Calling all Honda owners!

[Osiris19]

I went to see a really nice 1992 Honda Civic EX today this thing was clean. Only 2 cracks in the body and they were relatively small. Anyways, onto the point.

The only problem with the car was that the speedometer didn't work. I searched around google for a bit and came up with a couple theories. I found something that said it may be the Vehicle Speed Sensor attached to the throttle body that may be wearing from longevity. My dad said it might also be the cables, but the guy who has it said he changed the speedometer twice so it can't be the cables. I was thinking of maybe after I buy it rip the VSS off of a civic in a junk yard and throw it in there.

Any ideas?

[jimmythekid1]

well that car has no speedo cables so you can eliminate that. the Vehicle speed sensor is on the transmission not the throttle body. But since the owner has thrown a couple of those at it I would say it has a wiring problem or a bad cluster.

I would drive it is you have not, if the VSS is not working this car is not going to shift right if it is a automatic.

[Osiris19]

It is automatic and from the way it felt, i only got up to 25 MPH. It was shifting perfectly and downshifting well. it seemed like it ran fine. i was doing research and said that all it should need is another early 90`s civic VSS and it should be fine.

[Osiris19]

I bought the car yesterday, and we brought it home. My mom noticed some white smoke coming from the exhaust. I can't tell how bad it is because I've never seen this on any of my parents or my brother's car. I have a video that I took this morning to show. I really hope it's not the head gasket. I can't afford the repairs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG_e5zSFUnc

[winner]

what was the temp outside? if it was cold you mite need to give the engine time to warm up, some cars take longer then others

[xmod noob]

it could be the head gasket gone.

how cold was it when you started the car as it could be condensation in the exhaust from just been started.

does it go away after you`ve driven the car for a few miles.

[Bananabrain]

Ok, first off what in the world is that rattling sound coming from the car? Also the white smoke usually comes from cold temperatures, my truck does it for about 10mins then it goes aways after the motor has warmed up.

[FinalGear]

As long as the car pass emission and I would try the seafoam trick

DIY: '99 Accord Seafoam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za-b4wufsvg

[texan_idiot25]

Does the smoke smell "sweet"?

Does your coolant or oil look like a milk shake?

Hondas do blow headgaskets if over heated. But, given that you're in PA and it's getting cold, a bit of condensation out of the pipes is normal, regardless of running temps. The truck is like a rolling smoke machine in the winter.

[Osiris19]

No. It was hot out yesterday. It actually smells like oil according to my dad and I agree with him. I have no clue what the rattling is but my mom's van does that to. After it idles, it stops doing it until I hit the gas and then as I'm accelerating it'll stop rattling again. I've only driven the car like less than a mile since yesterday so I don't know about it yet. My car's temperature is below the middle line, so it shouldn't be a problem, and when my dad drove it home yesterday, he said the gauge never got so high. Also, I pulled my dipstick this morning and it's the color it should be. It's not milky.

[Songha]

This happened to me when my 3000gt was leaking oil and coolant. My coolant was cause of a lose bolt. The oil was from the cap, my o-ring was bad.

I'm pretty sure these aren't your problems but I'd check the most simple things that you wouldn't check first.

[Osiris19]

Yeah. My dad said something about the rings inside the engine but I don't want to dismantle the engine and I don't have the cash to take it to a service place. I'll just wait it out till something worse happens. The speedometer works fine now, replaced the VSS. The old VSS had a broken contact which was causing the malfunction. I'm gonna try and do a sea foam treatment.

[jimmythekid1]

looks pretty normal to me, its a older car so a little smoke is expected on a cold start. As far as the noise goes sounds like maybe the exhaust is rattling. Could be a heat shield or something internal in the muffler has come unweld.

[Osiris19]

Thanks for that. I was worried as it's my first car and my dad was a little leery about it. I think it's nothing to worry about right now. I still wanna see if the sea foam will help a little.

[eg8hardcore]

OP, I'd say monitor it closely and see what happens. It could just be the cold, although white smoke is 9 times out of 10 a blown head gasket when dealing with an EG civic.

Feel free to pm me any questions you have. I've been working on hondas for years and I myself actually drive a 92 civic. I'm a pretty big honda fan, hence my username eg8.

[Osiris19]

Well, it is starting to get cold here, especially at night like Texan said, and the car had been sitting for a while according to the previous owner.