SOLVED! Post 2853 Leaking Injectors, Dealer Techs Rock! Extended Cranking after Engine Swap 3.4L 5vz

Civic update!!

The bad news: Eric took the Taco to work.

The good news: The Civic isn't dead. He took the Taco because, well, it's complicated..........

O-O-O-O Crap Parts screwed up again. Should have just refused that POS replacement distributor when I was still in their parking lot and discovered it had clearly been returned a thousand times. Not sure what the hell happened to our Oreilly lately, but something definitely changed. We've gotten tons of parts for the Civ there over the years, and a fair amount for the Taco too (like door handles!!). Never had problems to speak of really, but lately every single thing we buy there has to go back and be exchanged a billion times, whether because the part is just plain wrong, or faulty, or both!! Getting really old. Going to try to avoid buying any more parts from them.

Anyway - Eric switched the distributor, managed to drop a socket behind the battery, had to remove the battery and find the socket and put the battery back (an extra ~45 min project he really enjoyed that ), then finally it was time to start it. And nothing.

This is significant because it was starting and running just fine before switching the distributor. The symptom that concerned us yesterday was that the RPM needle was going nuts all over the place when he was on his way to work. But the engine sounded fine/normal and the car was driving totally normally - meaning the needle's movement did not correspond with what the engine was doing at all.

When he emailed me this yesterday morning, my initial response was, F this, let's replace it NOW, no more games! Then I couldn't resist the urge to do a quick google. Immediately found a billion people reporting same problem. Guess what? I hadn't even included "Honda" or "Civic" in my search terms, yet most of the results were on that type of car - so clearly this is a common prob. they have. And they all said it was their distributor. So it seemed like a no brainer that our issue was the distributor, which was an easy, warrantied fix. Some people also said to NEVER use shitty aftermarket distributors!! They said better to get a used OEM. Well, we are stuck with the shitty aftermarket now, since we bought that one and now have a lifetime warranty on it. But hey, it's free to keep replacing it and Eric is getting pretty fast at it!

Hence going ahead with swapping it. But then the car wouldn't even start!! So he put the old one back in, and VOILA! No problem starting or running. But I'm sure the crazy RPM thing would still be going on, since nothing has changed to fix that yet. From what I can tell from reading, it could be a loose wire inside the distributor assembly or something.

So, just to play it safe, Eric took the Taco today, and I will be giving O-O-O-O Crap Parts a call to ask them to ORDER A NEW DISTRIBUTOR under warranty for us, then we'll exchange this POS when it's in. Eric can swap them, and it will likely be the fix. Then all we're out is a couple of hours of his time and the aggravation of dealing with O - O - O - O Crap Parts too many times.

See, it's a no brainer guys!!

The tires would still be the point for me to make a final decision. I shopped around some more for tires and was able to find a place that would do 4 brand new for ~$240. Not bad. But still a chunk to put on this beast. But we've got a couple more months before we really HAVE to make that decision, so in the meantime, we shall continue to rubber cement it back together and drive it. Into the ground.

 

Yep, no rust on this little beast.



See TW? She does have ONE thing going right for her!!!

 

And here's the Civ's KBB as of right now. Even deleted the options of "AC" and "moonroof" since neither works properly anymore.

We've spent less than 1/4 of $1148 on it so far. Master cylinder, plugs, PCV, sensor, thermostat, Techron, CV shaft, Honda dx fee, VTEC seals, rubber cement, a paper clip. Parts are cheap for that little red beasty.

 

Modern version of the VW Beetle!

 

Parts are cheap cause no one wants to keep em on the road, so if they're anything but cheap they wouldn't sell any...
Sorry keakar's views have worn off on me.

 

I'm not so sure about that. I see OLD Civics around a lot. Older than mine even. A ton!! They run a long, long time - c'mon, we all know that! I see old Civics with messed up paint damn near every time I go somewhere! Don't you?

 

Saw one just yesterday that was one of the seriously old school ones. The little hatchback style from the 80's. My favorite shade of blue too. Wish it was for sale!!

JK!!

 

I was kinda kidding, I edited my comment too.

To answer your question though the only place I see those cars are in the hands of 15/16 year olds and they will be the last owners.

 

Exactly!! So eventually those "last owners" of them will age another 15-20 years and be about my age, at the end of the car's life.

 

Lol

 

Unless they want to throw the car away after 5-10 years? I don't know, I guess some people do that. I don't.

 

Look at the drivers in those Civics though. That's like me saying I see a lot of C/K-chassis GM trucks here so they must be in good shape, even though 90% of their drivers are 16 year olds who only buy them because they aren't worth dick and are still somewhat derivable even with half the front end about to fall off.

 

OK, I'm not having fun anymore.

Bye bye guys!!

 

I'm terrible with money and shiny good looking turbo cars, so I'd have a really tough time saying no to a new 2016 Civic in a few months when I know it's going to kick ass for mpg and fly off the line stock. Well, fly off the line for a compact car.

 

So pretty...

If it performs half as good as the stats that are out I might even be looking at one once my Tacoma is paid off as a commuter for the wife and a toy for me

 

Ahhh we weren't trying to strike a nerve...

 

Uhm, looked like it to me!

 

Don't wanna pissoff a fellow Oregonian though....

 

I wasn't. I was too distracted with the shiny 2016 Civic, which looks like the first nice looking small car Honda has made since Jens generation IMHO. I want it if we end up with a commuter in a few years to save mileage on the F150. I realize Jen isn't buying new. Some people just can't. They don't see the advantages as much as the drawbacks and, hey, that's just fine

Nothing wrong with fixing the 1993 Civic, but it's probably getting closer to retirement than a new car. If Jen wants to fix it though I wish her the best of luck. I just seem to have horrible luck keeping older cars on the road and so do most of my friends, but then again we see more winter than Jen goes. I had a friend in college with a late 80's Civic that he dumped ~$200/month into to keep drivable. Thank god it literally got run over by a brodozer one day when it was parked outside his house and his insurance paid him something silly high like $2K for it. The funniest part was he then bought an old POS Grand Am which he spent even more money on, though he kept looking for another late 80's Civic he could never find one that would pass inspection lol.

 

I don't think Jen plans on keeping it long term, just long enough to save for the replacement.
Civics are pretty reliable ...