just bought a 91 Civic Wagon with AWD

[johnner1999]

I hope this is the correct forum :-) if not sorry


Just bought my 1st Honda its a 1991 Civic Wagon RT4WD monster with the 1+5 tranmission. She has 224,000 miles (I know its alot but I hope it will serve me well) its at my favorite mechanic as I type.

it needs fronts brakes and some exhust work I assume as it has a heat sheild rattle at take off and around 2400-2900 rpm's.

and I assume rear diff bushings when taking off hard or during a poor upshift you can hear some slack in the back. My old quattro had the same sound and feel?

it smokes a little at take off -- if the spark plug seals leaked would it cause smoking or is a sure sign of ring work?


please let me know if you have any suggestions or other things you may want to add....



I bought the car mostly to help me reduce mileage from my other car (100 miles a day round trip) and for comuting all the time in the winter.


It seems to have a 1.6L engine from I have read so far (same as the CRX Si??) it seems really peppy and revs strong (on that note he will be chaning the timing belt as well) and seems to get good gas milage (about 220 miles a tank, is that good or bad?)

Thanks again

John

I'll post some photo's soon if any one wants to see?

[ci5ic]

sounds good, would love to see a picture of it... Can't think of anyone else on the forum that has a wagon.

Here's some pics of one that's all done up... a bit ricey, but it's nice to see someone working on a car that's usually left stock... It's for sale:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2425432908

Welcome to the forum!

[johnner1999]

wow that was quick!

yeah I saw that on ebay last night. mine is good ol'stock :-) you know that 1990 Honda red :-)

any info on this tranny and motor?? what should I be on the look out for?


thanks again for your help!

here is a photo of it from ebay... when I pick it back up this week-end I'll post some more. it has a view rust spots but not to shabby.

[optimuscivic]

nice wagon, looks very clean, as for the engine, i think it might be cool to have a d16z6 in wagon, and btw awd rocks hard!

[90civicracer]

If it is the Si engine then its the d16a6 which puts out 108hp from the factory. I have one in my '90 Civic EX and they are pretty quick little engines. For a SOHC non-vtec engine they are hellagood, i love mine and am gonna enjoy having it until i have enough $$$ saved up for a good swap.

[ci5ic]

Originally posted by johnner1999
wow that was quick!

yeah I saw that on ebay last night. mine is good ol'stock :-) you know that 1990 Honda red :-)

any info on this tranny and motor?? what should I be on the look out for?

Looks very nice! Very clean.

Yeah, it's probably the D16a6 engine. You can find out for sure by finding the stamp on the block... Once you pop your hood, right next to the exhaust manifold, on the front side of the block, to the left of the manifold (and about halfway down the block), there is a flat spot that should have the engine code stamped into it. Might be covered by grease and road grit, so it might not jump right out at you...

Things to look out for are:

Rust... All of our cars are 12+ years old, so it's bound to be a problem sooner or later. Most common place to find rust spots is on the rear wheel arches.

Also, the main relay in these cars tend to go out sooner or later, and will result in you having problems starting the car after it's already been run for a while (warm start).

Seatbelts: As in all cars, they tend to have problems retracting after a while (usually in the manual belts). I can't tell from the picture you posted, but it doesn't look like you have automatic belts... Anyways, the seat-belts are covered under a lifetime warranty because of the saftey issues involved. So, if anything goes wrong with them, you should be able to bring your car to the dealership, and they will repair/replace them at no charge.

I'm not familiar with the AWD drive train in those, so I can't tell you what to watch out for there...

Other than that, it's probably just the usual stuff you need to watch for. These engines are great high-mileage performers.

Hope that helps.

Also, what are your plans for the car? Are you planning to modify it at all (engine swap, exhaust/intake upgrade, suspension upgrade, looks/performance, etc. etc.)

[johnner1999]

thanks again to all that replied thus far!!!! I already feel welcome to the Honda family


so far no plans for moding the little civic -- I want to see how much it is going to cost me for the timing belt and front brakes. Might need a new exhust - it seems that some installed an exhust for a 2wd civic wagon (the AWD ones had a dual outlet design) and it is rattleing alot - sounds like the car is going to blow up when at the 2300-3000 rpm range....

also need to figure out how to adjust the wagon hatch as it rattles when going over bumps :-(


hopfully I'll have my new/used civic back for the week-end.

[johnb16a2]

originally quoted by johnner1999:

I bought the car mostly to help me reduce mileage from my other car (100 miles a day round trip) and for comuting all the time in the winter.

Yeah, that's why I got into my 4th gen (and it's a cool little car to boot!). So far it's been a money pit but the end result should be good (I'll post some pics sometime). On the brighter side I found AF and some really great people. Welcome to the forum!

[91EF3ZC]

Originally posted by johnner1999
wow that was quick!

yeah I saw that on ebay last night. mine is good ol'stock :-) you know that 1990 Honda red :-)

any info on this tranny and motor?? what should I be on the look out for?


thanks again for your help!

here is a photo of it from ebay... when I pick it back up this week-end I'll post some more. it has a view rust spots but not to shabby.

I love the Wagon 4WD, I want the red one with the white wheels just like yours. good luck with it! We just bought a CR-V, kind of the same concept, but I love the 91.

[johnner1999]

johnb16a2 quote:
Yeah, that's why I got into my 4th gen (and it's a cool little car to boot!). So far it's been a money pit but the end result should be good (I'll post some pics sometime). On the brighter side I found AF and some really great people. Welcome to the forum!

how did it turn into a money pit? what model civic (auto or stick)??


oh and yes it has those awful motorized seat belts :-) so Honda covers those for life even if I'm the 3rd owner, they work for now (knock on wood)

is there any common reason for the d16a6 motor to puff a little, it does have good power (I'm use to a 3.0 V6) for the size in fact very fun to rev!

[johnb16a2]

I've got a 89 Si 5 speed with the d16a6 motor.

Not to say my experiances have been typical, but the car I bought was not well maintained (in my opinion) and there were almost no records of when things were done. I've spent about $1400.00 on parts (mostly maintainance parts, and almost all the front and rear suspension replaceable parts (Check those ball joints)) and have done most of the labor myself (with tons of help from my Dad). The 89 also needs a paint job so add about another $1000.00 (gonna keep it white) for that.

Don't get me wrong, the car was in good running condition when I got it but there were issues I knew I had to take care of and I accepted them and wanted to fix them. I like turning wrenches and I think my little 89 is well worth it.

Mine smokes a little as well, probably the valve guide seals (quick fix is to get one of those oil additives that will swell the seals and make them work better).

[ci5ic]

Originally posted by johnner1999

also need to figure out how to adjust the wagon hatch as it rattles when going over bumps :-(

If you pop the hatch on it, there should be some little black round rubber stoppers (on the hatch). If you twist the stoppers counterclockwise, they sort-of unscrew, and push themselves out further (you'll see what I mean), and will help hold the hatch tighter in place. give that a shot... You could also wrap a little electrical tape around the hatch latch, but I don't really think that does a whole lot... Couldn't hurt though.

Oh, and those little black stoppers are also located on your hood, and all 4 of the other doors.

[origamiguru]

Welcome!

As ci5ic (Mike) has mentioned, the main relay will probably go, I just replaced mine last week. they're fairly inexpensive for a one-time fix.

Things I've done as maintenance on my civic, and I believe many of us have also done are: Axles (CV joints), timing belt, fixed up the common rust spots near the wheel wells, exhaust, ball joints, wheel bearings.

I've got an '89 DX hatch, so obviously we won't have identical problems, but the few glitches our cars have seem to befall all civics. thankfully none of them are much more than small annoyances (like the main relay).

-Adam.

[BLU CIVIC]

WELCOME

can i have ur wagon....i wanna make my hatch awd

[mellowboy]

Why do they look so different from the other 4th gen civics??