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Here's the deal guys I bought a 98 Civic EX coupe. It's a fixer upper for sure and I need some help. First off the rear tail lights only work when hitting the breaks if I turn the lights on they don't do anything. Though some wires are just hanging loose from the inside of the trunk lid. Second I need to change the oil pan, but I was reading that EX uses a diff. motor and therefor needs a diff. oil pan that the standard ones? Third drivers side headlight is busted, I ordered two new ones already but same thing on the drivers side its got wires hanging with no harness for the bulb. What else...basically the car was sitting for a year before I got it, so I have to do all sorts of maintenance (oil change, tranny fluid change, fuel filter change...) but on the upside I drove it home 45 min. away from the place I bought it from and she drove no prob! Oh yeah also when I do a hard turn (turn the steering wheel all the way there's a clicking noise) the CV joints + axle were replaced so Im thinking it might need greasing? Oh and one more thing the drivers side door lock wont work for some reason, I took it apart (looks simple enough plastic square that moves back and forth for lock/unlock with a pin holding it in and wire for the actual door, I took apart the passenger one too which looks the same but works fine...can't figure out whats wrong with the drivers side one...any thoughts? Any help would be much appreciated I'll take pics of everything tomorrow and post them.

For those that care; This would be the first Civic I'd be working on. I've worked on Mustang GT's and Jeep's, and helped friends with the occasional VW's and other random cars. I haven't done much electrical work so I'd prolly need a diagram or something for the headlight/tail light wiring. But anyway it was a sweet deal on the car so I decided to get it as a side project car. Maybe I'll eventually turbo it...who knows. I do like the gas mileage on these, plus its a nice car all around. It's a 98 Civic EX coupe, 5 speed (is there any other way to drive???), power everything, sunroof, TSW wheels (the ones on it looks ugly I think, they will be swapped for stock Si's prolly as soon as I fix everything else), tint (put sunroof tint is now purple...that will need changing)...what else Alpine deck, Infinity reference speakers all around. 120k on the clock, engine bay is so clean you can eat off it (tho I prefer a plate). Over all cars in good shape just needs some TLC! I got the mechanic's manual for the car (all 2200 pages of it), and I'm pretty handy just wanted to talk to some Honda guys before I start f'n with it...see if you guys could give me some input. Anyway thanks for reading my post, and thanks in advance for the helP!

 
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Welcome aboard! Have a look at the manual provided in my sig to help get yourself started. I'm away from my PC right now, but if you have any questions or whatever, the guys here are very helpful. Word to the wise for the fuel filter. You gotta turn the bolt on the bottom as if you're tightening the bolt in order to loosen it up. I found that out the hard way .

 
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Hi!

I also just bought a 98 Civic coupe EX. The slight difference being that it's my first car and I have absolutely no functional car know-how yet

For what it's worth, my car has the same locking quirk, you can't lock the driver's door from inside the car, only with the key, and only when the door is closed. I bought my car from the original owner, and he said that it's been like that since he bought it and it's just a security feature to keep you from locking your keys in the car.

IMO, it and the annoying aftermarket key "siren" I've got need to go, but that's another thread for another time.

*edit*
P.S. MelJ, thanks for the manual! I'm gonna go take a look at it shortly here.

Hope I helped a bit!

-BBX

 
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Indeed it is supposed to be that way. They are all like that.

 
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They're all like that so you don't lock your keys in the car. Pull the inside handle and lock it manually at the same time.

Like so:


I've been doing it for so long it's one fluid motion and I don't even notice. lol