Talk me out... or in? Honda Civic

Coworker is selling a 91 Civic.

CL Linky

From the ad:

1991 honda civic Dx Hatchback strong running 1.5L engine with a 4 speed manual trans leather interior power nothing only missing carpet (was old and torn up) Drivers seat is torn pass and back seats are in great condition HID lights Brand new Struts and coilovers all around new Front tires new thermostat 2.5in full exhaust system replaced engine with 110k on it

only problems are. 1. clutch could be replaced i have a new clutch that will go with the car still plenty of get up and go with the current clutch 2. and the more important problem has something to do with the electrical it currently turns on and runs and drives but if you stall it, it seems to go into a security mode and will not turn back on not sure what the problem is nor the knowledge to fix it.

(Comes with OEM wheels) I'm figuring that between the ubiquitous nature of these cars and the GRM brain trust, I could sort out whatever was wrong fairly painlessly, wanted to get some more qualified opinions though.
I test drove it a few weeks ago, everything seemed to be in order, though the 'coilovers' are very entry level.

From what he's been telling me, he's getting really sick of dealing with the CL crowd,he already told me that he only listed it at $1200 in hopes that "some retard wants to pay the full price"
Question then becomes, how much should this retard be willing to offer.
That's where y'all come in.

I'll betcha $5 that the no start after stall issue is a bad main relay.

Rustfree civic hatch clouds my judgement, that's big money out here.

I don't need another car, though this would be a nice vehicular alternative to the 'fun yet not very practical' miata and the 'fun yet differently not very practical' Nova...

He said he laughed at an offer of $450, so I'd guess he could be bought somewhere between 600 and 900.

I'm running on the assumption that I could get back what, $100 or $200 for either the OEM wheels or the ones on it now.
(Like I don't have enough sets of 4x100 wheels cluttering my garage already)

do it!!!

Buy it, if for nothing than to flip it for a profit after you spend 10 minutes fixing the main relay with a soldering iron, and 3 berkeleying hours getting the stupid thing out.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Rustfree civic hatch clouds my judgement, that's big money out here.

this

That would fetch nearly double up here. Clean EF's barely exist anymore.

Gees. Buy the thing. Clean it and fix the small problem and put it on Ebay and pocket the $3000 it brings.

That is a unicorn anywhere there's salt. Buy it, slap collector plates on it, and ship it north. Double your cash.

Short of my coworker turning around and selling it out from under me, she's mine for $800.
I'll tell y'all the story of how I got screwed tomorrow after I get myself to the bank
:P

Nah, he's a good dude, and I'm about to (sorta) be his boss for the next three months, I'm not worried.

Thanks for enabling me y'all!

once you get it … crawl under the dash and pull the main relay (or I've heard it called the fuel pump relay) and open it up, and re-flow all the solder joints you see

it doesn't take much heat … a dab of solder paste/flux and then as soon as the solder bubbles, lift the iron … do it to each and every one you see … the re-start problem "should" go away

Just got her home, it's been interesting so far.

As of now, with no key in the ignition, a number of the dash lights are... lit.
If I put the car in first and put forward pressure on the shifter, some of the lights turn off.

There's also a blinking red light in the passenger footwell.

AND, the hood release cable is a little snapped, and I've yet to spend enough time with my arm stuck through the grille to find the lever.
(to disconnect the battery, natch)

Starting to think that I've gotten more than I expected.

The obvious (though not at the time) answer was that the headlights were in the ON position, just there wasn't enough juice to get them going.
Hence, dash was trying to light up.

That being said, when I push on the brake (without key in the ignition, everything off) the same dash lights come on.
Huh.

Gremlins! Blinking red light in the foot well is the ECU pronouncing it's codes at you. Dash lights with brakes strikes me as bad grounds someplace.

ValuePack wrote: Gremlins! Blinking red light in the foot well is the ECU pronouncing it's codes at you. Dash lights with brakes strikes me as bad grounds someplace.

I've never heard of a Honda ecu blinking its codes.

Does the car have some sort of wacky alarm setup?

gamby wrote:

ValuePack wrote: Gremlins! Blinking red light in the foot well is the ECU pronouncing it's codes at you. Dash lights with brakes strikes me as bad grounds someplace.

I've never heard of a Honda ecu blinking its codes. Does the car have some sort of wacky alarm setup?

Red light on the EF ECUs. Shouldn't be doing it actively, unless someone left a jumper in, I don't think.

Gamby: Not that I'm aware of.
Internet search tells me that the footwell light is a real thing, the code it's showing is an 'electrical overload'
Not terribly surprising, based on everything else going on.

Yanked the main relay, opened it up, not seeing anything that jumps out as a glaring issue.
A few of them more closely resemble poles to cones (so to speak)?
That being said, I've soldered things precisely never, so a grain of salt should be in order.
I'm sorry for the camera phone quality, but would be much obliged if y'all would weigh in.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/SnowMongoose/IMG_20131209_224628_zps8c03f178.jpg

I've found what seems to be a comprehensive guide to this here so feel like I'm not entirely adrift

I've never experienced "stalling" as a symptom of a main relay. The fuel pump either works or it doesn't. Also, I've never owned a Honda that DIDN'T flash codes on the ECU. Pretty sure all obd0 cars do.

the thing about the solder joints is that you usually can't tell a cracked/cold solder joint by looking at it … under a 30x scope … sometimes

get a pencil type soldering iron, some SN63 solder (it's a good all around solder), some solder paste, or flux

brush a little paste, or a drop of flux on each joint ….

tin the iron (which means … clean it with a damp sponge, then melt solder on each side of the tip) then touch the tip to each of the joints

when the joint goes "liquid" lift the tip off and go to the next joint … done

oh … and you don't need to de-solder any of the joints .. just re-flow each one

try not to leave the iron on any of the joints for overly long time … this where using flux or paste AND tinning the tip before each use (that's each joint … swipe it on the damp sponge … each side… and put a small amount of solder on each side of the tip)

GET IT!!!

ValuePack wrote:

gamby wrote:

ValuePack wrote: Gremlins! Blinking red light in the foot well is the ECU pronouncing it's codes at you. Dash lights with brakes strikes me as bad grounds someplace.

I've never heard of a Honda ecu blinking its codes. Does the car have some sort of wacky alarm setup?

Red light on the EF ECUs. Shouldn't be doing it actively, unless someone left a jumper in, I don't think.

I'll be damned. I guess it's an EF thing and I'm more (vaguely) familiar with EG/EK, and those ECUs don't have lights on them.

Hmmm.. Back in the day these cars used to occasionally need a igniter or worst case a distributor assembly. Main relay was more of an Accord thing.

In reply to noddaz:

Main relay is a Honda thing, and it most definitely applies to these cars.

There is plenty in the distributor that likes to go wrong. If the main relay checks out, the distributor is the second thing to check.

Buy that hatch!!!! You won't regret it....