On 01:22 AM 07/22/02 -0500, Fred Bocskor said... >It freakin pours (or something like that). Well, some higher power is >telling me it's time to get a NEW car, because the last 4 days have been >hell with my CRXes. > >First off, I got pulled over on Thursday driving back from Autozone picking >up a rebuilt alternator for my 91 HF. Anyways, long story short, my window >tint is apparently on the dark side of the law, or force, or whatever you >ascribe to. So, I need to switch cars or lighten/remove the tint. Great. 7 >years I've owned the car, and put almost 70k miles on it, with never a >problem before. Now all of a sudden, here we go.
Out here in the State of California, it's illegal to have any sort of tint done to the driver and passenger side doors. I even believe that it's illegal to have the three rear windows tinted too. Anyway, they have just started to enforce the doors a few years ago up in the L.A. area ~ and I can understand the reasons (which I can describe for those that really want to know). A friend of mine got pulled over in his Chevy Tahoe (http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/c-beach/overkill/gothrod/gothrod.html) for the tint, which I didn't think was all that dark but that's IMHO. The CHP, with their "calibrated" Mag flashlights seemed to have disagreed. >So, after switching to driving the 91 HF again (AC is *really* nice in this >heat we've been having!), I got the alternator replaced. Was fine for two >days. Tonight on my way home, I start losing juice. Everything engine-wise >seemed perfectly fine, but all the lights and electronics go dark. Great, >I've experienced this before: alternator failure. Yep, my (new) rebuilt >alternator lasted a whopping 48 hours. So, I need to take the thing apart >and replace it AGAIN. Those of you who have done this job know it's no fun >whatsoever. The alternator is a PITA to remove but it's not as bad as say the Porsche 914 (for other 914 owners, they should know what I'm talking about). This thing is pretty much dab-smack in the middle of the car. For me, it only took 45 minutes to do the R&R. And this was the first time I had ever done it (I really need to resurrect that "How-To" page I did for it...). Did you double check your ground? Kinda late now, but I believe AutoZone does a free check-diagnose of the charging system. Course you have to get the car to them so they can check it. FWIW, I got a rebuilt alternator from AutoZone a couple of years ago when the internal bearings were screaming. I got the limited-lifetime warranty (which offered some sort of road side assistance). I believe it cost me $45-50 (USD) after core. >So, my two reliable Hondas are out of commission for the time being, due to >no reason on Honda's part whatsoever. Got the HF towed back to the house >after it died halfway home from work tonight. > >So, if all goes well (after a little budget double-checking tonight), I'll >be on my way down to Milwaukee to purchase a new RSX! Then I NEED to sell >the HF after I get it back running. Soemtimes, I really hate cars. > >Fred We have a couple of the RSX's here at work and I've not yet warmed up to them. Not saying they're bad cars, I just haven't warmed up to their looks... Yet... And, is it me or do they seem to stand pretty *tall* in stock form? Things could be worse... :^) Robert K. Kuhn CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal) 1990 Honda CRXsi (http://drive.to/jiggy) ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
