Rep Power: 0

Hi all!
I just got a 95 Civic DX, manual. Just to start, I don't want to make it into a racer, I want to make it as fuel efficient as possible. Right off the bat, besides some cosmetics (a dent in the hood and left front fender), I notice that there's a little bit of a ticking in the engine with some smoke on acceleration (can't tell if it's blue or white, but if I had to say, it looks white). It also surges a little on acceleration after I hit a certain RPM (can't tell where, no tach). I have an initial budget of about $200. So what first?
I'm not adverse to going to a pick and pull, and I'm pretty decent with a wrench, but I don't have the equipment, time, or willpower for a major (engine swap) type project.
Thanks!

 
Rep Power: 214

The ticking is probably the valves and they probably just need an adjustment. The smoke if it burns blue or white then you are burning oil or possibly you have blown a piston ring. If you have blown a piston ring then it is most likely in cylinder 2 cause the d series motors are bad for cylinder 2 to go bad. How many miles is on it.

 
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has the car been sitting awhile? I just got my first car, an ek as well. And it sat for a few months undriven with fuel. At first it smoked on acceleration, I drained out the old fuel, and put in new fuel and voila, no smoke.

 
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I don't think the car has been sitting, but I could be wrong. What's the most sure way to find out if it's a piston ring or head gasket or whatever is making it smoke? I hate spending hours chasing gremlins and never finding the problem. One more thing, I want to do a general clean out of the intake and gearbox, I had heard that draining the oil and putting diesel in and running it for a minute or two a couple of times and then draining and changing oil works well, but these aren't exactly old farm trucks. Would this be ok, or would this doom the engine?

 
Rep Power: 214

A head gasket you can find out if it is bad with the motor in the car. A blown piston ring the only way to tell is if you take the motor apart. A bad head gasket you can check the oil for a milky or sediment in it, coolant for bubbles or sediment, o2 sensor for anti freeze wear which would be white. Also if antifreeze needs to be topped off cause it keeps just disappearing plus there are a couple more.

Bout the oil thing just put in what is needed and do not try to mess with things.

 
Rep Power: 0

So I'm going to assume that the major maintenance has not been done on this engine, or at least done in a long while (it has 208k miles on it), so here's what I was thinking:
-Head gasket (and everything else that comes with a hg set, all the grommets and seals and crap)
-Timing belt, tensioner and water pump, along with the thermostat (what temp rating should I go with for this?)
-Changing the engine and transmission oil
-Fuel Filter
-Clean EGR valve, check/change pcv valve
-Check brake pads, change as necessary
-Change coolant
-Recharge A/C

Any other ideas? I have a 2100 mile trip from SLC, Utah to Quantico, Virginia coming up pretty soon, so I'd like the car to take me the distance.

Also, another 'goodie' that I found: the a/c works, and the fan speed adjusts just fine, but when I press the buttons to change the direction of the air (face, face/feet, feet, feet/defrost, defrost), nothing happens. It stays on 'face' setting. The buttons light up as if they are changing, but the air just comes out of the main vents and that's it. Any ideas?
thanks all!