Hey all...

I have been driving a 2000 Jeep Wrangler for the last year and decided that gas mileage is now an issue for me. I bought an 1989 Honda Civic LX (four door) for $2000 from a used car dealer. The body has some wear (ie, rust and a few dings) but nothing too bad. The interior is nice with a few exceptions and it runs excellent (around 40mpg).

I took this car on a road trip from Salt Lake City to Southern California last week. I naively assumed that the used car salesman tuned it up and checked all of the systems before he sold it.

On the way back from Southern California the car overheated on I-15 (just 30 miles outside of Vegas). I pulled over and let it cool down. I thought that it may have run out of oil b/c it has been burning oil (about a quart every 300 miles) on this road trip. after it cooled down I checked the oil and put some more in. I started driving again. 30 seconds later the engine was climbing in heat. I didn't know what to do. I called triple A and was towed to Jean, NV to spend the night.

The next morning I isolated the problem to a blown hose from the radiator to the engine. The engine coolant was non-existant. I cut the hose at the break (right at the end), reattached it, and refilled with a 50/50 coolant/want mix. Luckily I just bought the Chilton Manual when i was in Southern California, so I was able to see what the right coolant mixture was and read up on the coolant system.

After this was done we started on the road. It ran a little rough but I just assumed itwas the coolant working it's way into the engine. It ran nice. When I exited in North Vegas, however, it stalled and wouldn't start up again. I was stuck on the offramp and blowing white smoke out of my tailpipe when I tried to start the car.

You guessed it, my head gasket was shot.

So I added two days to my road trip and had the head gasket replaced. The mechanic kept telling me that if it were his car he'd sell it or replace the engine. I guess to the mechanic 144,000 miles on an 1989 is too high. The mechanic replaced the hoses and belts. He replaced the head gasket and recommended that I sell my car (again). I ignored his advice and got on the road.

I was able to drive home from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City with no problems whatsoever.... well, it did stall when I was idling with the Air Conditioner on... that was odd. besides that, however, it ran like a champ.

So, a few questions for you all.

1. Like I mentioned, the car stalled when I idled with the AC on. Is this an issue I should worry about, or shoudl Ijust know not to idle with the AC on?

2. How much to replacement parts costs? I'm looking for a new hood and new bucket seats.

3. The mechanic kept saying that he's afraid that the "bottom" of the engine is going to blow out now. What is this mysterious "bottom" he speaks of?

4. After my head gasket has blown and been replaced, are there any other issues I should look for?

5. Is there anything I can do to stop the car from eating oil?

I'd really like to keep the car in original condition. I plan on sanding out the rust and repainting it to the stock color in a few months. I have no desire to trick it out, just to restore it. I love the small engine and the great mileage I get. If I ever need to replace the engine I'd like to be able to get one of the same size so that I can keep getting 40mpg.

Thanks in advance for any advice and comments. I'm hoping ot learn a lot from the forum and from other Honda owners. This is the first car I'm going to work on myself, so using layman's explanation is preferred.

 

1)does the car stall everytime you let it idle with the ac on.... or just the one time?

2)a new hood can be had from a junk yard for $20 or so, unless your thinking carbon fiber or something then it gets alot more spendy. seats can also be found at the junkyard for cheap, also try ebay and the classifieds forum here.

3)the "bottom end" is the block which houses the pistons, rods, crank.....ect. is there any rod knock or anything? if not i don't see how he could assume that it is gonna go.

4)usually with overheating you have to worry about warped heads, did the mechanic check to see if it was warped?

5)the eating oil problems is a common problem. it usually has to do with the pesky valve seals, which means you have to replace them. but is it leaking oil or burning it?

and last but not least welcome to the forum... and just so you know most people here are about "souping" up their ride not just restoring it so alot of peoples answers are going to be swap it out for a b series.

 

You should be okay... If it dies on you again... take that engine out and put you another one. Same engine for less than what it going to take to repair it.
those engine is about free - 200 bucks.

 

It just happened the one time after it was fixed. I havn't tested it again as I was on the road and the last thing I wanted was for my car to keep stalling each time I stopped for a candy bar.

I'll check the junkyard near my place. I know that my hood is rather specific so I doubt I can throw a CRX hood on it or any other model of the same year. Are the seats interchangable? Will I be able to put two CRX or Civic seats from surrounding years into the car?

I'm assuming that a "rod knock" is something I'd notice when driving. I noticed nothing but smooth riding after the head gasket was replaced. No jerking, no funny noises, no misfires... thanks for the info. The mechanic was a "good ol boy" from the south, so I assume he may have had a "anti-japanese" bias. It's just an assumption, but I think the 3 confederate flags on the shop walls was a good indicator.

My knowledge of cars is extremely limited. I was proud of myself for cutting the hose and putting new coolant in the radiator. With that being said, I have no idea if he checked the heads. He did say that he put in a whole new head unit and the cost of the part was something like $150ish. I know that's more than just the gasket, so perhaps there was some warping of the heads and he just replaced the whole thing? I'll get the receipt if it's unclear.

It's just burning oil. My brother is saying that the valves just get worn with time and leak a little oil and burn it off. I'm assuming that's the problem.

I figured it was impossible to find a honda forum without making it about "souping" up the hondas. I'm not opposed to swapping out parts for after-market equivilants, but my main purpose for having the honda is to have a reliable, easy to fix, high gas mileage car. I want this thing to last for at least another 10 years, or perhaps give it to my kids when I have some. I'm going to be looking for ways to increase the gas mileage without sacrificing the comfort of a sedan.

Thanks again for the welcome, and I look forward to learning more about my car.

On a side note, let me ask one more question. My car will usually idle really high (2000rpm) after I start it up. Usually when I rev it up it will drop back down to 750rpm or so. Sometimes it won't do that. It's rather annoying. The mechanic who replaced my head gasket told me he re-did my timing and now I've noticed that it might idle at 1500rpm at startup and 1000 after it I rev it. Any ideas what might be causing the high idle at startup behavior?

Matt

 

the idle behavior is normal. thats what honda's do to warm up.. its programmed to do that. as for replacing your head, he probably just replaced your head gasket. and as far as a bottom end rebuild, that is unlikely for a stock honda. i have owned 2 different honda's up to this point and worked on many more, and no stock honda that i have ever worked on needed a bottom end rebuild. worn valve guides are, as someone said before, a common thing on hondas, and that could be what is causing your oil burn. your brother sounds like he knows a little more about what is going on.. and just for the record, out of the 2 hondas i have owned, one i killed at 248k miles because i waited too long to change the timing belt, and my other one has 214k miles and i drive the crap out of it and it still runs like a champ. it doesnt leak a freakin drop of oil, nor does it burn any. obviously this is only my case and every car is different, and has a different history, but i would have to say that a bottom end rebuild should be the last thing on your "fix-it" list as far as a stock honda goes. if you change the oil every 3k miles and timing belt every 80k miles, and get the valve guide seals replaced to fix your oil burn, you should have a car that, atleast from an engine standpoint will last easily into the 300k+ mile range..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sanimalp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the idle behavior is normal. thats what honda's do to warm up.. its programmed to do that. as for replacing your head, he probably just replaced your head gasket. and as far as a bottom end rebuild, that is unlikely for a stock honda. i have owned 2 different honda's up to this point and worked on many more, and no stock honda that i have ever worked on needed a bottom end rebuild. worn valve guides are, as someone said before, a common thing on hondas, and that could be what is causing your oil burn. your brother sounds like he knows a little more about what is going on.. and just for the record, out of the 2 hondas i have owned, one i killed at 248k miles because i waited too long to change the timing belt, and my other one has 214k miles and i drive the crap out of it and it still runs like a champ. it doesnt leak a freakin drop of oil, nor does it burn any. obviously this is only my case and every car is different, and has a different history, but i would have to say that a bottom end rebuild should be the last thing on your "fix-it" list as far as a stock honda goes. if you change the oil every 3k miles and timing belt every 80k miles, and get the valve guide seals replaced to fix your oil burn, you should have a car that, atleast from an engine standpoint will last easily into the 300k+ mile range.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the advice. Just curious as to how much it would cost for me to replace the valve guide seals... or is it something so simple I can look in the Chilton manual and do it myself?

After my hose fiasco I'm still going to take this to a local mechanic and have them give it a run down to make sure it isn't too screwed over.

Mateo

 

if your hose broke, it means it is really old.. or got too hot, or both. you should just go to checker or napa or whatever and ask for an upper and lower radiator hose for your model and year of car. they probably have them in stock.. and you can replace them yourself, because you have already done it. just make sure to fill your radiator back up with fluid, because that is what the mechanics will do, and it will save you a bunch of money.

as for valve guide seals, i have never actually done that, but it would basically mean taking apart most of the cylinder head, which is expensive to have done, and not for a beginner with a tool set from kmart or something. if you want to do that yourself, then you need an oem honda manual or another manual for your specific car, and a torque wrench and feeler guages, and lots of downtime, and maybe an experienced friend or brother or something. all i have to say is that you have to start somewhere as far as working on cars goes, and that means just jumping in and trying it in most cases. you have to be willing to break things and mess things up, and have money to fix things if you do, in order to learn. there really isnt another way.