Zed

Sigh ok

Zed

That's exactly what I do.




Didn't really want to hear that. Recently bought the car after it'd been parked for a year and a half. Body and interior are in excellent shape. It was just the prior posts above that were bad, but now this.....

I've owned two DC2 Integras, Type R and GSR, I've owned an EK3 and an EK4 and an EK Coupe. All of them were fantastic cars, and I really looked forward to owning this coupe I have now, but lord.....this thing is turning out to be the car from hell.

ezone

Maybe you are finding out why it was parked.

There is always a reason a car is for sale. Some are more obvious than others.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Whats the mileage on the car?

Once you get it running right they are pretty reliable.

Zed

Mileage is 94512.

Zed

So I've secured a manual transmission, but looking for a clutch pedal with slave cylinder. Short of having to order one, can another from another honda model work on this vehicle?

ezone

A donor car (crashed or junkyard) to rob parts from would be easiest.
Locate a car, then start using a catalog to compare part numbers before you buy it (that's all I have to go on here, I don't have any interchange manual like a junkyard would. Try http://www.car-part.com, and http://hollanderinterchange.net/)

You will need a flywheel, all hardware, and a pilot bearing for the end of the crankshaft.
Then a clutch kit.
Master and slave cylinders, and their lines- both steel and rubber.
Shifter housing, shifter linkage, shifter cables. Boot and bracket for the console.
A way to disable the ignition key interlock.
Clutch pedal, pedal box/brackets, switches
Brake pedal for the manual trans car (narrower than an auto trans version)

--------------------------------
Checked the clutch pedal and bracket assy: 4 choices (for the 01, and I was looking at 4 door car. 2 door might give more choices). EX/LX are one, DX is another. US/CAN is one, JAP is another. Probably all the same options for 01-05.

Master cylinder looks the same 01-05. Same for slave.
Couple choices for the reservoir.
--------------------------------

The PCM for your auto trans car will not be happy with a manual trans, the CEL will just be on constantly and you may never know when new codes come up.
Steal the computer and drivetrain harness from the donor car.



I bet you can search this site for a thread on this. I'd bet someone made one.

ezone

EDIT for above: the pilot bearing should come off with a flywheel.

Zed

There are very few of these cars that came to my island of Barbados with gearbox. The majority of the ES model civics are automatic. I can probably count the amount of these gearbox equipped cars on one hand. Hence why I'd asked if a clutch pedal and slave cylinder from another Honda model could work.

I got me a slave cylinder today, just need the pedal now. I've got gearbox etc as well.

Zed

Hi Guys, do you know if the clutch and brake pedal assemblies from an EP3 or DC5 can be used with our EM2s when converting from automatic to manual?

Zed

Anyone?

Zed

Is it possible to remove the internal filter and run the transmission with just an external one instead?

ezone

Short answer is NO, and IMHO that wouldn't be smart anyway.

Since there is no pan on Hondas transmissions, you would have to pull the trans out and split the case open. If you are going to go to all that effort, it would be stupid to not do a complete rebuild and just fix all the problems at once and be done with it.

johndeerebones

Albeit this does suck (trust me did it), it was cheaper than another or a manual conversion ever thought of being. Granted I did do the work myself, but no labor included, just parts it cost me less than $500 US, and I put a converter in it. Don't get me wrong, would've loved to have a manual, but the Frankensteined car that would result was a no no to me, ie the auto cluster if you don't replace it, codes and lights if you don't use the manual computer, etc. Add all that up and you are talking alot of coin for a "CORRECT" swap, I personally would'nt go for anything less, (particular). The only real problem with mine was that the internal filter was stopped up, the second clutch pack is defective and fills the bottom of the trans with material from it, hence plugging the filter. All in all, once the issues are addressed, they are pretty good little econoboxes. As an aside at the rebuild mine had 142,500 miles. Now it has 195,000. Trans works great. It is a good little car. You may put some work in it now, but you have well over 100,000 miles left on it. I live in the middle of the continental US mind you, but I wouldn't hesitate to drive it to Alaska tomorrow.

Zed

OK Guys, here's an update and my latest problem with this car. So I've done the following:

1. Changed Headgasket, had the head checked for warpage and machined at a shop.
2. Changed Thermostat same time and hoses.
3. Changed Transmission to a remanufactured one.
4. Changed the VTEC Oil Pressure Sensor.
5. Changed the Oxygen Sensor.
6. Car idles fine now. No CELs.

All should be well right? Well all is not well. Finally got to take the car for a proper drive this morning on the highway. After about 15 mins the temp gauge rose to the mark just over half instead of being a couple marks just below. I started to panic, but as quickly as it rose, it came back down. At this point I thought air bubble. So I came home, let it cool completely down, jacked the front of the car up and proceeded to run the engine with the heater on in an effort to get any air in the system out. Let it run with fans cutting in and out for about 45 mins. I should add, when I checked the radiator, the coolant level was good, and so was the overflow bottle.

Went back out for a drive and while cruising at about 60-80Km/h at about 2000RPM the temp was fine, when I proceeded to overtake a car, causing the car to downshift and revs to climb, the same thing happened again.

What could be the problem please? I'm at my wits end with this car now.

ezone

First off, let's establish if this is truly a problem or not since the temp of a running engine changes with loads. How hot does it get?

And one more piece of information: Is it running the radiator fans when you see the gauge indicate "warmer than normal" out on the road?


I'd want to drive around with the scanner hooked up so I can check what the temp is by reading the scanner....when this happens.


Then need to figure out if that temperature is factual and true or not.

So at this point it doesn't appear to be the typical head gasket problem.

Ok, this is idling with no load on the engine, so no additional heat from an engine that is loaded and working hard.

Did you watch your gauge to see where it sits as the fans turn on and off? Is that higher than the normal temp shown as you drive?

If you repeat the 'overtake a car' scenario while the engine is cold (first 1-4 minutes maybe) does the temp gauge climb above the normal spot?
Will it pull strong (accelerate without laboring to do so) all the way to redline (1st and 2nd gears)?


If you repeat the 'overtake a car' scenario with a warmed up engine (after that 15 minutes) If you turn the heater on (max heat and full blast blower fan) before you overtake the car, does that stop it from raising the temp gauge?
The heater blows very hot air this entire time, not lukewarm?

????????
Is the radiator cap good (13-15 PSI test)?
Is the neck of the radiator good, where the small gasket of the cap must seal in order to maintain pressure as designed?
Is the cooling system damaged from running plain water in it?
Is the cooling system unable to shed heat efficiently?
Is there a flow restriction causing the system to not shed heat efficiently?
??????


{Smartass answer needs to go here! }

It's a USED CAR man! You got a car that had been parked for a reason, and it sat for a year and a half on top of that. Now it's been over a year since you started this thread. Lots of stuff can happen in that time.

I've got some guesses here, but I'd like some more answers to these before I guess.

Zed

Ezone, thanks for your time, knowledge and patience. I'm immensely grateful and will have a scanner on it tomorrow to get some data for you.

I'm frustrated because, I'm all the way in Barbados. Parts for this car from the local dealer where the car came from are non-existent. Everything I need I have to order and import myself. That process can take two - four weeks depending on if the item is in stock either via Amazon or Majestic Honda. And honestly, it has seemed like everytime i solve one thing, another pops up. I really wanted this car running without issue by Christmas. It's about time I get to enjoy it no?

Will update tomorrow . Thanks for your patience and for listening to my rant above.

Appreciate all your help.

ezone

Although I've never had to experience this first hand, I can empathize a little. I hear some stories from members of other technical sites that are located in other countries, cars could be imported from all over the world and there is little to no support for them once they are removed from their country of original sale. The techs have little means of obtaining parts and equipment to deal with some issues, especially if there is only one car that needs help.



---


Earlier this week:
Had a Spanish speaking couple (wife speaks English, husband did not) at the parts counter, they had imported a 2004 US Accord to the Honduras. Apparently it's the only one there. They wanted a key made for it, and a remote, among some other stuff.

Things went sour when parts mentioned the key must be programmed, and to 'talk to the service department'.
(Parts department then calls me in for technical stuff that they don't know about or deal with.)

It's an immobilizer key, we have no way to program that without having the car in our possession. Wife didn't quite understand the technical explanation of "why" along with confusing the differences between the key programming and the remote fob programming, and husband was getting mad at us (me). *rolls eyes*

Paraphrased:
'We can cut you a new key but it will only open the door. It cannot start the engine until it is programmed. We have no way of knowing if the local Honda dealer in the Honduras will have the equipment necessary to program an immobilizer key on a US spec Accord.

Remote fob though, no problem. You can do that DIY once you get there, but the key will not start the engine until the car and key are programmed to each other.'

(If this lady is anything like my girlfriend, she heard only blablablabla after the word "key".)

Thankfully, we have a service advisor that speaks Spanish as his primary language, he got the guy calmed down --- but we still couldn't accomplish what he wanted with the key.

Zed

The difference for me is, we have a local Honda dealer, who if they don't have the part, will NOT import it. They refused to import any of my parts. Honestly, I don't know how they're still in business or why Honda hasn't moved the dealership to another interested entity.

ezone

It might be that they are only obligated to serve the cars designated to be sold in that area (market).
I can certainly understand why they might not want to deal with yours.


I'm in the continental US. If we get a Canadian market car that someone personally imported to the US and it needs something that is different from our cars, we cannot obtain their parts from our normal US Honda warehouse distribution channels.

We would have to do the same as yourself, find a friendly dealership up there in Canada that would send us their parts across the border.

It's a freekin huge hassle and usually is a complete wash as far as profit for the business (or a loss) unless the price gets jacked up to the customer. (The time it takes for people to do all this costs money!)

A common example is Daytime Running Light control unit, USA cars don't have it at all and we cannot get it here.

Another might be SRS/Airbag stuff that is mated to the cars VIN.
First problem is the VIN. Honda USA doesn't recognize Canadian VINs.
Canada market has different regulations for their SRS than USA, and I know for a fact the control unit is not programmed the same way as ours for some of their cars.

Another is a factory reman transmission that must be selected and ordered by VIN, you can't even buy one with money. Been there, done that with an 02ish Canadian Odyssey van. Sent them to a trans shop, with disastrous results.

Hondas dealer network (at the dealership level) in the USA does not recognize any VIN that is originally sold in the Canadian market. I mean it just does not exist to the system. I assume the opposite is true also for them up North.


The factory scantools still seem to recognize and work on them here though, no problem. Same for Acuras.





Working with Acura is similar too, some stuff we (as a Honda dealership) can obtain --- if the part numbers are the same as Hondas, and we can do the work fairly easily, but some items absolutely must come from an Acura dealer because the part numbers are not used by Honda.
Difference here is we are all in the same country. Closest Acura dealer to me is a good 2 hour drive away.
(Warranty work is an entirely different matter. We normally can't.)

Example: 05 MDX (IIRC) needed a HandsfreeLink control unit, and there is no Honda that uses that particular part number. We had to get it through an Acura dealer, and we had to pay them for it PLUS the shipping. Then mark it all up to the customer.


HTH

Zed

The dealer is the original importer of my car. It was bought brand new from them. There are only 7 EM2s on the island, all of which imported and bought brand new from them. I get and totally understand what you're saying though.

ezone

Oh wow. I didn't.........

Is this an actual Honda dealer or just an importer of many brands?

Zed

Actual Honda dealer.

ezone

That sucks.
Maybe they only want to sell new cars.

Wouldn't their "home market" be Venezuela and South America instead of USA?

Zed

I don't know what their arrangement is. However, we tend to get the right hand drive USA variants of Honda's vehicles. The JDM versions of the EM2 is a four door saloon ES3, and this carries a D17 engine with VTEC that does not use the VTEC Oil Pressure Sensor the USA and UK market engines do.

I love hondas, but sometimes just wanting to do the right thing and maintain this chassis like I did the EKs I've had in the past is beginning to be a real pain in the derriere. We've got lots of aftermarket support for EKs here, but the ES/EM2 support is severely limited to brake pads and water pumps. Everything else, we gotta import.

ezone

So is yours Left Hand Drive?

I don't know of any RHD Hondas in the US market. AFAIK there are none made or even (officially) imported here for mail delivery, and I can't think of any other use here for RHD in anything.

Which side of the road do you drive on there?
What about Venezuela, and the rest of S.A.?


I've only heard of this but never seen it. LOL

Zed

Mine is Right Hand Drive. We drive on the left. I'm not sure about Venezuela, but SA drive on left as well I think.

As for the VTEC without the sensor....It's pretty common with these D17s and D15s.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

oh, yes, all the countries in Americas drive on the left side of the road, no issues there (I am Brazilian, so have some knowledge on that).

curious - i replaced mine Siemens ABS module in Canada, so far no issues from that. Cars are much more expensive in Canada, so I guess many get them in US and take them to Canada. I had to retrofit a DRL, though, but one that uses the fog lights (which i don't have, but fitted to the parking lights.) Luckily, the hondas have the rear seat hooks that are required in Canada for child seats, or else that would have been another one to modify/fit.

ezone

I seriously doubt that can be a US car.
Post the VIN?





sdaidoji, I don't see any reason an ABS system would be operated any differently in one location than any other.

Zed

I didn't get the scan tool yesterday, but I did take it for a test drive yesterday.

From cold, tried the overtaking scenario a few times and the temp gauge rose to it's normal position which is just below the halfway mark.

Warmed up, after a bit with me pushing the car a bit, the temp gauge eventually did start to rise, this time it went to the 3/4 mark then after 30 seconds or so, it came down pretty quickly. The fans were on at the time as well. At the same time, I got out of the car and popped the bonnet and revved the engine from in the bay. I was able to see the coolant in the overflow bottle rise as I revved. There was no bubbling of the sort or anything to hint that the headgasket which I've already had replaced was blown.

I'm stumped.