Hi Guys,

I recently bought myself a 1988 CRX in Adelaide and drove it over to Perth (about 3000 km). It got pretty bad mileage, but to be expected for a car with 216,000 km on it.

Before I go any further, I should point out the VIN is JHMED9... and it's a DOHC 1.6 litre (with Cat converter) (DA16...). The registration papers say it's a 1987, the VIN plate says it's a 1988, and somewhere else it says 1989. Lots of parts were interchangeable between these years, but not others (I'll get to that).

The moment we got into WA the car is technically illegal, as I'm not allowed to have an SA registered car in my name, if I don't live in SA. So I have to take it over the pits for an inspection. In an effort to dot my Is and cross my Ts, I took it to a stealer (dealer) who looked over it with a fairly keen eye.

The car is in satisfactory condition; lots of little things that add up to big things, but safety is not jeopardised in any way. Things like:

Split front motor mount
Split rear trailing arm bushes
Broken headlight
Non-stock air cleaner (since replaced)
Thermostat not working (no signal on the dashboard)
Leaking gaskets here and there (nothing too serious)
etc.

I have some specific questions, so I hope you can help!

I tried to replace the RHS headlight. Ordering a 1988 CRX headlight on ebay was fairly good, until I tried to fit it. The bulbs on the current (broken) headlight all use a wire clip to hold the bulb in place. The ebay headlight uses a plastic ring which rotates to hold the bulb in. So it's useless to me!

Is this because I don't know the year model of the car? Or is there something I don't know. It would be super convenient if I could just replace the glass, but I'm sure I'd break it...

Also, the PGM-FI was giving a TPS error. I checked the TPS and it was reading under 0.5 V at closed throttle. After wriggling and jiggling, it soon stopped working all together, and the engine runs like a biplane on two cylinders! So I have a new one it it's way. That might explain the bad mileage...

Anyway, all I need to do it get it over the pits and life will be good. I don't care if the motor blows up as I will be converting this car to electric - who wouldn't? Awesome aerodynamics and a light chassis. But it will have to be an oil burner for a while yet.

Cheers in advance,

Chris

 

For your viewing pleasure This was a bit over half way across the Nullarbor plain.

 

OK, headlights. Seems I have got an older style headlight in my ebay replacement.






They are identical in almost every way. I guess I can just get new bulbs to fit the odd-ball housing?

 

To put it simply: you have a headlight that we use here in the USA that uses a different bulb than your car.

You have a few options:
1. go back on ebay and find the correct headlight
2. bake both headlights in the oven and swap the glass lens from the new light to the old
3. buy the bulb and pig tail from the harness of a US CRX and spice it onto your headlight harness and run 2 different setups on the left and right sides of the car

 

I see Too bad there are only about two dozen CRX owners in Australia and even fewer wrecking their cars.

Sounds like running two different bulbs is the way to go. Back to the Bay of E!

 

Looks good, and yes jlk's correct.

PS: Cut your toe nails hippie... haha

 

They're not long enough yet

Hey, maybe you US guys can help here. I'm doing some searches for headlight bulbs and I also need to get the sockets which plug into the back of the bulbs. I can shift the relays etc over to the new headlight.

However, most places won't ship internationally. Any chance I can get a good recommendation for reputable part suppliers who do international shipping?

Thanks,

Chris

 

ive got 2 sets of usdm headlights for 90-91 crx's sitting in my garage if you want a set

 

So are you in WA (Washington state USA)?

 

Um hes in Australia bud

 

Hey! Sounds interesting. Can you post a picture of what you've got? I'll have to see if they will fit, or can be made to fit. I notice you can get after market LED type headlights - ~$300 a pair, which I might look into but right now I just need to get it working so it will pass DOT inspection (or as we say down here, "over the pits").

 

The will fit fine, you just need 90-91 crx corner lights to replace yours. They are exactly the same housing and everything as yours.

Have you considered baking your headlights you already have in the oven and swapping over the glass? Its not very hard and would probably be the quickest/easiest/fastest solution for you. Just watch some video's on youtube about how to open up your headlights

 

I will take both headlights up to the local auto electrician to see if we can jury-rig some bulbs in this unit, otherwise I might try the lens-swap. Failing all of this I might just get some after-market projector lamps with LEDs. They are pretty cheap and come with bulbs to suit. Should look the part when I drop an electric motor in there. But that's another build thread

 

Hey all, just an update on the headlights - I managed to buy an HB3 and a HB4 bulb designed to fit the back of the replacement headlight. The only thing I can't find at this stage is the plugs to go in the back of them, but I jury-rigged a couple of regular autoelectric connectors to do the job for now. I will eventually find some replacement polycarbonate headlights, but for now, this will get me passed inspection.

Next on the hitlist - throttle position sensor and the rear trailing arm bushes...

 

you need a 9005 and a 9006 plug. honestly i would just take the glass off of the replacement head light and install it onto your new head light. it looks like your car was wired for the zc head lights (single bulb housings but then had the head lights swapped out for dual beam ones? not sure on that :/

 

Too late for that. The new headlight is in with the new bulbs too. I will source the plugs in good time, but for now I have a working headlight system. In the next month or so I will buy a set of aftermarket projector style headlights off e-bay and put LEDs in there.

However, I now have a new, unforeseen problem. Right-side driving countries have RHS headlights which point off to the right. When these headlights are installed onto left-side driving cars, the RHS headlight (driver's side) points off to the right... directly into oncoming traffic! So short of putting a headlight diffuser on it, it's just going to be plain annoying.

So I hope the inspector man doesn't notice. Until then I will try to ensure my aftermarket headlights are at the very least adjustable for Australian driving conditions.

 

Hi again everyone,

I have replaced the TPS and error 7 has gone away. The closed throttle gives 0.47 V and about 4.6 V at wide open. It goes up smoothly, which is what I would expect from a new part

It still runs rough and misfires, but not as bad as before. It still feels a bit underpowered and it doesn't run as smoothly as I would like it to. The plugs are fouling from a rich mixture, and I think if this is fixed it will be good to go.

So what else causes a rich mix?

I have replaced the air filter and cleaned the plugs, but they go black pretty fast. any ideas? No other error messages from the PGM-FI too.

 

check belt timing? make sure your cams are both set to where they are supposed to be

 

<excessive ocker>G'day mate!</excessive ocker>

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