The Daily Driver
2015 Honda Civic SI
I promised myself I would not work on my daily driver myself and ensure it is taken good care of by an experienced Honda shop. So, that didn't happen. Here is a record of the car work on this automobile.
Diagnostics & Service
1. 110,000 miles service
A 110,000-mile service on my Honda is rather straightforward. It calls for only replacing the spark plugs and the engine oil and filter. If planned ahead, a set of 12 oil filters can be found for roughly $6 each. I did not plan ahead. I don't know why Honda had to make the cowl such that there is a bolt buried so far back with such a high likelihood of it falling out calling you to be prepared with a magnet along with the ratchet and extension. Terrific. All work combined, should not be more than 2 hours including rotating the tyres which is just cumbersome especially when you only have 2 jack stands. You can always cut corners and have the side lifted on a jack and risk it. Not advised.
2. P0102 / P0113
On a random morning while going to a friend's place, out of the blue the car decides to enter limp mode. Luckily enough I was carrying a scan tool and found the following errors.
​
-
P0102 - Mass or volume air flow circuit low input
-
P0113 - Intake air temperature sensor 1 circuit high input
​
A faulty MAF sensor is usually the culprit in this sort of situation. If the engine cannot read the input of the air coming in, it won't be able to judge the amount of fuel required to run the engine. In these situations, the engine derates to what is called 'limp mode'. The engine revs not more than 3000 rpm, essentially allowing you to limp back home.
​
Typically replacing the MAF is the only and best way forward. But my car has a cold air intake. In order to accommodate the system, there is an extension harness that fits between the original harness and the MAF sensor on the cold air intake. There may be an issue with this harness extension since it is aftermarket.
​
On close examination, I find some dielectric grease on the connectors and the sensors. Dielectric grease is used to assist with connection inside a connector. For someone to need it, there must be something wrong with the connector in the past.
​
To fix this, the first step is to remove the dielectric grease with a clearer. Then check for continuity and measure the resistance and voltage at each connector pin. I did not have the cleaner, so I put the connector and the sensor right next to the heater overnight and the grease had melted away by the morning. Adapt, improvise, overcome.
To procrastinate doing the continuity checks, I plugged in the sensor and BAM! Error vanished. Never to be seen again. I guess it was the dielectric grease causing a problem in the first place.
​
3. 120,000 miles service
120,000 Miles service is one of the major services on the Honda Civic SI. It deals with changing all the fluids - engine oil, coolant, transmission fluid (not shown), clutch fluid, and brake fluid. This also includes changing the front and rear brakes. It also includes replacing the cabin air and engine air filters. Since I have a cold air filter, I cleaned it. I had some overdue valve clearance adjustment from past service which I also completed in this.
Valve Clearance Adjustment
Adjusting the valve clearance in the engine is a very intricate job. Slight errors can result in the engine not holding pressure and hence poor combustion and misfires. Major mistakes can result in engine breakdown. So, I had to do it myself. Make sure to get the process and the adjustment settings written down along with the process to refer to, just in case. For a Honda like mine, I would highly, highly recommend an angled feeler gauge. Makes your life so much easier. I also used the special Honda valve adjustment tool - jam nut. Working with a set wrench is doable but the tool makes it so much easier. Especially the exhaust valves that are placed farther away. And, it will always take way longer than you would think would take to put your car back together.
Rear Brakes and Calipers Replaced
Doing brakes is all straightforward until you hit rust. If you do, good luck. I had to do my rear brakes before I did my front since one of the rear pads wore out sooner. While one can expect about 3 hours to do the rear brakes, I was changing out the callipers and battling a rusted park brake bracket on the calliper so it took me an eternity instead. I ended up removing the park brake bracket from the old callipers entirely and bolting it on the new one for both sides. Putting the brake line back on the calliper is not easy either. Definitely makes you question your strength. The hub bolts are not torqued in but due to the rotation of the wheels, it gets torqued and is incredibly difficult to get it off. But with a manual impact wrench, the same becomes a piece of cake. Definitely keeping one of these for all future projects. It takes a lot of patience while bleeding the brakes, but it's so important to be patient and not ruin it with air pockets. The finished product looks pretty good to feel proud of and you get a reward in the end. The reward is to drive your car with handbrakes engaged to brake into the brakes. Satisfying.
Front Brakes Replaced
Since I am not changing the callipers on the front, it increases a little bit of work. Once you have the brake pads and the carrier out, it is wise to re-grease the glider pins. It is recommended to use the "orange" stuff, but I had the blue grease on me so used that anyway. Make sure to get the shop towel in where the glider pins are set because it is possible to have some grease deposit deep in there that should be cleaned out. The piston on the calliper needs to be pushed back when putting the calliper on the new pads. When the brakes are set in place and you push on the brakes, the fluid in the lines pushes the piston onto the pads that create the braking force. Hence this piston needs to be pushed back. A $10 O'Riley's tool is what you would need. It somehow takes a lot less time on the other side than it took on the first side you take on. It is usually better to do both sides in a series because in case you forget what goes where it can be checked from the other side. The last step is to bleed the brakes. Starting from the furthermost brakes from the master cylinder, and moving up to the closest usually doesn't take any more than 30 mins. Unless you have a suction and the ability to get the whole fluid out in a second.
Clutch Oil Flush
It is a little tricky to spot the clutch bleeder valve in the first look but it is right behind the logo in the front and halfway through the total height of the engine. The refill point is right beside the brake canister. It can be a little tricky to get the bleeder bottle in and regulate the valve screw with the close-tip wrench. I rather choose to not have the bleeder bottle and have the clutch fluid drop into a bucket instead. Ended up making a mess and cleaning later, but it went very quickly. Very pleased with the result.
Engine Oil / Coolant Flush
It is a little tricky to spot the clutch bleeder valve in the first look but it is right behind the logo in the front and halfway through the total height of the engine. The refill point is right beside the brake canister. It can be a little tricky to get the bleeder bottle in and regulate the valve screw with the close-tip wrench. I rather choose to not have the bleeder bottle and have the clutch fluid drop into a bucket instead. Ended up making a mess and cleaning later, but it went very quickly. Very pleased with the result.
Cabin Air Filter
The cabin air filter in this car was disgusting. It can be found in the air box behind the glove box. Takes 5 minutes to get to the folder but be mindful of the direction in which it is supposed to go inside. Nothing that is no intuitive.
Cold Air intake Filter
Cleaning the filter is a pretty straightforward 10-minute job. It is set right next to the wheel and the fender cover needs to be removed to get to it. Once the fender cover is off, the filer can be removed just by itself or the whole assembly can also be removed. I preferred to remove the assembly as it made my work easier but if I do this anytime again, I would just remove the filer. Cleaning the filter is easy, just use some soapy water and a water jet, making sure it is completely dry before reinstalling it. A garden hose did the job for me. Before putting it back I coated it with some K&N cold air intake oil spray and sprayed a little MAF cleaner on the MAF sensor.
4. Front Headlight Replacement
While the driver-side headlamps are easy to access, it can be very hard to reach the passenger-side headlamp bulbs. Until you take the windscreen wiper fluid tube out. Twist, pull, and wiggle should get the job done. The headlamp is easy, but because of the angle it is set in, there is no good way to get a grip on it. It can be hard to twist it out of the spot. I have usually found a towel or a rug works wonders by giving your hand some extra grip to grab on. 10 mins, easy peasy.
5. Scratch Removal
I had a minor unfortunate scratch on the driver-side rear. I very faint scratch that could not be ignored by an observant eye. My friend Niko came to rescue me here. His experience working in a body shop came in handy and made it good as new within 10 minutes.
6. Car Wash
When driving with a check engine light is acceptable but the aggressive silicone brush from a carwash on the car just isn't, you resort to spending 2 hours deep cleaning the car by hand. A car wash liquid with wax can literally do wonders and I saw much better results than what I have gotten from the automatic car wash and even manual hand wash spots. Something to bear in mind while cleaning the car is to ensure you are not directly under the sun. This dries up the water and soap quickly making marks on the car.
7. Surging RPM
Surging RPM is usually a symptom of an air leak after the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor. MAF sensor measures the air coming in and uses that input to adjust the fuel volume to be sprayed through the injectors into the cylinders to attain a desired air-fuel ratio to deliver the commanded RPM, which is about a constant 700 RPM at idle. Any air leak post MAF sensor can lead to incorrect air quantity reported to the ECU and hence an imbalance in the air-fuel ratio which therefore an unpredictable fall or surge of RPM. ECU corrects this surge by reaffirming engine RPM using the crankshaft sensor. Hence the RPM does not stabilize to the desired constant 700 RPM idle speed.
8. Sway bar Links Replacement
What initially appeared to be an easy job was quite laborious. All thanks to the rusted/fused bolts on the sway bar link that a 1-hour job took me about 4 and an extra day. Ideally, to take the sway bar links out, you hold the back (ball joint) with a clamp and turn the bolt out. But because the bolt was rusted, the grip on the clap could not overpower the friction between the nut and the bolt. So restoring to the conventional method, I use an allen wrench and a wrench to slowly turn the bolt out. After a lot of tussling with the bold and adding extensions I was able to get 1 bolt of the 4 out in 30 mins.
Repeating the same worked until I reached the 4th bolt. The second bolt of the second sway bar link. At this time, since the whole system was a lot free to move around, it caused the allen wrench to not have stable leverage and stripped the end to a point where even a torx bit was of no use. The nut had to be broken at this point. A nut splitter was of no use because of the play in the sway bar. So a reciprocating saw had to do the job. Rest was easy.
​
Top bolt – 28 Ft Lb
Bottom Bolt – 25 Ft Lb
Wheel – 80 Ft Lb
9. Thermal Expansion Valve (TXV) Replacement
Pulling out the dash may seem to be a rather daunting task. Especially when dealing with clips. On the civic, however, I had to take off 2 clips total. All the rest was secured by bolts. Not saying it wasn’t a pain in the rear. Ensure battery is disconnected for this task. I removed positive terminal because it is easier.
Start by removing the glove box that is secured with 2 10mm bolts underneath. There is a plastic bar that needs to be sawed out. It is hidden underneath the glove box, so it doesn’t show poorly when everything is put back. The plastic bar is part of a metal bar that is secured by an 8 mm bolt on either sides. This will help the blower assembly come out.
2 Philips are securing a plastic cover under the blower. Disconnect the blower connector. The blower itself is secured with 5 bolts and 2 nuts. There is a bracket on the left of the blower assembly that is attached to the centre dash with 2 Philips and 1 10mm bolt on the blower assembly. This will need to be removed first. The 2 nuts are at the top of the blower assembly, securing the blower onto 2 rivets. They are very hard to get to. Tandem extensions with a universal joint should help. But also, it is possible to snake in your hand with a 10mm long socket on a ¼” drive to extract them. I preferred the former while removing and the latter while installing. Disconnect the green and while connectors.
There is an airway that has 8 Philips 5 of which are hidden. This is going to be a pain to extract. An endoscope helped big time. Only remove the bolts and not the entire unit.
Coming to the outside of the vehicle, ensure there is pressure inside by pressing on the low- and high-pressure valves. The Thermal Expansion Valve (TXV) is housed at the location where the low- and high-pressure lines go into the cabin. It is secured by a 10mm bolt. The 10mm bolt sits on a rivet that connects to the TXV. Remove both the bolt and the rivet from outside. It is hard to get a torque wrench in there. I had to use slight strength from the far end of a ¾ “ drive. I used the same force to tighten it back.
Now on the inside, it is okay to slide the airway. The evaporator core, along with the TXV should slide out. Be careful of the cabin air temperature sensor.
A 4mm Allen can be used to remove the 2 special bolts on the TXV. A little wiggle and little careful force should be enough to decouple the TXV to the heater core. The O-rings keep it secure.
Replace 4 O-rings. 2 on inlet and 2 on the outlet side of the TXV on the internal and the external side, respectively. Coat the new O-rings with PAG46 refrigerant oil. Use the droplets from the refrigerant lines for a light coat. It is easier to put new O-rings on the external side from inside the cabin.
Connect everything in the same order as it was removed. Be careful of the cabin air temperature sensor when sliding the evaporator core back inside. There is a slot for the sensor wire between the airway and the evaporator housing so it doesn’t get crushed between the mate. Make sure to set the blower assembly on the 2 rivets to hang it in spot and them bolt it.
The last step in the process is to ensure there is no leak in the system. O-Riley's Loan-a-Tool program lets you use a pressure gauge and the vacuum pump. - Rental Tools EverTough Air Conditioning Manifold Gauge 67127 | O'Reilly Auto Parts. Rental Tools EverTough Vacuum Pump 67128 | O'Reilly Auto Parts. The pump was low on oil, so it was heating up and couldn’t extract enough vacuum. I pulled the system to -25 mm Hg in 30 mins and held it at that for 45 mins to check if a leak exists (needle moving towards 0). Typically vacuum is at -29 mm Hg. The system held pressure.
Off Note – It is likely that system would leak at high pressure, so the test I could do isn’t robust. Robust test can only be done at the shop with refrigerant. One states do not allow retail of R134a anymore.
10. AC Compressor and Dehydrator Replacement
Replacing the AC compressor and the dehydrator was considerably less daunting than it may appear to be. Modern vehicles have come to a point where the architecture has evolved enough to make it very reasonable for maintenance. Compressor replacement is one good example. The key is to disconnect the 12V battery and remove all the refrigerant, ensuring the system is at atmospheric pressure. Next is to remove the wires and brackets to make room to access the compressor freely. There may be some manoeuvring required to remove the cross member connected on both sides of the chassis with 5 bolts on each side.
​
Next step is to remove all the AC lines at the high and low at the condenser and the compressor with an 8 or 10 mm socket, depending on the location. The radiator is held up with 2 brackets connecting to the cross member and conveniently sits on 2 boles with 2 rubber bushings, and can be pulled up with ease.
​
The dehydrator on the SI is attached to the condenser and looks like a cylindrical sack, also called a desiccant element. The bottom picture on the left is the location, and the picture on the right is the desiccant element.
It is wise to clean up the radiator and the refrigerant lines using an AC flush solvent. I used a kit available at O’Reilly’s loan a tool program after ensuring it was a clean set. Just pour some solvent in the bottle, hook it up to compressed air and release it from the top side of the condenser until clean air/solvent comes out from the other side. I left it outside for a day to ensure it is completely dry and poses no risk to the new oil that would be added to the condenser. Off note, while I found the torque specifications, I just tightened them by feel based on what took me to get them off since I couldn’t get the torque wrench in.
​
Compressor mounting bolts – 16 ft lbs
Compressor / Condenser inlet/ outlet – 7ft lbs
The AC compressor is located at the bottom of the alternator. The accessory belt will have to be removed for this using a 14 mm wrench (The space is too tight for a socket). Four bolts are securing the compressor, which hangs on the engine. Once the 4 bolts are removed, the compressor will have to be slightly lifted and twisted away from the engine to be removed. The compressor, link attached, came pre-filled. But considering the radiator and the compressor were taken out and cleaned with a solvent, I added 1/3 fl oz (10ml) of PAG46 refrigerant oil into the condenser.
​
Replacing all the o-rings is always a wise choice, and I vacuum tested the system using O’Reilly’s pressure gauge and a compressor from the loan-a-tool program.
​
Compressor - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=9796304&cc=3310200&pt=6628&jsn=8
Dehydrator - https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2195772&cc=3310200&pt=16858&jsn=9
11. Suspension Noise Fix
I notice a clunking noise when battling the inertia of the vehicle, in essence, when I brake close to a stop, accelerate from a stop, or take sharp turns. I first fixed the sway bar links on the front, and it seemed like the noise disappeared for a day. The front of the vehicle felt good while cornering, now indicating no issues with the links. The sound was particularly felt in front, right under the foot. I suspect some other bushing is going bad.
​
The sound seemed like metal on metal, which eliminated a lot of problems. I first check the engine mounts. The one on the right side of the engine requires a good visual check. Any cuts are indicative of wear. Couldn’t find any. The one on the right is buried under the battery for my car. Removing the battery and shaking it with a pry bar did not reproduce the sound. Hence, that seems to be good too.
​
Time to jack up the car and look under. Before taking off the wheels, I check if there is any play with the wheels, shaking it left/right and up/down. No sounds were reproduced, indicating the tie rods are solid. Next, I placed the pry bar under the wheel and tried to push it up and down. No sounds indicate good control arms. Visually inspected the compliance bushing, which seemed pretty good. Since the sound felt like metal on metal, it is unlikely that the sway bar bushings are bad; a visual check confirmed the hypothesis. I put a pry bar on it to shake it. No sounds are reproduced, eliminating the sway bar and sway bar link bushings. For the sway bar links, particularly, I place the pry bar right under it.
​
Four bolts are holding the engine subframe. I turned the 4 bolts a few turns. One, lowering the main bolt on the driver side, it clicked. This one in particular seemed rusted as well, and hence may have been the culprit. All four were turned back to place and torques to specification. Took the car for a spin and viola, no sounds. The driver's side main bolt is right under the foot, which makes sense. The last step now is to get the one driver side main bolt out, clean the rust and put it back in.