Lab Project Case Study1999 Honda Civic DX

German Izaguirre

Auto 132: Engine PerformanceBr. Josh Tollefson

• 1999 Honda Civic CX• VIN number: 2HGEJ6612XH529317• Costumer’s name: Merril Carson• Concern: Car stalls at times and

sometimes does not start.

Verify the problem

• We received the car with the concern from the costumer that the car sometimes would not start or after starting it would stall after running for a while.

• We were able to verify this right away. When we were about to leave for a test drive, the car died.

• While verifying the problem we were able to find a lot more things.

Technician Chris Bennett walking the extra mile to take care of the costumer’s Honda Civic.

Visual Inspection• During this step we were able to find a lot

more problems the car had «hidden»• We noticed that the exhasut manifold had

a huge crack between exahust pipe two and three.

• We found a very greasy and oily oil pan due to a leak caused by a slow oil leak.

• Coolant condition was old and did not have the proper color.

Exahust manifold and catalytic converter. Notice the big crack between exahusts two and three It cover back to front from the manifold.

Gather Data and Study It

• While looking for information to figure out the stalling problem we found that there was a recall in the ignition switch for Honda Civics between 1998 to 2002. The report said all of the ignition switches from those models should be replaced due to a stalling and no start problem. This could be dangerous while driving.

• We also found that the crack in the exhaust manifold could cause severe emission problems and O2 sensor bad readings. After warming up and driving for a while.

• The oil leak was mainly caused becasue of an old oil pan gasket that may be cracked or pierced.

• Coolant wasold and since several years ago that car had not had a coolant flush.

Instructions of catalytic converter and oil pan gasket installation. (Examples of part installation procedures).

Develop a Diagnostic Plan.

• The problems we found on the car were very easy to identify and in a certain way obvious so we did not have to perform a lot of tests. But the costumer’s main concern led us to narrow other problems through a thorough inspection of the vehicle.

• Our plan of action was: 1) replace manifold, 2) Replace oil pan gasket, 3) Coolant flush.

To develop a diagnostic plan we used diagrmas that helped us understand how to repplace and work on certain parts of the vehicle. For example, we figured our that we could not replace the exahust manifold without replacing the catalytic connverter because they are one system that works altogether as a whole.

Testing• We used a Solus Ultra code reader to

verify for any emission codes due to the exahust manifold crack. We did not find any, but the fault was obvious and could’ve caused problems in the future.

• We «wiggled» the ignition key to test if that was really the issue for the car stalling. It turned out that sometimes with the slightest touch to the ignition the car would shut off.

Many of the parts we replaced had torque specifications. While installing the new parts we always ensured we used the right torque. (Tool provided by Br. Tollefson, I will ask next time before using his torque wrench...)

Determine the root cause.

• For the exahust manifold we determined that the root cause was excessive temperature changes and normal wear.

• Oil pan gasket had not been replaced for a long time.

• The recall on the ignition switch had not been performed.

• No coolant flush had been perfomed in years.

Newly installed catalytic converter.

Verify the Repair.

• After fixing everything (note that we still need to perform the coolant flush) we verified that no oil leaks were present after a few days of the oil pan gasket replacement.

• The new exhaust manifold was steaming after replacing it due to the grease stuck in the gasket from our fingers while installing it. It does not affect proper perfomance at all.

Brand new exhaust manifold and catalytic converter.

Conclusion

• I had fun while working on this project. I was able to work on doing major repairs on a car for the first time and I learned a lot from it.

• I also think that the seven step process helped to keep an effective and efficient way to approaching the root cause of the problems.

• I did not cover the part where we blew the radiator while trying to do the coolant flush, but even that was a great learning experience and our teacher helped us solve the problem.