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Not normal. There shouldn’t be ANY bare wiring there. Get hold of a wiring diagram and figure out where that very exposed wire is supposed to go and insulate it properly.
Wiring diagram. There is a website that you should be able to get copies of the wiring diagrams from frequent posters:
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/
In the older 90’s civics (I have one) the interior light fuse was also the ecu/radio fuse in the engine fuse box. Try checking there.
Do whatever necessary repairs/maintenance to get it back to factory condition maybe replace any rusted out exhaust bits with stainless (can’t remember if you said it came that way) and drive it and/or use it as another car in the Fixing It Forward loaner fleet.
[quote=”DJBLUEDIRTY” post=187816]Already got a new starter and wouldn’t the fact that i can jump the starter mean that it works?[/quote]
a.) If you got an el cheapo brand you could have gotten a bad one in a new box. It happens to everyone now and again.
b.) Aftermarket remote starter? Remove the wiring and go back to factory if at all possible or at the least double check ALL the wiring for the remote system and correct any shorts or opens you find.[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=186755]First, thank you all for your suggestions and support. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.
I’m sure you’re aware that since I posted this video yesterday I’ve been inundated with suggestions about the direction I should take. That’s the main reason I’m doing a ‘general’ response here.
Bottom line is this, there is no doubt that the ETCG channel and website are overdue for a change. I feel the content has always been solid and the production value has always been on point with the equipment and resources I had. But it seems times, and YouTube have changed, and to be honest, I expected it to happen one day.
Therefore I plan to make some changes to a few things in the ETCG universe.
The #FairmontProject. I love this project, but I get to see it as it happens. I think part of the issue with the views lately is that many people are sick of seeing this project, and I get it. It’s not for everyone, but I love it. I love working on this car, I love the customization and fabrication side of it, and I love the engineering challenges it brings. To me, it’s far more engaging than just doing repairs. Sure I get satisfaction, finding and solving a mechanical problem, but it’s not the same as discovering how to make something work that was never intended to work. For me the Fairmont is the embodiment of a dream I’ve had for more than 25 years and I intend to see it through. In fact, I’ve been on an all out push to finish the car since the beginning of the year. I’ve made a lot of progress, but I still have a ways to go before the car is up and running. I suspect 2 more months at least.
The videos I’m shooting these days on the #FairmontProject are different. For starters I’ve shot several videos without a cameraman. As some of you are aware Cameraman Brian’s mom passed away a couple of months ago, and he’s been busy with other projects. Additionally, the drop in YouTube income has made using a cameraman sometimes too expensive, so it’s worked out in a weird way. To be honest I’ve enjoyed returning to the ‘old’ way of shooting ETCG videos. I’ve shot several of them this way and I intend to edit them differently. I’m hoping to make more ‘summary’ type videos of the project over highly detailed videos. This should quicken the pace of the project videos and get them out of the cue sooner.
Many have suggested starting a new channel for the #FairmontProject and that’s a good suggestion, but it still doesn’t solve the problem of time. As it is now it takes a great deal of time to produce a Fairmont video. Sometimes a week or more to produce just one video. If I had to do that, and operate my ETCG channel with repair videos, ETCG1 videos, and Premium Member videos, it just wouldn’t be possible. There simply isn’t enough time in a day to get all that work done. I’m also not interested in starting another channel that I need to grow and maintain. In short, another channel simply isn’t on the table as a solution.
I have shot a few ‘repair’ type videos that I plan to mix in as I have since the beginning of 2017. I’m hoping these will appease those that came to my channel for repair videos. I’m hoping this approach is a nice compromise that will satisfy everyone for now.
Once the #FairmontProject is complete, I plan to finish out the videos and then decided what to do next. Much of that will depend on the views I’m able to get between now and then. I feel I have a lot of options and I’ve learned a lot from how the #FairmontProject has effected the views on my channel. Any project videos that I do after that series concludes will be different. That’s about all I can say for now.
In addition to making a newer style of video, I have other thoughts on how to move forward with the ETCG brand. Namely, this website.
EricTheCarGuy.com was always meant to be a place where people could come to get help with their automotive issues. The original idea was the have the advertisers pay for it all, making it completely free to those that needed the help.
The website has also become a place for my Premium Members which I’m very grateful for. They are my strongest supporters and have helped this site pay it’s bills for years. Thank you for that.
That said, I’m also thinking of making big changes to EricTheCarGuy.com. The first change is this forum. Originally I was very active on the forum helping people with their automotive issues. Over time this became more and more difficult as I became more popular. There was a lot more work to do, a lot more editing, and I had less and less time to spend here. A couple of years ago, I stopped answering questions on the forum altogether. It just became too much.
The time I used to spend on the forum is now spent in the comments to my videos. During the time I was participating on the forum, I stopped doing that and it hurt my channels. Once I started commenting to my videos again, the channels started to grow. It became a one or the other proposition and I chose commenting to my videos.
All of this has lead to a lot of typing which to be honest, is effecting my health. I now have tennis elbow pretty bad and if I type for too long, it hurts quite a bit. Especially if I don’t wear my splint.
It’s for those reasons I’m considering shutting down this forum. I feel terrible that I’ve advertised this forum as a place to get help with automotive issues, and I haven’t participated in it for years now, at least answering automotive questions. Many of you have taken up the cause and have done a great job in my absence and I appreciate that very much, but I’m sure you’re aware that many of the people coming here to get questions answered are looking for me to answer them. If I’m not around to do that, I feel I’m doing them a disservice, something akin to false advertising. Therefore I feel it would be best to close it down and remove it from the site. I’ll still keep the FAQ section and redevelop the ‘codes’ page to make it more usable. Basically, I’d like to turn the website into a much simpler form and trim things down a LOT. This will decrease my demands for a dedicated server and hopefully bring down my monthly cost. I’m also hoping it will make the site run better, especially on mobile. I’ve never been happy with the performance of the site on mobile and I’d like that to change.
Ever since adblockers came along, the site has been operating at a loss. This seems like the most logical approach to dealing with that problem. If I can bring the monthly cost of the site down, it would help my bottom line considerably. The forum takes up a huge amount of space as you can imagine.
I’ll still keep Premium Memberships, but the ‘legacy’ pricing will be going away in the next year. Meaning that those paying the cheap amounts for their memberships will need to sign up at the new rates when they renew. I know I may loose some members by doing this, but there are some that are still paying the original pricing and with the hosting I use now, that is also operating at a loss.
I know that’s a lot, but I’ve been working on sorting these things out for some time. In short, I’m burning it all down so I can start over. What will come from the ashes will be a leaner, meaner ETCG, that I hope my viewers, new and old, will appreciate.
Thanks again for all your support over the years. I say it often and I mean it, I appreciate each and every one of you. Without you, ETCG would not exist and I would not have the greatest job ever. I hope I’m able to stick around and do it for a few more years.
ETCG
P.S. I plan on making a thread discussing my plans for the website, likely in the ‘Forum News’ thread. If you have any comments on that, I would ask that you post them to that thread instead of here. Let’s keep this one about the future of ETCG as a whole.
Thanks again[/quote]
A few points:
1.) Eric because of you I’ve gotten into the auto repair field. So please don’t kill the forum it is a wonderful resource for me to learn from and to help others.
2.) Yes I do agree that the Fairmont Project has hurt your views. I enjoy watching you work on it however many people don’t and want the classic ETCG back.
3.) The lack of notifications is due to the recent (within the last 6 months) change to YouTube’s subscription/notification model. In the past all you had to do was hit subscribe and you were golden. Now not only do you have to subscribe but you also have to click the notification button (little bell looking thing) to pick how often you want to be notified of channel activity-the end user can set a default of NO NOTIFICATIONS quite by accident and then that will automatically apply to any new subscribed channels unless they explicitly hit the damn bell.
4.) Have you ever considered voice recognition or dication type software to lessen the load on your fingers/wrists/elbows and therefore be in better health?
5.) I have whitelisted your site so you get paid while I’m here in addition to being a premium member and purchasing 2 Vmanuals but I frequently see new content show up here BEFORE YouTube tells me about it by as much as 4-8 hours.Just some thoughts from a dedicated viewer.
Nice vid but also what’s with missing the Live Show on 3/15/17? Any word if/when your live shows will return?
I’d suggest simply replacing the axle half-shaft as Eric recommends perhaps either thru your local auto parts centre or an online vendor (AutoPartsWay and RockAuto both ship to the UK).
I found an axle half shaft on RockAuto for about $55 USD + shipping and import duties (if necessary) for you made by Cardone Select.
Wonder what happened yesterday? Maybe ETCG got snowed out or had other issues with the connection. Only time will tell.
Advice: Don’t get under the car with it solely supported on a scissor jack, use jack stands unless you want to get crushed.
Fixing the leaks:
1.) Drain oil & replace seal on leaking oil pump where it mates to the block. While you’re in there check and replace if necessary the cam and crank seals. Don’t forget the timing cover gaskets themselves if they are all covered in crud and leaked oil.
2.) Check the oil pan gasket (those leak over time) and valve cover gasket(s).
3.) P.S. Leaks are a bear to find so what you might have to do on that one is fill it and have your wife or another person turn the wheels lock to lock with the engine running repeatedly until you see the leak. Chances are a new/rebuilt QUALITY pump may be in order.
4.) See Eric’s many strut replacement videos for details on checking for strut wear & damage, etc.If the FSM says use ATF and someone just used regular PSF the system should be flushed out. The reason Toyota says use ATF (and for that matter Honda says to use Honda PSF) is that the system was formulated to work ONLY with that fluid and using other fluids can kill the pump or eat away at other parts of the system. I suggest you flush out the system fully and then refill with ATF per FSM instructions.
Check for and fix any exposed wiring, you may need to get your hands on a wiring diagram. Once you’ve done that replace the bulbs.
Figured out what it was:
The flywheel/flexplate cover is directly to the “right” of the oil pan. Turns out that although it ISN’T listed as a step in the FSM for some reason-you need to remove it or else the oil pan won’t completely seal properly and/or (in my case) the oil pan bangs the cover out of shape and causes it to contact the flywheel (MT) or flex plate (AT). That was what created the noise that I improperly thought was rod knock. Removal of the now dinged up cover by my co-workers at work after getting it up on a lift made the noise fully stop.
Just an FYI for anyone with those generation Honda’s who drop the oil pan…..pull the damn flexplate/flywheel cover BEFORE you drop the pan or you’ll get the same headache I did.