will come to life and die a few times on my 30 min commute to work.
Exhaust noise- Ill have to check for that. Just looking under the car everything looks like it is in working order. Would it be advisable to find the time to pull the exhaust down and replace the gaskets? That way I can see all around the entire system? i also noticed the the exhaust look to be much smaller than the exhaust tunnel. Dose this mean that I'm missing some heat shields?
these engines commonly crack around the primary oxygen sensor on the manifold, could be increasing the noise a bit. at the age of the car, i highly doubt you still have an oem gasketed exhaust system. your goofy intake will make some noise as well. you should have an iat sensor, but the intake arm they used does not have a provision for one. my guess is that they just left it hanging somewhere. i'd find a used oem intake setup and go that route, option 2 is to drill the aluminum arm.
That looks like stock EX exhaust up to the catalytic converter, then someone cut the flange off of the back end of the converter, welded on a pipe and started doing their own thing all the way to the back of the car.
The DX and LX have the converter at the front of the engine. The combination manifold/converter is prone to crack. You don't have that system though.
To find exhaust leaks, idle the engine and have someone block the tailpipe with a rag while you go around listening under the hood and under the car. If there is a small to medium leak it will change from a putting sound to a hiss.
Putting a stock intake / air filter box back on will make the car quite a bit quieter.
Your exhaust system is missing the resonator chamber in exhaust B (see diagram). The resonator works in conjunction with the muffler to reduce exhaust noise.
96 Civic EX 5-speed/D16Y7 swap - intake, speedo, hood latch, exhaust questions
re: 96 Civic EX 5-speed/D16Y7 swap - intake, speedo, hood latch, exhaust questions
