My '97 2.2 CL
04-27-2014, 04:43 PM
#1
9th Gear
Thread Starter
My '97 2.2 CL
Hello everybody,
I'm new here. My name is Manuel, I'm originally from Cordoba, Spain but I moved to United States a couple of years ago to finish my undergraduate education. I currently live in Colorado.
When I first came to US, I decided to buy a sedan and I ended up buying a '02 Ford Taurus. I put about 20,000 miles on it and I got tired of its poor reliability. I had to replace almost everything in the car due to corrosion, brake master cylinder, starter, power steering pump.... I even had to replace the gas tank because it was completely rusted. This is what happens when you buy a car in Wisconsin (and also when you are new in the country and don't know about the weather conditions).
Last summer, I went to California to visit some friends in San Jose. I mentioned to a couple of friends that I was seeking for a car and I thought, well, why not buying a car in California? Strict legislation and emissions and nice weather so usually cars are well maintained.
I looked through Craigslist and saw a lot of cars in the Bay Area of SF, but none that I'd buy. With a limited budget, I was looking for reliability and manual transmission. Then I saw her. 5 speed, 2.2 and 145 hp. That's enough for me. I called the owner, meet him the same afternoon and when I saw the car I knew it was going to be mine. She was looking good, a few scratches here and there, but in very good shape for a 97. The interior was also in good shape except for the driver's seat, that needs to be refurbished.
So there she is, a 1997 Acura 2.2 CL Premium 5 speed and 153,000 miles on the odometer when I bought her. Currently she is a little over 166,000.
Some pictures that I took along the year (actually a lot):
When I bought it in California
The first snow, in Colorado
Anybody recognizes this place?
More pictures in Colorado
Over Christmas I went to Chicago and I drove my CL in quite bad winter conditions. She did great, although she got a little dirty
A few months before Christmas, the check engine light went on and off every other week. It was detecting the P0401 code which meant a EGR Valve malfunction. I took the EGR valve off when it first happened and cleaned it up but the problem persisted. Tired of having that issue and knowing that the EGR ports and manifold were clogged, I followed the instructions that a guy from the Odyssey club did for F22 engines to unclog all the carbon build up in the engine.
Got in the garage, washed the car first and then I set up illumination and got started...
Once I dissembled the fuel rail it was really easy to get to the ports and the manifold. You can see how bad they were...
Then I drove back to Colorado. Flawless
Clean!
Finally, a picture in Arches National Park, in Utah.
Sorry for posting that many pictures.
The car is completely stock. Unfortunately, recently I found out that it had a odometer rollback, so I suspect that instead of having 166k miles is more like 266k
. That is what CarFax says. However, she is running strong and hasn't given me any troubles whatsoever, except for the regular maintenance and cleaning the EGR Valve, ports and manifold.
The only "mods" that I have done is replacing the front parking lights in the headlight for orange-colored ones and replacing the stock stereo deck (yes, still had it, with manufacturing date of Nov 1996) for the last model of the Pioneer DEH-X8600BS.
Well, that's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it.
I'm new here. My name is Manuel, I'm originally from Cordoba, Spain but I moved to United States a couple of years ago to finish my undergraduate education. I currently live in Colorado.
When I first came to US, I decided to buy a sedan and I ended up buying a '02 Ford Taurus. I put about 20,000 miles on it and I got tired of its poor reliability. I had to replace almost everything in the car due to corrosion, brake master cylinder, starter, power steering pump.... I even had to replace the gas tank because it was completely rusted. This is what happens when you buy a car in Wisconsin (and also when you are new in the country and don't know about the weather conditions).
Last summer, I went to California to visit some friends in San Jose. I mentioned to a couple of friends that I was seeking for a car and I thought, well, why not buying a car in California? Strict legislation and emissions and nice weather so usually cars are well maintained.
I looked through Craigslist and saw a lot of cars in the Bay Area of SF, but none that I'd buy. With a limited budget, I was looking for reliability and manual transmission. Then I saw her. 5 speed, 2.2 and 145 hp. That's enough for me. I called the owner, meet him the same afternoon and when I saw the car I knew it was going to be mine. She was looking good, a few scratches here and there, but in very good shape for a 97. The interior was also in good shape except for the driver's seat, that needs to be refurbished.
So there she is, a 1997 Acura 2.2 CL Premium 5 speed and 153,000 miles on the odometer when I bought her. Currently she is a little over 166,000.
Some pictures that I took along the year (actually a lot):
When I bought it in California
The first snow, in Colorado
Anybody recognizes this place?
More pictures in Colorado
Over Christmas I went to Chicago and I drove my CL in quite bad winter conditions. She did great, although she got a little dirty
A few months before Christmas, the check engine light went on and off every other week. It was detecting the P0401 code which meant a EGR Valve malfunction. I took the EGR valve off when it first happened and cleaned it up but the problem persisted. Tired of having that issue and knowing that the EGR ports and manifold were clogged, I followed the instructions that a guy from the Odyssey club did for F22 engines to unclog all the carbon build up in the engine.
Got in the garage, washed the car first and then I set up illumination and got started...
Once I dissembled the fuel rail it was really easy to get to the ports and the manifold. You can see how bad they were...
Then I drove back to Colorado. Flawless
Clean!
Finally, a picture in Arches National Park, in Utah.
Sorry for posting that many pictures.
The car is completely stock. Unfortunately, recently I found out that it had a odometer rollback, so I suspect that instead of having 166k miles is more like 266k
. That is what CarFax says. However, she is running strong and hasn't given me any troubles whatsoever, except for the regular maintenance and cleaning the EGR Valve, ports and manifold.The only "mods" that I have done is replacing the front parking lights in the headlight for orange-colored ones and replacing the stock stereo deck (yes, still had it, with manufacturing date of Nov 1996) for the last model of the Pioneer DEH-X8600BS.
Well, that's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it.
04-27-2014, 04:45 PM
#2
9th Gear
Thread Starter
By the way, sorry if I made any mistake in English, it's my second language and still gives me some troubles when writing.
Are we allowed to edit our posts?
Best regards.
Are we allowed to edit our posts?
Best regards.
04-30-2014, 09:16 AM
#4
Senior Moderator
Regional Coordinator
(Mid-Atlantic)
Regional Coordinator
(Mid-Atlantic)
iTrader: (6)
Looks great, nice write up. Welcome to the forums
05-11-2014, 06:54 PM
#5
9th Gear
Thread Starter
Thanks. I just took her on a road trip from Colorado to Maryland. +2,000 miles, averaging over 34 mpg, with a peak of 37.52 mpg and a minimum of 30.4 mpg with severe wind conditions and cruise control on hills and heavy traffic (so speeding up and slowing down constantly) and the climate control at 70-72 degrees almost all trip. I am quite surprise with the performance of this "little" car.
It was a long trip, but easy on the CL.
It was a long trip, but easy on the CL.
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97BlackAckCL (05-15-2014)
05-12-2014, 09:30 PM
#7
9th Gear
Thread Starter
Well, I am thinking about replacing the speakers and in terms of engine modifications I am not sure if I should get a CAI or a SRI, taking into account that I live over 6,500 ft above the sea level. I do not want to decrease my gas mileage so I might just leave it stock.
Also, I am looking into get new rims, I like the '98 10 spoke rims but they are difficult to find. Any aftermarket set does not match my taste and it is difficult to find a 4 bolt pattern set of wheels. I kind of need them to have winter tires and summer tires, although it is doing pretty well with the all season I have installed now (Falken Sincera SN 211).
What do you guys think?
Also, I am looking into get new rims, I like the '98 10 spoke rims but they are difficult to find. Any aftermarket set does not match my taste and it is difficult to find a 4 bolt pattern set of wheels. I kind of need them to have winter tires and summer tires, although it is doing pretty well with the all season I have installed now (Falken Sincera SN 211).
What do you guys think?
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