Pubsamare

Thanks for the advices iRage and TheClutch. Yes, you are absolutely correct, the emotional bond with the car is huge. The performance is good and and I do enjoy driving it. But I cannot deny that the frequency of repairs, even though small, are becoming high, and I wouldn't mind a bit of a change. Yes, the safety is an issue, specially now that I have 2 little ones travelling with me. So I guess you are right, saving the money and going for a better car is a more sensible option. So, to trouble you guys again, considering I would not be able to go for a vehicle upgrade in the near future, 1. What repairs/replacements should I do in this car to minimize the future unexpected repairs other than the obvious ones until I go for an uprade? (Coolant lines/sensors etc?) 2. This car does not have airbags or central locking. Is it possible to install these? If so, does it cost a lot? 3. What are the other improvements I could do to improve the day to day driving experience and safety without spending a lot? Ps. With regard to the 'professional lady doctor driven car', would never recommend that, I have first hand experience on how they look after them! No regular services, rarely check coolant/oil etc... (no offence to the few ladies who do look after them!)??? Thanks guys!

Guys, really appreciate your valuable inputs to help me make a decision. This is my dilemma. I have a 1995 honda civic ek3 VI manual. This is my first car and has been with me for the last 4 years. My and this car have had a good run so far. Needless to say, being a 23 year old car, there are episodic minor repairs which are getting a bit frequent, but nothing major. Within the next few months, I am to receive some cash, and I would be able to spend about 0.5 to 1 million for an upgrade, the lesser the cost, the better, obviously. I guess I could sell this one and go for a bit newer car. But as I said, me and this car have been through a lot together, and even the thought of parting with it is very difficult to handle. So here are my questions. 1. Would going for a performance upgrade for this car be a bad idea? I did some reading and seems a B16A2 swap is possible and that it would cost somewhere close to 5 laks (I am not sure about these values). I am a total noob at these stuff, and would like to know if this is worth the cost. 2. If such an upgrade is possible, what are my options? Are there better options than the B16A swap? What would be the cost? 3. If such an upgrade is not advisable, what would be a good replacement around 3mil? It needs to be a sedan and a manual transmission, and I would like to have a bit of power as well. The options I came up with were Honda civic ES3rs, lancer cs2/3, masda axela/3 and am having trouble deciding what would be better. Are there any other good options? So, I kindly request the help of the experts here, who have helped me in the past as well. Thanks in advance! Ps. Sorry if I am starting an unnecessary thread, couldn't find answers to some of my issues after going through several threads as well.

Thanks Davy. My radiator is less than 2 years old. So guess flushing would be enough then.

Sorry for bringing up an old thread guys. My car was made in 1995 and has been using water for last few months due to some ongoing repairs. Now that the repairs are over, planning to do a rad flush and put coolant. There is a lot of rust in the water at the moment. My worry is after using the flush will there be leakage once the rust goes away. Please advise guys, is it a good or a bad idea to use rad flush in an old vehicle?

Thanks. I will ask the mechanics to check on that. And thank you the prompt responses Rumesh88, you really are a gem to this community.

I'm not sure of the exact code. I oversaw that the scanner read "knock advance" and something. I have an oil leak into the 4th plug, i replaced oil seals, but still there is some oil in the plug. And i noticed that my idle rpm has gone up since this issue started. Could they be related?

Guys, I have a Honda EK3 - VI (3 stage vtec). For a few days, I'm getting the CEL when the RPM reaches 2200, the 1st VTEC crossover point. Scanner gives the code of the Knock Advance sensor. What could be the issue? I'm taking it next week to be repaired, and would like to have an idea of the possible cause before that. Ps. The vtec solonoids are working fine and are not throwing a code. Thanks in advance!

Hi guys, I'd like to share my experience with one mechanic. I have had one encounter with him and that was quite a positive experience. I'll first briefly explain the issue that I had. I have a Honda EK3 VI manual. I was having an idle issue, poor idle up in cold start with the engine almost dying when I switch on the A/C. The issue corrects suddenly as the temperature reaches the optimal temperature with the RPM jumping up to around 1000 suddenly. I have gone to many mechanics over a period of 2 years (14 mechanics to be exact, including 3 who are stafford employees who are known to be "Honda Experts"), with no luck. I did everything they asked, including tune ups, cleaning the throttle body, replacing temperature sensors, distributor caps, starter motor, etc, and bought and replaced the IACV two times. (Only thing I did not do was an engine swap, which turned out to be the ultimate solution of several of these experts!). After all these I was referred to this mechanic by a friend of mine. So the mechanic is Sampath, and works in JaEla. I'm not sure about the exact directions to the place as I'm not familiar with the area and my friend took me, but I think his workshop is in the JaEla-Ganemulla Road near the Batagama Junction. He diagnosed the problem to be in the ECU. And he repaired the ECU. Now my issue is completely resolved. Pros: Good for ECU stuff, knows the subject well (from what I gathered). Doesn't take a lot of time. Took only 3 day to fix mine. He doesn't overburden himself. Friendly fellow. Cons: Bit on the expensive side. Usually charges above 10K it seems. Contact Number : 0777638371 Ps: I have had only this experience and cannot say for sure that his work is always good, but from what I have heard from some friends who got his service, his work is quite good.

Hello again guys, Sorry about the long pause to update. I took the car to a mechanic. (to Indika at Kolonnawa as recommended by some of the AL members. He really is a good and a knowledgeable person.) Found out that water was leaking from 3 places, the water pump and 2 hoses, and an oil leak from the crank seal. To be on the safe side, did a full check up, and replaced several parts. All together the car was in the garage for 2 weeks and and the repair did cost me a fortune, but now she is doing much better! And Rumesh88, thank you very much for your valuable inputs. As per your suggestions, I did get the door linkages cleaned ( actually replaced the door pins), and silicone lubricants did do wonders and the windows are working great. I also did a tune up(from Mr. Dhammika, again as suggested by AL), and also wheel alignment. Tha car is doing much better now. There is a small knock when accelerating ( I was told it is advance knock or something). The timing appears to be ok, as checked by my mechanic and by Mr. Dhammika. I was told not to worry about it. I would really appreciate if you guys could shed some light into this. Thanks a lot for the all the help!

I also feel that I may have been mislead. The person who repaired the radiator said there was no hurry to replace it and also not to replace it immediately till a gasket leak is ruled out. (said the engine could be damaged if the cap is replaced as the gasket leak would increase the pressure inside the engine) I'm not very familiar with how these things work, and it was his word that I had to go by at that hour.

Nope. NO radiator repairs. The person who owned it before the person who sold it to me had replaced the radiator ( Which badly tampered with and mended here and there as I noticed while it was being cleaned yesterday). I did notice some air leaking from the radiator cap while the radiator repairman pressurized the radiator under water after replacing the tank. I observed the radiator opening while running the engine after filling it, there was no bubbling, and the engine oil level was at the expected level and not abnormally high(after the engine had cooled down). Could that rule out a gasket leak?

By the way I did make a mistake too. Apparently the previous owner had only used water, and no coolant. To quote Saturn; Quote: - if the vehicle is hot you may be able to open the radiator overflow tank (be careful) and check if he uses coolant. Not using coolant indicates: 1. Owner is an idiot 2. Radiator has leak and owner is topping it up with ordinary water. Either case, don't buy the car. /End Quote I did not think this would be much of an issue and thought it would be ok if I use coolant, guess I am an idiot too.

Soory about the silence during the last 2 days. Had a bit of a trouble with the car. Well matroska, that is exactly what I did last thursday, I went to Kandy. (With my mother, not the mother-in-law ) Unfortunately, on my way back I had to face the problems! While coming back, at Galigamuwa, at 8pm, the car started over heating. The plastic tank in the radiator was blown. Luckily I had stopped in front of a service station which was known to a cousin of mine. I left the car there and came back the next day, and took it to a local radiator repairman. His suggestion was to replace the radiator and did some patching up with a metal glue to help me get back to colombo. While coming back, at Yakkala, the car again started over heating, to find the patch work was also blown. Luckily this time also I had stopped near a garage. (coincidence or did the pilgrimage pay off? ) With the help of the owner of the place, I got the radiator to a local place, got the radiator cleaned and replaced the plastic tank. Apparently some one had tampered with the tank and had damaged it perviously, and it was damaged at that point. After replacing it, the car worked fine, no heating issues, radiator fan was working. So I left the garage and thought my problems were over. On the way I had to stop and till then the heat kept below the mid point. But when I stated driving again, the heat started to climb and I just managed to get home before it went too high. Then I found that the radiator was empty, and there were no signs of leakage from the radiator. So my guess is there is could be a problem with the radiator cap which is the cause for the reduction of water, and the resultant over heating may have caused the tank to blow initially. At the last instance when I stopped the high pressure could have caused the water to leak through the radiator cap as the water is not circulating. Any way I am planning to take it to a mechanic on saturday. (I had to leave the car and come back to work today. ) All in all my first experience with the car was not a very happy one, but still, the driving experience was great except for the heating issue. I would really appreciate any suggestions of you guys to help me fix this problem. Sorry about the really long post, guess I needed to release my stress.

Thanks a lot for the prompt and detailed reply Rumesh88. The car is a well maintained one with maintenance records. Previous service was done about 1000km back next is due after another 4000km. It is a manual by the way. A civic EK3 ferio vi with 3 stage vtec to be exact.

Hello guys, this is my first post in AL! First of all, I must thank everyone here at AL for sharing so much of valuable content. Specially to 'Saturn' whose guide was a great help for me to buy my first vehicle, which I bought today. So, my question is, what should I do first after buying a used vehicle? (Other than getting the transfer registered at the RMV) PS: I'm sorry if this is a repost, I serached AL but couldn't find what I was looking for. Thanks in advance. Pubudu