94 Civic: low power in 1st

Just a recap of the various things to check in case of low power in 1st
gear (I'm asking; please correct me if necessary):

Run a couple bottles of injector cleaner through? Check plugs/wires,
replace at least plugs and maybe replace wires too--regardless of
apparent condition? PCV valve? Distributor cap? Rotor head assy.? Check
valve adjustment?

What are the gotchas with checking for good spark, BTW? I don't want to
blow my coil or igniter as I saw reported here a while back, but I don't
recall what was done that caused them to blow. Starting the engine with
a wire disconnected, maybe? How to correctly check spark?

Also, throttle seems a bit sticky. What am I looking for, and how best
to clean it up? I'd prefer not to use gasoline. Is it necessary to
replace the O-rings when cleaning the throttle body, or can the existing
ones be expected to be in reasonably good condition?

I'm still playing catchup on this car after the previous owner tossed
the repair history...

 

I have exactly the same problem. Here's what I've done in the last
week:

New:
-OEM plug wires
-OEM NGK plugs
-OEM rad cap (solved my boil-over problem), new non-phosphate,
non-silicate coolant
-auxiliary fan thermo switch
-O2 sensor
-Air filter

This weekend I plan to check the timing, dist cover and rotor, although
if there's no obvious physical damage or electrode corrosion I'll
probably leave it as I'm already way over budget on car parts this
month ;-)

More than a few posters have told me unless you're absolutely sure you
have Honda OEM plugs and wires, it is best to replace them as even the
most expensive ones at Autozone, et al, are complete dung.

Post back if you find anything out about your throttle stickyness, mine
has the same problem and I'll be damned if I know how to remedy the
situation. I hoped doing the above would help, but I've not noticed a
HUGE improvement, just a little. Mileage is better, however, from 16-17
in town to over 20. Still some room for improvement there I know.

 

I found the throttle body diagram in my Helm manual, and I'm pretty sure
I've heard here that you dissassemble it and clean it with gunk-remover,
but I'd like to know what's better than plain old gasoline, which I'd
prefer not to use (would vinyl gloves protect, or dissolve, BTW?).
Apparently a clogged PCV valve can lead to sludge reaching he throttle
body: http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/pcv-replace/index.html .

Shoot, I had though from your last post that it was essentially fixed. I
won't get to this for 2-3 weeks, when I have a break. Luckily I'll be
near Majestic--just priced wires etc. at the local dealer while getting
inspected, and MAN are they expensive. List on eerything, it seems.
Guess that's one good way they make their $$. $95/hour just doesn't do
it here in NYC. We're talking $27 for a distributor cap ($17 at
Majestic), $21 for a rotor (vs. $13), $75 for wires (vs. $48), and a
whopping $21 for plugs (vs. $9). I picked up the (also expensive) Honda
MTF and collant premix I needed, and moved on...

 

Now you've got me thinking about this throttle business...

What about ordinary carb cleaner? It's a good solvent and dries with no
residue, so I'd think it'd work well. A buddy of mine swears by these
blue (sometimes purple) disposable gloves, they're not latex or vinyl,
but nitrile. Resistant to oil, solvents, etc. They're commonly sold
through medical suppliers, but you might be able to find them in other
places.

Here's a link to an online supplier:
http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_index.asp?cls=7615&par=7505,7506,7592&cat=1&referred_id=100

I paid $62 for wires at my local dealer (Southern Indiana)...
$13 for the rad cap and $17 for the PCV valve.

I thought about Majestic, but I ordered a wire harness for my rear
taillight from them and they charged me a $5 "handling fee" inaddition
to $6 for shipping (which is a little more than I expected), all on a
tiny $10 part!!! "Handling fee"?? WTF?!!

I bought coolant at the regular parts store however... may come back to
bite me, but I just changed the H2O pump when I did the timing belt
last fall, so surely with the non-phosphate,non-silicate stuff I will
be alright. I read so many posts on that topic my head was spinning
afterwards... I DID buy distilled water though instead of just using
tap water.

 

prestone orange? silver gallon jug? should be alright. ive used that in
all sorts of japanese engines with aluminum blocks/heads and never had
one problem. and when it gets changed, it looks about as clean as day1.

definately. if you use tap water and its hard, youre just introducing
lime and scale into the system. the water around here is definately hard.

 

Good idea. <smacking forehead> Man gets rid of rusted-out GM carbuereted
monster with sticky choke, throws out his carb cleaner and forgets his
roots! Phooey!
I'll think about nitrile gloves when I reach the end of this box,
probably sometime in the next century... ;-))

I don't mind that fee, and they do note it up front. Their prices are so
low and they've been so helpful and pleasant whenever I've spoken with
them, and get things out fast, that $5 is no biggie, especially when
it's the same $5 whether you order the single $10 part or 10 items, one
of which was a monster exhaust Pipe B that has to be ordered from a
warehouse. That takes time. On a $10 part the s/h winds up being a hefty
percentage of the total, but that's the price you pay for the
convenience of not having to shlep to the dealer. We're so used to free
shipping on tech stuff we forget that handling fees are quite ordinary
in other markets--somebody has to process the order, after all.

As for the shipping, they use FedEx, which is a bit more costly than
some other options. Remember, though, that it's a lot easier to ship
with one carrier. Also, I've almost always been extremely impressed with
FedEx service and professionalism. Slightly more costly therefore
doesn't bother me.

Upshot of this long ramble is that I'd much rather pay a little extra
for excellent service than not pay and wind up with the wrong part,
shitty return policy, late delivery, etc.

BTW, I was poking around the RI dealer in Middletown/Newport, Saccucci
or somesuch, link on Tegger's site, and their prices are marginally
cheaper. Didn't notice whether they have a handling fee.

I'm gonna be up near Majestic in a week or two, and plan to pop in and
see the place to get my wires/plugs/etc., and return a caliper core so's
I can get my core deposit back.

Yeah, definitely distilled.

 

Maybe fromyour friendly doc or other medical office?

 

yeah, Prestone orange.

BTW, I found an easy way to flush the engine while changing the thermo
fan switch.. (this is on a 90 civic ex sedan, so probably not for
models where this switch is on the thermostat housing or at the bottom
of the rad) I had already drained the coolant (or /thought/ I had) and
was in the process of removing the copper thermo switch. After it was
loose enough to remove with my hand, I unscrewed it and promptly got a
face-full of remaining coolant - at least 2 cups. It /does/ taste very
sweet, as I found out before spitting out what got in my mouth. 2 cups
is quite a bit if you're expecting the system to be completely empty,
so I ended up leaving the switch out while I flushed... replaced it and
then filled.

I know there's supposed to be an engine block coolant drain plug, but I
couldn't find it and I had already removed as much skin from my
knuckles as I wanted in changing the thermostat, PCV, etc.

 

Carb cleaner is my personal shop savior... always buy a can when I'm at
the store because both of my vehicles are 15+ years old. I like to
blast off excess oil/dirt on the area I'm working and also clean my
sockets and wrenches afterwards. Good for many uses.

As for Majestic, good customer service is really hard to find these
days, so I guess $5/order isn't that bad. If I had read carefully (I
thought the $5 was a blanket shipping fee) I would have bought more
stuff from them I needed anyway to make it more of a value. Heck, my
local dealer is at least 25% more expensive and I usually takes me a
1/2 hr to drive there, then wait in line, order parts, drive home, not
to mention I have to go back 3 days later and wait in line again to
pick the stuff up. What a hassle.

It was well-packaged, exactly what I ordered, and I got it in about 5
days so I really can't complain too much. Now my rear taillight isn't
intermittant anymore so that's worth at least $20 to me. Johnny Law
will be satisfied...

 

forgot to mention...

speaking of customer service, I ordered an AMD CPU several weeks ago
from a company I found on Pricewatch.com. Was $40 cheaper than
Newegg.com, so I thought what the hell. Well, the CPU they sent me
(OEM) had 8 bent pins. Sent it back (at my expense, grrrrrr, they
didn't want to even take it back, said it was my fault). Finally got
back what I thought was a brand new CPU 1 month later, but had the same
serial. They fed me some BS about sending it back to the manufacturer,
but AMD emphatically states that ANY physical damage voids warranty and
is not covered. I think they just bent the pins back with pliers and
hoped I wouldn't notice. I called back REALLY pissed and told them I
wanted a new cpu and for them to pay for shipping on the return. They
refused and I hung up, then called my credit card company and now I'm
in the process of disputing the transaction. They gave me provisional
credit and I had excellent documentation, so I'm hoping for the best.
What I'll really enjoy is the merchant calling me back to arrage for
them to pay return shipping on this piece of crap CPU. Last laugh...

Ewiz.com - run, don't walk from this merchant. Completely shady in all
aspects.

Shitty customer service is DEFINITELY not a bargain at any discount.

 

Unh-hunh. Newegg is one of my top merchants, along with
Pagecomputers.com. Never a bad experience in the first place. I was once
screwed by a company on a nice heavy Antec tower case, and have been
pretty picky ever since. Wound up disputing that with my CC compny, too,
and actually got my $$ back from the CC company.

My recommendation is to ALWAYS check merchant reviews at
pricegrabber.com, and be discriminating--one often has to filter the
wheat from the chaff in those merchant reviews.