Merry Christmas! And my car broke...

[slowtec]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Got some good news and some bad news...

I'll give you the bad and end on a high note.

My Integra is broken. CV joint on the passenger side is making loud clunking, ticking noises whenever the car moves. Happened 200 miles from home. (And I did not want to waste my 200 mile tow from AAA a week after my plan renewed.)

It got me home. It pulled hard to the passenger side, clicked loudly the whole way, freaked out my passenger (my Integra is my commuter and is a legend among my coworkers for being indestructible.).

That was the night before Christmas Eve, and I've been spending time non-stop with family and friends since then. Though I did take 10 minutes to go out yesterday morning with a breaker bar to manhandle the hub nut so I would know if I needed to borrow my brother's big impact gun or not. A one-inch breaker bar with a cheater is too stronk.

I have owned my Integra since June of 2005. I have driven it, with the exception of vacations and two minor breakdowns (Timing Belt and Ignition), nearly every day for more than 9 years. I bought the car at 89,000 miles and passed 232,000 miles as it clicked its way home the other night.

This year has been tough on it, though. I had someone back into it at a parking lot at work and take off without admitting to it, I had to replace the entire ignition system, I went out after a major rainstorm to find 10 inches of water sitting in the spare tire well and backseats...

And I finally ordered all the parts to fix it tonight. Merry Christmas to me! I'm pretty excited about it, and wanted to share with people who would understand the feeling.

I'm happy to be a part of this community and I'm happy you're all here as well. I may not comment often, but I lurk, and it's been cool getting to know you all through our mutual interest in cars.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

 

[Nick_C78]

Bummer to hear, but glad you'll be fixing it up. The water in trunk is probably your tail light gaskets by the way. You should prob do both axles while you have the trans drained. Just my recommendation if you have the money. Also inspec rest of suspension like tie rods and ball joints.

 

[slowtec]

The water in trunk is probably your tail light gaskets by the way. You should prob do both axles while you have the trans drained. Just my recommendation if you have the money. Also inspec rest of suspension like tie rods and ball joints.

Thanks, Nick.

I know it is my tail light gasket. But it's been raining really hard and I don't have a covered space, so I went out earlier and grabbed all my stuff out, rolled up the carpet and took out the subfloor, which have now dried out in my rear entry. Drilled a quick hole below my spare tire in the lowest point in the trunk. I no longer have any sitting water, but obviously the leak still needs to be addressed.

Where does it end though, Nick? I replace both axles, why not just replace both wheel bearings while it's all broke loose so I don't have to waste hub nuts. And since it's already apart why not replace all the ball joints, and the springs and struts, and the control arms. You are probably right, however, and not replacing both at once would just make me really foolish. They both have 232,000 miles on them and they both are probably in need of replacement. The real issue, however, is the reason it went bad in the first place. I do drive the car hard, I've never really been a drop-the-clutch kind of person, but I do know that bad motor mounts can exacerbate CV joint issues.

So replacing the motor mounts is going to be a priority in the near future. They are old and cracked out. I have just let things go for so long. Now it's going to be a long road to get it all back in order.

I have done a few things to the car in the last couple of days to make it nicer for me though, I may make a separate post about that. I don't have a picture log or anything so I may start one.

Thanks for commenting, I do appreciate it!

 

[Nick_C78]

To answer your question "where does it end?"; It ends where your budget does. I always look at what needs to be fixed and what other wear items I can afford to change out while I am already in there. For example if your clutch goes out. Are you going to just change the clutch or are you going to do the clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, pilot bearing, clean and lube everything up and maybe even resurface the flywheel and replace rear main? All a matter of budget, but everything listed would be a smart thing to do in that event.

Start a build thread. It is a good way to log the work you do and share experiences.

Oh and for the tail light gaskets I recommend these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DMT-HONDA-IMPROVED-Material-94-01-Acura-2dr-Taillight-Gasket-Gaskets-Set-Pair-/291130346838?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AIntegra&hash=item43c8b88d56&vxp=mtr

A few others and myself have used them and they work very well. Better than OEM honestly.

 

[Russell D]

Sorry to hear about your recent problems; but I'm glad you are fixing such minor issues!

The axles are a cheap and easy repair, generally ~$60 each. It depends on your mechanical ability, but for me they are an easy fast repair. The hardest part would be getting the axle nut off, but my impact is rated for 1000 lb/ft so it doesn't blink an eye on axle nuts and crank pulleys. If you want a description of how to change them lmk, it takes me about 10 minutes per side. And there's no need to replace the axle nut once it's been torqued and removed, I've removed and re-used them numerous times.

As far as when to stop, for a car like yours only replace what's necessary, if it doesn't need wheel bearings or shocks, let them be! My integra has 371k miles and has had very little replaced! The parts people usually buy as replacement are worse than the oem part that's there.

 

[slowtec]

Oh and for the tail light gaskets I recommend these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DMT-HONDA-IMPROVED-Material-94-01-Acura-2dr-Taillight-Gasket-Gaskets-Set-Pair-/291130346838?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AIntegra&hash=item43c8b88d56&vxp=mtr

A few others and myself have used them and they work very well. Better than OEM honestly.

Dude! Thanks for showing me that, I went ahead and ordered them! There are so many things going on with my old Integra that it is kind of ridiculous. I was in Home Depot earlier today pricing out a new sheet of hardboard that I was going to trace out and cut a new trunk sub floor/spare tire cover with. It's about 1/16" thicker material than the stock piece, but since mine is old, warped, and a little too flexible I was wanting to replace it. Additionally, I have so many woodworking tools that it would be nice to overlap the hobbies a bit. I think using my trim router to round over the edges it would look as good as the factory cut piece.

But I am having to temper my current enthusiasm with some realism, it is an 18 year old car. I do not have the money, nor will have the money in the near future, to do with this car what I want. So for now I need to lay the groundwork to get this car to last another 100,000 miles and be than I may be ready to start a new chapter. For the interim, I'm just going to replace whatever I can afford to. I know some things that need to be replaced, but I can't afford to spend $600 this week to replace all the stuff I need to. I just have to take it in steps and before I know it, I'll be finished. Looking at the threads and pictures on here and TI are what kind of keep me going when I'm not able to do some of the mods on my own. I can live vicariously through other Integra owners.

It depends on your mechanical ability, but for me they are an easy fast repair.

I have some mechanical ability, but the spectrum on ability is enormous. My older brother restores classic cars, and compared to him I'm just a guy with a Fisher Price toolbox. I feel I can figure things out given the time, and I have the internet to help me when I get into a jam. I'll be honest, I started working on replacing the axle at about 2:30-2:45 this afternoon and at 3:52, I walked back inside from the rain because the lower ball joint is stuck and I needed to take a break from beating on it. Was all of that hour and a half spent turning the wrench? Nope. But I have no idea what I'm doing other than the couple of videos. My first mechanical experience was on a 1951 Ford pickup that I bought for $100, we are generations and worlds away from that. This Integra has always been my DD and never really wanted to mod it because, like you said yourself, I always felt the OE equipment was pretty quality and it has mostly lasted 230,000 miles of pretty hard driving. I have abused the car and all of this work is self-inflicted.

With that said, with all the videos I did watch the axle replacement has been exactly the opposite so far. Axle nut was a breeze, 5 seconds and it was loose. Strut fork was a couple of seconds as well, even the spindle was able to be pushed through the hub pretty smoothly. But now I'm stuck on that ball joint, and I have a couple of ideas for the morning. I just hope it stops raining by then.

The affordability of the axles was pretty surprising to me, in all honesty. A lot of the hesitation in delving into part replacement and repair of the car is because I don't have a good space to work on them. Also, my wife and I are in that season of life where we have two small kids and are saving as much money as we possibly can, while simultaneously paying down our student loan debt as quickly as possible. And so I'm literally having to pull money out of my nest egg when it comes to larger repairs (which physically pains me). :lol:

My Integra has gotten by for almost a decade on very little, but I'm thinking it is time to give back a little.

Thanks for your responses, guys. One of the best parts of the last couple of days has been logging on to check the forum, and this post particularly.