Sindrlla's Real Time Awd Wagon Journal Many Pics

Speaking of which, he and bowman, at last contact, still have the carb'd zc hatch forsale $600

It was always my car...everyone else just didn't know. haha anyway, happy to have another wagon lover around. Wagon power!



Red is my favorite color...do you have a problem with red?!? Trade ya.

I broke it and I have a speeding warning and a check engine light to prove it...not to mention when that light comes on it starts sounding and feeling sluggish and rough. I'm hoping since the car runs almost fine for the first min or two till the light comes on that its an easy fix?

Bad wagon owner. Bad.

I found that in a search and emailed them thru RPR and PM'd them months ago with no response.

nevermind....needed gas (i think i did this before too) anyway, it runs way better on cheap gas so f that good gas, i get 30 more miles plus another gallon on the cheap stuff.

your words "it runs and sounds like shit. sounds really familiar but i cant remember where i heard the sound before"

probably because you drove around with it sounding like this for 3 days one time in it's past life

you can get away with that on carb's but when fuel injection is out of gas, it's out of gas

yes, i do still laugh about that and this one makes it even funnier

you really need to keep an eye on that gas gauge

wait, so the cheap gas got you an extra 30 miles on the tank.... not to mention I put about 30 miles on the cheap tank which should put you at lower MPG than if you drove it, plus i had you talked into getting on it a few times when we took it to get inspected.... this is strange but im not surprised.

makes me wonder if the fuel smell went away?

1. it didn't want to start a few times either...think that might be battery...not sure

2.i took off that 30 miles, I did beat it a tiny bit on the 2nd tank...but not like your run from wilq's to thomasville i'm sure

3. i haven't looked into the fuel smell

the speedo cable is driving me nuts and the sirius is station static no matter what station i use so i can't really drown it out (not to mention the crap-ass speakers)

1. what do you mean by didnt want to start? do you mean it wouldnt turn over or it would turn over and just wouldnt fire up? was this just when you had the check engine light issue or has it happened after that? also, are you sure you didnt leave your Sirius unit on? remember that your cigarette lighter plug is designed to be powered at all times, not turn power off with the ignition. the battery thats in there now is the one i bought for the crx 5 years ago when i built it. i used it in the crx for about 3 years then after we got your wagon your battery died so i pulled the battery out of the crx and put it in your wagon so you could still drive it and i wouldnt have to buy another battery. it then sat dead for 2 years but took a decent charge and seemed strong and reliable to me after we finished the swap recently but really, it's a 5 year old wal-mart special ever start (best bang for the buck as far as im concerned) that has been put through hell and had the hole on the top repaired a few times and sat dead for 2 years so i wouldnt be surprised if it was dying off. dont go buy a new battery just yet.

2. i dont understand what you mean here. you cant just subtract 30 miles from the total mileage and get an accurate reading on MPG. maybe im just not fully understanding what you mean. to get an accurate fuel reading, you want to drive it as you normally would and record the mileage for a couple tanks of gas in a row then average them together. just checking one tank's reading will give you an idea of about what you get but you also want to check for consistency. i kid about how much of a beating i gave it that day but really, you saw the hardest running of it when i pulled out. the rest of the ride was really just my normal driving which is faster than most people but not severely abusive to the car.

3. well then if your no longer smelling it, it either went away or you got used to it. either way half solves the problem

either the speedo cable or the gears on the back of the speedo itself need to be greased up. either way it's fairly simple. just need to pull the gauge cluster out and throw some white lithium grease on/in them. might as well do both the gears and cable since they are both exposed after pulling the cluster out, that way your sure it's fixed and wont have to take it apart again. does the speedo needle still bounce like it did at first? as for your Sirius static problem... transmitting the signal to the stereo through the antenna the way it is now is a shitty way of doing it and no matter how good the headunit is, this method would sound shitty. also, i think we determined long ago that signal was a lot better with the antenna pushed in than pulled out. i'd suggest playing with antenna length for the time being till you get a better headunit. your best option is to get rid of that piece of shit clarion headunit and get one thats not sony or clarion and has 1/8 or RCA aux inputs so you get a full clear signal straight into the headunit without interference. as for the shitty speakers... they are some old ass kenwoods that were probably a half decent (im being kind here) sub-entry level speaker from wal-mart or sears, dating way back to the very late 20th century from what i can tell of them. you know what you really want in there for door speakers so lets do it right

Rodney, you need to come down and help me get mine up and running. I got a grand with your name on it.

Did I mention free room and board?

You don't call anymore.

include airfare both ways and a vehicle to drive for my DFW "adventures" and you got yourself a deal!

and before you ask... no, i will not ride in a box under a greyhound bus to save you money.


yeah, i think you might have as an afterthought


does that tell you anything? just kiddin dude. i dont call anyone anymore. thats just one of many things that have changed lately.

Sinderella,
As far as the battery, check the terminal connections. Make sure you have enough of the exposed wires clamped on to the terminal connectors. If not, slit some of the wires back and clamp to more naked wire. Obviously, check for corrosion. If you see some, pour some Pepsi on the connectors, and go to town with a wire brush. Lastly, look down by the starter and make sure that the positive wire has a good and solid connection to the starter solenoid. With Crxls doing the engine install, I seriously doubt that is an issue, though.

Also, reach down (Engine COLD!!) by the alternator. Should should be able to get your hand down there pretty easily. Check the green electrical connector on the alternator. Make sure it is not loose. Mine had a tendency to become loose and wiggle out about a half inch away from flush. It caused the alternator to have a weak charge to the battery. This caused obvious battery failure. I went through a battery and almost my new one before I figured out that this was the culprit. I ended up putting a bunch of clear silicone on the connector and socket, pushed it in tight, and let it dry over night. It no longer wiggles out, and stays in there firm. Charging problem fixed. So, check that.

Lastly, as BadPenny mentioned to me earlier, check for the proper ground connection under the steering column. Their is a ground connection under there, that, when removing your dash, is easy to forget to reattach.

If all the above checks out, take out the battery and take it down to Autozone. Make sure it's fully charged though. If they need to charge it, try to avoid the hot charge, if possible. They are faster, but weaken the battery. They will do a test on the battery. You may have a dead cell in the battery, or maybe more than one. If that is the case, replace the battery. But, do this step last. If a dead cell is present, and the battery is relatively new ( a year or two old), than there is another BIGGER culprit to your drain. Replacing the battery will help for a week or two, until the bigger problem begins to drain out the new battery as well.

I hope this helps. Obviously, this was a big problem throughout my build, until recently. I hope that you will be able to stop your drain soon as well. Good luck!

So, crxls took the car last night while I was at work and greased up the speedo so it wouldn't annoy the f out of me...it still does though! He says the battery is probably my issue although like all cars...they do one thing for the driver (have probs starting) and another thing for the mechanic (starts right up) dammit . I guess I'll have to replace a battery that I can't afford to replace. SUCKS!

badpenny: make that 2 grand and I'll help (not that I know what I'm doing) ....I gotta quit my job and have the bills paid up before I go and I'll have to find another job...but after all the bs they have been putting me through lately for 8 bucks an hour (that don't even pay my bills)....f them! I damn near quit Sunday...then I remembered the economy and my kids and how I got to take care of business...I wish I could just tell them to kiss my ass - its all women - I hate working with chicks...drama, menstrual cycles, bitchiness!!!

Jenny, your letting this thread slowly die off. and to think, i thought you had the most wagon love

well if your not going to post pic's of it, i'll post the 2 that screech took

engine bay:


88 integra gauge cluster: yes, it's from an automatic and hopefully temporary till one of us grabs a manual one

How difficult is it and how did you make the Teg cluster work?

easy as pie, he used the full integra harness.

as far as the dash guage surround, i dunnno. but i know he used the harness.