'90 Civic Driver's Side Lock

Hi Everyone,

I just bought a 1990 Honda Civic DX 2 door hatchback and have a question about the drivers side door lock. It seems that I'm unable to lock the door from the inside, I can only lock it by using the key on the outside. It this a normal thing with Civics so people don't forget their keys in the car?

Thanks a bunch
Joey.

If you are trying to lock the door with the door open, yes it is normal.
when the door is closed it will lock, no problem.
what you do is hold the inside door handle open and push the lock closed at the same time. then you can lock it with out the key when you leave the car.
Honda did that so people wouldn't lock their keys in the car.
let me know if i explained that good for you.


Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the speedy reply.

I'll give it a shot a little later on. I'm just glad that its a "feature" and not a broken door lock :)

Have a great weekend,
Joey

Originally posted by joeyo
Hi Mike,

Thanks for the speedy reply.

I'll give it a shot a little later on. I'm just glad that its a "feature" and not a broken door lock :)

Have a great weekend,
Joey
Thank you , you too!

Hi Mike,

I was wondering if you knew what could cause my next issue :)

When I start the car the running lights come on and when I turn on the low beams nothing happens but the high beams work. As well, the dash lights do not come on. I thought it was a burnt fuse but I replaced them this morning. I also replaced the headlights just to be sure and still no dice.

I'm all out of ideas and the headlights have to work in order for me to get the car safetied/certified here in Ontario.

I'm not sure where you're from but would you have any recommendations on where to take it in? Should I take it to a honda dealership or maybe canadian tire or some local garage?

Thanks again,
Joey

Originally posted by joeyo
Hi Mike,

I was wondering if you knew what could cause my next issue :)

When I start the car the running lights come on and when I turn on the low beams nothing happens but the high beams work. As well, the dash lights do not come on. I thought it was a burnt fuse but I replaced them this morning. I also replaced the headlights just to be sure and still no dice.

I'm all out of ideas and the headlights have to work in order for me to get the car safetied/certified here in Ontario.

I'm not sure where you're from but would you have any recommendations on where to take it in? Should I take it to a honda dealership or maybe canadian tire or some local garage?

Thanks again,
Joey

Yea! another Fellow Canadian! where abouts in Ontario u from? i'm from the Hamilton Area.
about the dash lights, i duno what the 90 - 91 interiors look like but on my 89 theres a little round dial typa thing on the left side of the steering wheel under ur cluster, turn that and all ur gauge lights should come on, thats the dimmer switch. about the headlights, if u turn them on normally they should look the same as the running lights except now ur back lights will be on. nothing changes i think.
and yea the door handle had me confused the first 3 weeks i had the car lol i kept using the key in the door to lock it but i figured it out now :D but i hope i helped with the lighting prob..

Hi

I'm in Mississauga close to the Oakville/Mississauga border. I actually bought the car in Burlington though (private sale)

I tried the little knob/wheel earlier and it didn't help. I just went outside (ugh freezing rain) and tried your suggestions with no luck.

When I start the car the running lights come on and the back lights light up as well. When I switch to low beams nothing changes and if I put the high beams on they work fine.

Know any decent garages around here (even in hamilton, I don't care)?

Thanks
Joey

this isnt mike hehe, my names Derek, its aight tho, ur new here

i'm thinking maybe u have a bad connection somewhere then, did you have the cover off ur gauge cluster at one point? maybe the conection came off that knob and thats why, or a wire broke or something, thats all I can come up with,

sorry i dont know any Garages that would do the safety, all i can think of is Canadian tire..

so this whole time i thought that my lock was broken, how nifty. Now I have a question about the locks in my car, i have that little button so i can lock or unlock all the doors at once right, well when i bought it, that didnt work no big deal, and about a month later, they worked again weird, but the next day it stoped working. So is there something lose inside of the door. Thanks

Sorry about that, I was talking to Mike originally :)

I have no idea what a gauge cluster is so hopefully I didn't take the cover off.

The guy I bought it from said he put in a new stereo system about 2 months ago and that he has blown the fuse for the interior dash lights twice since then and that he thinks there might be a lose wire or something.

The canadian tire I went to today said that I would have to come back on monday if I wanted them to fix it and run the saftey on the car because they need time for the electrical problem.

I called another canadian tire store and this other guy thinks its a "daytime running light module" that can only be fixed at the dealership.

I checked the fuses earlier and replaced all the relevant ones just to be safe. I guess I just have to wait until monday.


At least one of the fuses I changed fixed the rear defroster :)

Thanks again.
Joey

Yea, i thought my locks were borken the whole time too..........

Hey dudes,

About my 2 issues above, I had a buddy of mine come and take a look at the car and I'm definetely feeling a lot better about the purchase.

The headlights are definetely working, they just aren't very bright. Basically we had the engine off and turned the lights on and they came on so that means that they are working.

As for the dash lights, something is shorting out the fuse. I believe the culprit is infact the radio because the radio keeps losing it's presets and he thinks its because its not wired to the battery but to the fuse box somewhere. Anyhow, as soon as I turn on the headlights the fuse for the dash lights blows so something is overloading it, probably the radio.

I'm going to leave it for now and one day when it gets warmer out he's going to come by and we are going to rip the radio out and see whats up.

Does this make sense?

Thanks guys,

Joey.

Originally posted by joeyo
Hey dudes,

About my 2 issues above, I had a buddy of mine come and take a look at the car and I'm definetely feeling a lot better about the purchase.

The headlights are definetely working, they just aren't very bright. Basically we had the engine off and turned the lights on and they came on so that means that they are working.

As for the dash lights, something is shorting out the fuse. I believe the culprit is infact the radio because the radio keeps losing it's presets and he thinks its because its not wired to the battery but to the fuse box somewhere. Anyhow, as soon as I turn on the headlights the fuse for the dash lights blows so something is overloading it, probably the radio.

I'm going to leave it for now and one day when it gets warmer out he's going to come by and we are going to rip the radio out and see whats up.

Does this make sense?

Thanks guys,

Joey.
Hey Joey, Mike again. Glad your headlight problem is solved.
Lets tackle that problem on the inside. What you need to do is pull the radio out and check to see that the wire that conrolls the lighting is not shorted. It will be a red wire with a black stripe. that is illumination.
That wire should not touch ground or be connected the radio for powering it up.
Good luck, let me know how you make out.

Mike

man, when i got my first hatch i locked the doors from the outside for 3 MONTHS....then i realized the stupid handle trick, in my new nissan you cannot lock the drivers side door from the inside