I have a 95 Civic EX coupe. Does anybody have the specs on the gas tank volume (gallons). I thought it was 11.9 gallons, but today I went to fill up, dreading a 40 dollar tank, and my needle was on E (and some things were making me suspicious of it trying to die due to lack of fuel). However, when I plugged it in, it automatically stopped at 8.4 gallons. Then I pulled the handle and held it, and it FORCED my grip off at 8.7 gallons. So I stopped. I turned the ignition on and watched as the needle rose slightly above F. I am now struggling to figure my fuel mileage since I don't know how much fuel I am using. PLEASE HELP.

 

WTF does the timing belt poll have to do with this question? Check the float in the gas tank.

 

Count your miles until next fill up. Then divide by the gallons of fuel you add next time you fill up. It is a very easy and common method to figure mpg. It is not recommended to run your tank all the way down due to debris that can clog your lines which might of been why you felt you were running out.

 

Son I am trying to figure out when to change my timing belt. Being more smarter never hurt no one. And how do I check the float in the gas tank??????!!!!

 

"Being more smarter never hurt no one"?
Son. It's called scheduled maintenance. If you had a manual for your car you would know when it needs to be changed. **** you could have Googled it.
How to check the float in the gas tank? You do know where the access to the gas tank is don't you? A service manual would tell you that too.

 

Easy partner. I know how to maintain my vehicle. What I don't know is if the last 2 guys did since I was not provided with any service records. The only record I got was for an oil change in November. I bought the car a month ago so I am sorting everything out while trying to balance 2 jobs.

And the only manual in my car is the 5 speed.

Yes I know I have already Googled it. But finding a definite answer is difficult, mainly because it isn't a definitive maintenance task. Depending on how it was driven or taken care of, it could last 20k miles, or 200k miles, I have heard stories of both. Once again, I don't know this because the law protects the privacy of the last 2 owners. So maybe by narrowing it down to people who A) drive in a similar fashion to myself and B) drive a similar car to myself, I can figure out the real margin of error here.

Please refrain from being rude in the future. Not everybody is God.

 

Thanks.

 

Then if you have no clue when or if it's been changed then CHANGE IT partner!!! You're talking about a car that's pushing 20 years old. It's a no brainer here. Stop trying to see how much more you can get out of it when there's no way in Hades that you can know the car's complete maintenance history. Trying to base a timing belt change on an opinion poll or a roll of the dice doesn't sound like good practice to me.

Also manual=service manual, not transmission. it would have told you all you need to know. Get one. Because if you don't know how to check a float or discern average mileage you're going to wind up breaking something. i guarantee it.

 

The thing about the manual was a joke. I was referring to the fact that some people have an owner's manual (booklet) AND a standard transmission. I just have the stickshift....

I also am really tight for money, to the point that I am considering taking out a credit card just to cover these expenses. I hear that timing belt changes are pretty pricey. My car has 140k so I figure it has been changed once before, but there's no way telling when. If the guy was a dope and changed it at 40k, then I am pushing 100k on a timing belt. If he changed it at 90k, however, then it only has 50 k on it. So I'm gonna have a mechanic look at it, but I usually try to grab as much info as I can before I dive into a local garage for help.

And most of my experience with cars has been in the last 2 years. I really haven't fiddled with fuel systems (gas tank) and this car was my first as well, at age 19, so I am still learning.

 

Go to the 92-00 forum and look in the FAQs. There are DIYs with walk throughs of how to do this yourself in a few hours time. Budget a weekend just to make sure. Save yourself some cash.

 

It is pretty screwy when you have a poll but the topic of your thread is irrelevant to your poll and has no mention of it!

I always recommend at least a visual inspection of the timing belt before doing anything. I bought all the stuff to replace mine when I bought my motor swap only to find out it had just been done and everything looked brand new.

Now if its cracked and dryrotted, might want to get on the ball.

As Marc mentioned everything is available on H-T and Google so it makes for a easy task!

 

bump

 

this is your second thread where you make a poll irrelevant to your question. i suspect you do it to try to keep your thread on the top.
don't do that, please.