bought a VX this past spring - introduction

[krkrbt]

Hi all,

Don't remember when I first joined, but it's been a while. Made a few entries in the fuel log here for my Escort LX wagon - 30mpg average. Then the Escort failed on me this past spring, and I was without wheels for a couple weeks. Borrowed my aunt's car, and found a white 1994 Civic VX with 133k in the paper. They were originally asking $2900 - I took it to the mechanic, who said it needed a rear wheel hub, brakes and ... something else, I think. Got it for $2k. Noticed a while later that the hub that was replaced doesn't spin nearly as freely as the one on the other side - I assume the shop used an aftermarket part. Booo!

Went on a road trip from Prescott, Arizona to Madison, Wisconsin a week or two later. The car started missing somewhere in Nebraska. Took it to the Honda dealership in Madison, they replaced my Lean Air Fuel sensor ($ouch), and my fuel economy went back up.

I've put a little over 13,000 miles on the car, and my fuel economy is 45.37mpg (46.53 if I correct for the slightly larger tires).

I've been keeping track of my fuel economy with a google spreadsheat - filled up at exactly 11,000 miles from my first fillup (didn't notice until I put the entry in my log). I'd add a second car to my 'garage' here, but it seems that that's not possible. ? Perhaps I'll eventually just delete the escort and start putting my VX figures up.

Have a couple tech questions I'll ask in a little bit. The forum archives have been quite useful in figuring out how to drive this neat little car - Thanks!

-james k.

[Danronian]

Glad to hear you like the VX!

I bought mine almost a year ago, and have no complaints about it at all even with 243k mi on the body and about 120k on the motor I installed. I'm kinda disappointed I can't manage to get more than around 45mpg in my VX, but I figure that is still very good for a Honda, so I'm not too unhappy with it really.

Great to hear another VX owner is on the board.

[MetroMPG]

Hi James. Welcome to the site.

The popularity of the VX continues to grow. I wonder if it's the biggest group of owners here? I wouldn't be surprised.

[SVOboy]

Welcome to the site!

Please enter in a gaslog entry for the car, should be interesting to see.

Perhaps the site should add something to the garage that can total up different makes, models, compare FE across makes and models and lots of other fun stuff? A good little thing to show people for what gassavers across the board average with different cars?

[Erdrick]

Can any of the VX owners chime in about how their VXs are performing? I am looking at getting a 1992 at auction. It has over 170k on the odometer though, which kinda worries me. That and it was a donation. So... there could be problems with it. Anyways, I figure that if it runs and I can get it for $500, then it should be a decent deal. I am pretty confident that I can get it at that price too.

So, how long are the VXs on this site staying alive? Anyone breaking the 200,000 and 300,000 mile mark on the odometer?

I figure that at $500, it would be fun to mess around with the car, since I already have a TDi that would be my main driver. I could test aero changes on the VX without worrying about cosmetics.

Oh, and sorry for hi-jacking the thread.

[Danronian]

Originally Posted by Erdrick

Can any of the VX owners chime in about how their VXs are performing? I am looking at getting a 1992 at auction. It has over 170k on the odometer though, which kinda worries me. That and it was a donation. So... there could be problems with it. Anyways, I figure that if it runs and I can get it for $500, then it should be a decent deal. I am pretty confident that I can get it at that price too.

So, how long are the VXs on this site staying alive? Anyone breaking the 200,000 and 300,000 mile mark on the odometer?

I figure that at $500, it would be fun to mess around with the car, since I already have a TDi that would be my main driver. I could test aero changes on the VX without worrying about cosmetics.

Oh, and sorry for hi-jacking the thread.

I agree that if you can get it for $500, and it runs, and is all there, it's not a bad deal. I have 243k on mine, with no problems really (except the first motor smoked a little bit).

[dogncatboy]

Originally Posted by Erdrick

Can any of the VX owners chime in about how their VXs are performing?

I bought mine with 168K not that far back. Mileage was lousy in the high 30s and low 40s, the idle was high and hunted around, acceleration was lackluster. It was throwing a LAF code, so that got replaced with an L2H2. Note that others have had probs with the L2H2, but it seems just fine in my car. Also replaced a worn TPS and the IACV. Not sure if the last 2 really needed to be done, but the IACV did fix the high idle and hunting. Discovered that when the dealership replaced the timing belt for the PO they got it a tooth off. Had it repositioned and my mileage has sky rocketed since plus the car no longer lacks power when climbing hills in 5th. Like a new car really. I'm on my first FE tank since the fix and have gone over 240 on the first 1/4 tank which on a VX gauge seems to be the first half a tank.That puts me in the 50 plus range, which is where I was looking to be.

[krkrbt]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Please enter in a gaslog entry for the car, should be interesting to see.

Certainly. Added another car to my garage:



The interface is kind of cumbersome, so I just added the last 7 fillups... I'll try to add three entries at every fillup in the future.

Just added a graph to my google spreadsheet: Civic VX Fuel Economy. The graph is on Page 3 - I can clearly see the period of time where the LAF sensor was bad: it's the four fillups where I was stuck just below 40mpg.

Something doesn't seem right with the car now, not sure what it is, as I've been getting really poor mileage climbing the hill from Phoenix of late. Might have something to do with the brakes - I replaced the front brakes myself 4,000 miles back and one of the brakes was dragging. Rebuilt the calipers, but I still sometimes hear a scratch from the front-right brake when I turn. One of the rebuild kits looked ancient, so maybe I should just go ahead and get a rebuilt caliper. ?

[SVOboy]

I wonder if the gaslog could be set up to take data from an excel spreadsheet? *shrug*

If you are sure the brake is dragging, you might want to replace the caliper, because that could, as I'm sure you know, end up causing bigger problems down the line.

[McPatrick]

I bought my VX with 215K on body and engine. Had a friend of mine give it a tune up which was around $150 in Honda parts and it drives great. It always starts, except when I forget to turn of the lights once, which happens once in a while. I am getting great FE numbers with it. Best sofar is 59 mpg on a 450 mile freeway trip going around 60 mph. I had one tank with only city driving and that was still just above 45 mpg. All this with the original engine, so I wouldn't hesitate to get one with over 200K on the engine at all.