QuestionI have a 1989 Honda Civic DX. It has almost 200,000km, (120k Mi). I bought the car with some blowby knowingly, knowing it was some bad rings. During one trip on the highway doing 100kp/h (60mp/h) for aprox 30 kms, something happened.
I have a hard time maintaining 60kph on the highway and 25 on a hill. (both of these with the gas pedal to the floor).
over the past few days, i tore the bottom half of the block apart and replaced the piston rings and head gasket. during this process, the head had to come off and that meant the timing belt as well.
I reset piston 1 (the piston on the driver's side) to TDC and aligned the crank pully markings with the head and the word top, on top :) ). Did a crankcase flush to get any contaminates out, refilled the radiator fluid.
the car started fine with a little coaxing and had a little bit of a rough idle that occasionally threatened to stall. On the following cold startup attempts on later days, no problem. Took it back out on the road today, and found I still have the same problems. I have almost no acceleration beyond 5kp/h and from an idle, when starting off, the engine hesitates, almost bogs down, then picks up again.
Also, can timing be adjusted on this vehicle like you would do on a domestic by rotating the distributor?
air filter is clean with no visible obstructions, a new clutch was installed in the past 8 or so months, new battery today, alternator within the past year, with a few other minor repairs as well.
details again:
1989 honda civix DX
1.5L engine
5spd manual
3 door hatchback
roughly 120000 miles.
AnswerChris:
Yes you can adjust the timing by rotating the distributor. You may be a couple of degrees off, but I would not think you are too far off by the way you did the work. Check the fuel filter and fuel pump for pressure or you may have a plugged catalytic converter causing your problem.
Good luck.
Bill
