So Ive driven my XJ every day (well, maybe minus 10 or so that I was sick) for the last 12 1/2 years since I bought her. Friday my FIL gave me his 1998 Honda Civic EX sedan. I know NOTHING about Honda's AT ALL.

First thing I KNOW is wrong with the car, low beams dont work. Highs are fine, no lows. Wondering if it might be a fuse?

Second, there is a hole in the exhaust system somewhere between the motor and muffler as nothing is coming out of the muffler. Its REALLY loud and Im thinking its a downpipe or something, but I went to crawl under it and I CANT!!!!!! WTF?????

Other than that, it did get 40+mpg on the highway with my wife driving it home while my XJ got about 14mpg, lol, so that was nice. It seems like a neat little car and I think a few upgrades might make it decent. HOWEVER, Im wondering if its really worth tinkering with, or should I run it into the ground and ditch it?

 

Welcome to the world of hondas lol. Im the opposite lol, I have driven hondas all my life and got a jeep as a daily.

As for the lights, very rare but try the bulbs... change them and see if that fixes the problem. Also I do believe there is a low beam fuse but not sure if its under the dash or hood.

Unfortunately you have to jack the car up to look under it but the most common spot for holes in that car are right before the muffler. They rust out right about where the lower control arm is. You can pick up and muffer at autozone and replace that whole back assembly, but the problem could be elsewhere.

Lastly as for the mods, nothing really worth doing since its a single cam. You cant really get power out of them. I would keep it completely stock if I were you.

If you have any other questions let me know!

 

I appreciate it! Thanks a bunch.


Wait, were you serious or joking about the mods? The rolling, shaking head makes me think joking but Im clueless about this thing. lol

 

I just sold my 98 Civic hatch... its a great little go kart, 40mpg is awesome.. just don't need 2 cars so away it went.

 

Just whatever you do dont rice it out! No fartcan mufflers, no parkbench wings, and NO UNDERGLOW, coming from the Euro scene in my Jetta I see and race a lot of rice cakes haha, they hated when I cruised them, then downshifted and went full boost hahaha. Drop a 2jz in it

 

I had a flowmaster 50 on my Civic.. it sounded pretty good! lol

 

See thats not a fart can, a fart can Is a "racing muffler" the ones with like a 6 inch exit, really loud and the car is going like 15 haha

I ran a custon 2.5 magnaflow cat back, I was planning a 3in down pipe, and a tune to push me to 21 psi of boost.
But I was turboed and had no need for back pressure. A civic running 3in would be a slug

And to the op, I was dropped on gli springs about half an inch and boy did i hate to get under that car

 

I was being serious on the mods. I see no point in putting money into a single cam, they are worthless to get power out of. Here is my honda.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanlippyphotography/10029692816/http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanlippyphotography/10029692816/]IMG_9145[/url, on Flickr

 

Yeah if you mod go for looks. Heres my jetta

 

I'm confused..

 

Jetta=VW=VAG=King Of Euro. Euro>JDM

 

wait, hold up everybody, I need to make an apology: I'm sorry.

It was clearly TOO early in the morning for me. I read "euro" and thought jdm. I apologize, Mr. Toxin. FWIW, my last three vehicles prior to the xj have been: '03 24v gti, '98 12v gtx jetta, '97 2.slow jetta.

 

This post struck a chord with me, I had a 98 civic ex that got stolen at the beginning of the year, be sure to get an alarm system if you're in a high risk area! But it led to me buying the xj so I guess all is well that ends well. Things I loved about my civic - the parts are cheap, the fixes are relatively easy, and it gets great mpg. Things I hated - other civic people....

 

Nice, no prob with the mix up. I wanting to either go 3 link front and 4 link rear in the XJ or buy a b6 a4 with some student grants I should be getting.

 

I've owned several Hondas an currently own one. They are great cars, easy to work on and cheap. As for mods I'd keep it stock as a dd no need for two projects. The light situation is probably a fuse under the dash I know in my 94 it's number 22 and a 10a. The exhaust could be anything the exhaust always rust out I'd recommend replacing with an oem equilavent no fart can or aftermarket crap with a stock d series motor.