Just picked up this 89 DX last night for $1500 (i probably overpaid but i've been walking to work for the past two months and was ready for a car). It's got around 126,000 miles on it, a new exhaust, and the PO claims a new clutch. It's also very much stock.

As for problems it's a little rusty, and the seats are torn (hence the ugly seat covers).

There are a couple other issues i have questions about:

There's a creaking in the driver's front suspension when a load is put on it (bumps,etc). Maybe just a bad strut?

When i saw it, he said it had trouble starting for the first time. Sure enough, when i turned it off after a test drive, i had to let it sit for a minute before it fired back up. Maybe main relay (it's like 20 degrees out though), or could it be a distributor issue?

 

WOW talk about hijacking a thread ^^^

Any who... congrats on the new CRX. I don't know about the creaking but as for the main relay you can always try to fix it and save some money. I used a tutorial to fix mine about a month ago and it's still running great. Here is the tutorial http://techauto.tripod.com/mainrelay.htm My soders weren't as clean as the ones they show but it still fixed it. Sorry for the little help I gave but I'm kinda a noob.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mrfett3463 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">WOW talk about hijacking a thread ^^^</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha x2

 

Hijack indeed, no i don't have any spare parts.

I tried soldering the main relay on my old 90 Civic Si but it ended badly so i'll probably just pick up another one.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDN169 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Maybe main relay (it's like 20 degrees out though), or could it be a distributor issue?
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It's a Honda - it could ALWAYS be the distributor. You don't need help on this though, you seem like you're on the right track. I'd do a quick test of the starter if you don't see the classic oil seeping from the base of the distributor. When old starters start to go it's usually after you've been driving and they're all hot. Hot = increased resistance which could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

Do you have a DMM? Check the resistance of the positive side of the starter main circuit ie. put the positive lead on the Batt+ post of the battery and the negative lead on the battery post of the starter. If resistance is more than just a couple ohms get a new battery cord or just clean the old terminal.

 

OK, on with the suspension sounds:

When i hit a bump or similarly put a load on the driver's front suspension, it creaks. I'm figuring it's a bad strut and not too much of a worry. Also, it makes the sound when i push down on that corner.

Possibly more worrying is a clunk that is most prominent when i'm accelerating or coming to a stop. I'm thinking it might be a motor mount but pushing/pulling on the motor doesn't reproduce the sound (i also figure my 170lbs of fury may not be putting enough load on the mounts to reproduce it).

Any ideas as to what these problems could be?

thanks for all the help so far!

 

I don't think it's the main relay, but to make sure next time this happends, turn the key to the on ops and look at the ECu and see if the light comes on, if not then there you go.

But yes the CRX is good for a bad dizzy or Main relay.
Good luck

 

hey i have an 88 CRX Dx do u think u could take a pic of the underdash fuse panel so i could see where all my fuses should be placed i would imagine there are not too many differences between the 88 and 89 so if u could do that i would really appreciate ALSO good buy i wish u the best of luck with it

 

Just put a fuse in everyone, can't hurt anything.

 

Another question; I've been getting a lot of condensation on the inside of the windows, i found a half busted open water bottle in back but it doesn't seem like something so small could cause that much trouble. I literally had to take an ice scraper to the inside last night.

Any ideas as to what it might be?

 

Yes that could cause and issue. However I would check the lights see if they leak, and see if there in any water in the spare tire well. This could be either the tail lights or the hatch leak.

 

do urself a favor and look underneat the carpet by the spare tire well and under the rear bench my Dx had water puddles under there when i got it and check ur weather strip around the rear hatch

 

Found a puddle in the passenger footwell (looks like someone spilled something) and also that the hatch leaks. Time for a new hatch seal i guess.

Now for the continuing starting problem. A couple days ago it was 20ish degrees out, it started fine but when i stopped for gas about 5 minutes later it wouldn't start until it sat for around 10 minutes, just cranked. A got a CEL after driving it for a little while too (didn't get to check what it was).
Yesterday it was around 40 and sunny and it wouldn't start at all (i couldn't hear the main relay click either). I just went out to start it a minute ago (41 and sunny) and it fired right up.

I'm replacing the main relay today or tomorrow, is there anything else that could cause the problem?

 

Bump! Any more ideas?

thanks!

 

$75 Main relay from honda solved my problem.

 

Found out the hatch is leaking into the rear "security box" thing like nobody's business.

Anyone know the part number for an OEM replacement hatch seal?

thanks!

 

Thy this link.

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/

hit automotive parts.

pick you car then find what you are looking for.

I just did 78.00 with them for parts for my project car.

 

Cool, thanks for the link. $60 is a little steeper than i'd hoped though, maybe it's time to go junkyarding.

 

So we got ~4" of rain over the past two days, today i surveyed the damage:




That's about 2" of water behind the seat, there was also some in the spare tire well and in the security box. A couple hours with a shop-vac means it's dry for now...

Is there anything besides the hatch weatherstripping that could be the culprit? Mine looks prefect. If it helps it's dripping from from the hatch struts (which sounds like weatherstripping....damn it, i might as well replace it anyway).