While the dash is out???

[King Peetis]

I pulled the dash out of the car last night and I was just wondering what should I change to make life eaiser down the road i.e. heater core? filters? cables? bulbs (how many and where)? You know the preventive maintenance stuff. I want to get it back in the car in a couple of days so your advice is needed as soon as possible. Thanks in advance fellas.

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/423/dscf4883.jpg (http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf4883.jpg)

[Pico]

Relocate the Main Relay and either repair or replace it while your at it.
do the heater core for sure.
Do you still have ac? if not you can remove the evaporator unit while youre doing the core.
tuck up and neaten the wires that go under the dash.
replace any instrument panel/dash bulbs.
and if you have a alarm you can tuck it up high and out of reach.

[King Peetis]

Relocate the Main Relay and either repair or replace it while your at it.
do the heater core for sure.
Do you still have ac? if not you can remove the evaporator unit while youre doing the core.
tuck up and neaten the wires that go under the dash.
replace any instrument panel/dash bulbs.
and if you have a alarm you can tuck it up high and out of reach.

Hey Pico, thanks for the advice. At the risk of sounding stupid (Im not bashful) what is the actual name of the "main relay" cause Im not sure I know which one youre talking about. I was looking in the overhaul manual (3geez wiki) and I wasnt able to identify it.

[Pico]

I think it's also called a fuel pump relay.
it located right behind that support pipe that runs down the drivers side in a pain in the ass location

[lostforawhile]

it will be the one with a bunch of different wires all going to it, most people unbolt it and move it somewhere that can be reached under the dash and zip tie it in place.when they say repair,they mean take it out and resolder the solder joints, they sometimes stop working from vibration. there are writeups on how to fix it. I would also buy a quality heater core from someplace like nappa and go ahead and replace it. don't get a cheap one, it's a real pain to replace later

[Tdurr]

hey, if u want i can come over today and repair the main relay. Just did mine the other day(i was stuck at school for 10 min trying to start my car!!)

[ChaseR]

My heater core is clogged.

[King Peetis]

hey, if u want i can come over today and repair the main relay. Just did mine the other day(i was stuck at school for 10 min trying to start my car!!)

Yea, come on over. Im in the garage working on it. Maybe you can show me where it (main relay) is and help me move it to a better location.

[Dr_Snooz]

The main relay looks like this:

http://partimages.genpt.com/partimages/481177.jpg

It is mounted on the driver's side outside wall of the car (not the firewall but the side wall). It is behind the fuse block above the cruise control box and below or to the side of the antenna motor. At the very least, remove its mounting bolt because it's a real exercise in contortion to get to it with the dash in.

You might also consider killing the speaker that makes that enormously annoying key ding. You can also re-solder your HVAC button lights if some of them aren't working. There's a how-to around here somewhere entitled, obviously enough, "How-to fix the heater button lights."

[King Peetis]

Right on Dr Snooz for the visual. That definitely helped me find it and I just zip tied it to a support. And thanks Tim for the tutorial. Next I want to tackle the heater core, any quick and dirty suggestions for removal?

[lostforawhile]

Right on Dr Snooz for the visual. That definitely helped me find it and I just zip tied it to a support. And thanks Tim for the tutorial. Next I want to tackle the heater core, any quick and dirty suggestions for removal?

if the dash is out it's pretty straight forward if someone wants to chime in on the lxi please do. once you get the heater box out of the middle of the dash, then removing the heater core from it is simply a couple of screws all hose connections are made in the engine compartment

[King Peetis]

who sells the little blue bulbs in the gauge cluster? theres like 12 of them. do I have to buy them from honda? NAPA just looked at me like "WTF is that"...

[King Peetis]

I figured out the blue bulb thing. The "blue" is like a little condom on the light bulb. Mine were so deteriorated that it looked the bulb was painted. Mushroom Toy mentioned it to me but it didn’t click. I went back to NAPA and they were still unable to help with the smallest of the bulbs. They aren’t the same as the 2nd gen and the 4th gen., go figure. I went to pull a part and opened about 10 gauge clusters and the bulbs looked just like mine; really brittle. Then the light went on (no pun intended). If you need replacement blue rubbers for your small bulbs and you have a junk yard near, take the bulbs from the cigarette lighter. The rubbers will be like new and the bulbs too. I grabbed about 15 of each size with the jimmy hats. Oh what a happy day. Also, I got the dash back in this afternoon. It’s nice to have a smoke-free dash back in the car…

[Bluntman]

And also for future reference, you can also go to an electronics supply store and have them match bulbs for you. Like for the dash switches I get the bulbs and then put the new bulb in the old bulb base mounts and then trim the excess wire and you are good, and they are cheap too.
http://i89.servimg.com/u/f89/12/59/29/63/bulb110.jpg

[lostforawhile]

I figured out the blue bulb thing. The "blue" is like a little condom on the light bulb. Mine were so deteriorated that it looked the bulb was painted. Mushroom Toy mentioned it to me but it didn’t click. I went back to NAPA and they were still unable to help with the smallest of the bulbs. They aren’t the same as the 2nd gen and the 4th gen., go figure. I went to pull a part and opened about 10 gauge clusters and the bulbs looked just like mine; really brittle. Then the light went on (no pun intended). If you need replacement blue rubbers for your small bulbs and you have a junk yard near, take the bulbs from the cigarette lighter. The rubbers will be like new and the bulbs too. I grabbed about 15 of each size with the jimmy hats. Oh what a happy day. Also, I got the dash back in this afternoon. It’s nice to have a smoke-free dash back in the car…
i'm working on another dash for my car now, i'm going to just replace all those bulbs with high brightness leds, you can solder the led's where the bulbs go and install the resistors in the wire feeding the bulbs. you can also get green leds with the resistor built right into the led itself. those you just replace the bulbs and never worry about them again.

[King Peetis]

Thanks for your help fellas...fresh bulbs and a new "looking" dash