ED 1990 Civic GL man; general tips & maintainence, car been sitting for last 6 yrs!

[Jaymz]

Hi Guys,

My girl and i have just got our hands on this car and it hasnt really had a good drive in 8 yrs. Its a 90 Civic man with 89K's on it.
It hasnt been touched in over 6 years due to the owners going away overseas and the car was stored thinking they would be back, but it never happened.

Its needs TLC and im reasonably handy with the spanners, will be checking most things on this car but just wanted to touch base here for any tips and tricks and possibly building a list of all the things that will need attention before getting this back on the road.

Im not after a race car for her, just a good safe reliable car. Im happy to replace/refurbish anything that needs it with better parts for any improved performance or reliability.

I'll start with the dropping whats in the tank, if anyone knows an easy way to drain out the old fuel please let me know.

Where's the fuel filter? that will need to go

Then i'll bleed all clutch/brake fluids.

Will get the car running with the oil thats in it and replace oil and filter and also air filter.

What about front CV's or boots? Any known problems here? My guess is these boots will need replacing also.

Thanks guys

[Dxs]

i would just syphon out the fuel. Like fill a hose with fuel, and keep one end closed with ur thumb or something, so the fuel stays in the hose. Put the hose in the tank, and the other end lower than the tank so the fuel gets sucked out. Then put in some high octane fuel just incase there is some dead fuel still in there.

When first starting i would prime the fuel heaps of times, so the fuel circulates through the system a bit first.


fuel filter will look like this.. similar, dif spot though
http://img398.imageshack.us/i/dsc01448ed4.jpg/

might be cable clutch so no fluid too..

might as well replace the oil and filter.. easiest job of them all

cv boots are just rubber surrounds.. unless they are cracked/split should be fine.. http://www.audiworld.com/tech/pics/misc27_bad_boot.jpg
thats an example of a split one.. lets the grease out

[trism]

imo, if it hasnt bween driven in that long you should do the following

-drain fuel, should be a drain plug, if not then siphon it out, top up with 98 octane
-change fuel filter
-change oil, oil filter, clean airfilter
-change sparkplugs, just the cheap copper plugs that are a few bucks each from repco/supercheap will do
-new battery
-check the CV boots, if split, replace, if not, dont worry
-bleed brake fluid,
-check tyres for flatspots, will most likely need to be replaced.


before you start it up, remove the plugs and turn it over for 30 seconds or so, this way any water/condesation in teh cylinders will splutter up out of the plug holes, it will coat surfaces with oil, as it would have well and truy drained away and it will prime the fuel.

put the plugs back in and start it up, it will blow some smoke/run rough to start with as the old fuel is pushed out and all the shit the has settled in the manifold/cylinders etc is pushed through.

[SHOGUNOVDDRK]

+1 trism

[jdm_b16a]

You can drain the fuel via the drain plug. All ED fuel tanks (all fuel tanks in fact) have a drain plug easily spotted at the back of the tank (to the left in this photo below). Undo the two straps that hold the tank up, about half way (there's a small nut that will unwind on each side on a long threaded bolt)

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s40/infotechplus/EFHonda/IMG_2228.jpg

and then undo the bolt (17mm if I remember correctly) and drain. Take the fuel filler cap off to allow venting.

You can see the fuel filter in this photo - its the white thingy. The fuel filter is attached to the back of the fuel tank. When you drop it down you will see it. There are a bunch of reddish/orange rubber pipes.

The filter shown above is an EFI fuel filter found on the firewall. Yours will be a small plastic one with a paper element inside [see photo below].

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s40/infotechplus/EFHonda/IMG_2218.jpg

Change all oils - gearbox, engine - before driving and put on a new oil filter.

Check power steering fluid, check brake fluid, check the paper element at the back (in front of the firewall) in the carby filter housing. It has three clips to undo plus a wingnut in the centre. Filter is oval shaped, pressed metal and paper.

Definitely check all the tyres for perishing/cracking.

Check the battery for charge - recharge if necessary.

Check the plugs - change if necessary (sooty, etc)

Other than that you should be good to go.

Peter

[Jaymz]

You can drain the fuel via the drain plug. All ED fuel tanks (all fuel tanks in fact) have a drain plug easily spotted at the back of the tank (to the left in this photo below). Undo the two straps that hold the tank up, about half way (there's a small nut that will unwind on each side on a long threaded bolt)

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s40/infotechplus/EFHonda/IMG_2228.jpg

and then undo the bolt (17mm if I remember correctly) and drain. Take the fuel filler cap off to allow venting.

You can see the fuel filter in this photo - its the white thingy. The fuel filter is attached to the back of the fuel tank. When you drop it down you will see it. There are a bunch of reddish/orange rubber pipes.

The filter shown above is an EFI fuel filter found on the firewall. Yours will be a small plastic one with a paper element inside [see photo below].

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s40/infotechplus/EFHonda/IMG_2218.jpg

Peter

Thanks Peter, thats a huge help.

Now i just have to find a good place to source some parts.
If there's somewhere on the net, please let me know.

Cheers,
Jamie