I picked up a 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback the other day. 179K miles, 4-speed manual. Paid $350 for it. It runs and drives alright, but not as good as I'd want it to run. Here's the deal:

1) Black smoke out the tailpipe. I did a compression test and it's kinda all over the place. Worst cylinder is #4 (right-most cylinder). It showed barely 30psi on the compression guage. I poured in a little bit of oil into the cylinder and tested again, and no difference. So is it the valves? How would I go about fixing this?

2) Transmission is VERY stiff. Takes a good amount of effort to put it into first and second (clutch depressed all the way down). Also, there's a metallic clanging sound when I hit about mid-rpm in first gear. Similar sound when it's just idling in neutral with clutch not pressed. I wanted to change out the transmission fluid but I have no experience with manual transmission so I have no idea where to begin with that one. What else could I do to fix the transmission problems?

Other than those things, it's an alright car. I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, and spark plugs today and it's running a little better. Although the oil pan drain bolt is leaking.

Help a brother out. Thanks in advance.

 

As far as the tranny, first check the fluid, if not it might need a new clutch.

 

I'd like to hear this as well, I just picked a 1990 hatch with 111k on it that makes the same metallic sound in first and at idle

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EL Vap133 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As far as the tranny, first check the fluid, if not it might need a new clutch. </TD></TR></TABLE>

might sound like a stupid question, but how do i check the fluid on this bad boy?

 

help help help.

 

the best way to check it would be through the fill plug. It has no deep stick like them sorry *** automatic trannys. but if your gonna go through the trouble of taking of the fill plug you should just drain the thing and fill it back up.

 

ok so i found out where the fill plug is. that thing is stuck on there pretty good. gotta put some WD40 and use a longer wrench tomorrow. so i got that down. now, to drain it, where's the drain plug? i apologize for my utter lack of knowledge whatsoever, but i spent a good amount of time underneath that sucker and i have no idea.

 

helppppppppp

 

Humm ok... If you found the tranny fill plug it should be a 17mm towards the top on the side of the tranny. The drain plug is below it about 6" on the same side it sould be a 3/8 ratchet. What you should do is change the tranny fluid with new 10-30 or 10-40 oil. Depending on how much comes out and the condition it is in, this might fix the "stiffness" problem. If not maybe check the shift linkage bushings. Depending on the "metallic clanging" noise it could be because of cheap gas I'm guessing you are running like 87 at this time, if you are next time it needs gas put some premium in it see it it stops, also try running a fuel injector cleaner through it. If it doesnt this may be your valves clanging also due to your low compression. A good/(could be cheapest) way to fix this would be to buy a used or rebuilt head for it, unless you know of a cheap machinic or feel like learning/doing it yourself, if there is no perminate damage done to it. See if any of this help out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DXDOHCVTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Humm ok... If you found the tranny fill plug it should be a 17mm towards the top on the side of the tranny. The drain plug is below it about 6" on the same side it sould be a 3/8 ratchet. What you should do is change the tranny fluid with new 10-30 or 10-40 oil. Depending on how much comes out and the condition it is in, this might fix the "stiffness" problem. If not maybe check the shift linkage bushings. Depending on the "metallic clanging" noise it could be because of cheap gas I'm guessing you are running like 87 at this time, if you are next time it needs gas put some premium in it see it it stops, also try running a fuel injector cleaner through it. If it doesnt this may be your valves clanging also due to your low compression. A good/(could be cheapest) way to fix this would be to buy a used or rebuilt head for it, unless you know of a cheap machinic or feel like learning/doing it yourself, if there is no perminate damage done to it. See if any of this help out. </TD></TR></TABLE>

awesome! you are the man!

i will be servicing the transmission first thing tomorrow morning. and i'll also go ahead and fill 'er up with 93.

i'm looking for a used/rebuilt head cuz i'm thinking it may be the valves. anyone selling?

anyone else have any suggestions?

 

regarding the metal clinging noise do all the things that DXDOHCVTEC said but before you go tearing into your head try checking your timing. some times when your timing is off it tends to make a metal clinging noise.

 

bump! any more ideas? please don't hesitate.