Hello everyone, this is my first thread on hondatech.

I have viewed many forums whilst troubleshooting and looking for guides and such and am very thankful that a platform like this exists. Having said that, I would like some opinions on whether or not to sell my 1992 Honda Civic Lx sedan or not. Im kind of stuck because I am not sure whether or not their is a high probability that another issue will arise and I know a lot of people on here have more experience than I do with all sorts of Hondas. I bought my car for about 1800 USD and had very few issues in the beginning. It has a few dents and broken cosmetic parts but it ran strong. I replaced the clutch partially out of need and mainly because I wanted the experience. The job went smoothly and I had no troubles, plus I learned a lot. However since then I have had issues, except I feel like I am mainly to blame and feel like it was a case of bad diagnosis and throwing parts at it. I believe it all stemmed from the issue of a leaky windshield and the rain. The first problem was my thermostat gauged, it would dance all over the place and act like It was overheating however it never did. I replaced the thermostat however the issue persisted. Then my starter began to die, I found out later from a coworker with lots of experience that it was due to a poor ground connection (likely while putting my car back together doing a clutch job). Finally, I walked out to my car one morning and it did not start, the diagnosis was no spark and i bought a distributor because I was getting power to it, but after installing the new one I still got no spark. I asked my coworker again and he helped me figure out the issue. It seemed rain got into my ECU and fried it. Luckily, there was a sketchy 93 P06-L01 ECU that came in the trunk of the car when I bought it and that ran the car for a couple days with the only visible issue being it would not prime the fuel pump until a bout a minute after I turned the key. That minute turned into 2 which turned into 5 and now the ECU is officially shot. Today the fuel pump did not prime and I am currently deciding what to do.

TLDR:
I felt all of that context is necessary, that being said if you don't care to read, the car has a seemingly bone stock d15b7 in it and a clutch that I installed along with a brand new starter and distributor that were not necessary to buy however I did. My question to all of you is, should I buy an ecu off ebay and sell the car or stick with it? I bought it because I wanted/needed a car and Hondas are reliable, I also don't have a lot of money. My fear is that it will continue to have issues and become a large money pit, but again it has had no issues except for the ecu and it burns a lil bit of oil. The parts I put in were unnecessary because the ECU was dying, however now that they are in, with a working ECU I believe it would be more reliable but I think I lack the experience to know for sure. Its a 1992 running d15b7, do you guys think it will be an issue, or will I benefit from sticking with it and giving it the TLC it needs? Because to me everything seems to be working except the ECU, and I just need my car to be reliable right now.

I apologize, I am not looking for others to solve my problem I just feel that a lot of people have so much knowledge and experience on this site and would know the likelihood that a new ecu will be my fix or if other things are likely to arise on a 92 d15b7.

Thank you

 

How many miles on the motor? The D15B7 can last a long time as long as you don't beat on it. It's peppy enough without being performance.

It is an old car, bushing probably need to be done, you probably have the grooves on the brank snout that could use repair sleeves, etc. These are just things all engines and cars need after 25+ years of service. It's mostly up to you what you want to do with it. I will say, it's one of the easiest cars to learn mechanics on. Later years as well as other brands make things much more complicated.

So once it again, it boils down to what you want to do.

 

Thank you for your reply and advice. The motor has about 199k miles on it. Also, when you say bushing do you mean the crankshaft bushing? And what is a brank snout? I've never heard that term. The motor has been strong besides the ecu so this is just the kind of thing I was looking for, appreciate it.

 

Bushings = suspension bushings. Unless they've been replaced at some point, the stock rubber is ~30 years old and likely due for a replacement.

Brank snout is a typo...he means crankshaft snout. It's the portion of the crankshaft that sticks out of the front of the engine, on which the front oil seal rides and the crank pulley attaches to.

 

- ok awesome, I appreciate your advice. I doubt the suspension bushing have been replaced since the car was bought, they all look pretty worn.