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Yeah no problem. I really appreciate all the help. I often find it hard to get any info on these cars so it's nice to have a place where ppl are still actively finding that info and posting it. Hopefully helps more people. Just got back from the autolock place. I slid the key and fob over and said have you ever seen one of these. Your man straight away went that's a rover infared key fob. He took the key apart and found lots of damaged components in it and set about repairing it so I've to wait for a call. I asked what the story is long term. He said he has never seen a chipped key alongside one of them fobs, it's always just the fob that disarms the immobiliser and a plastic key with it. I don't believe that though for two reasons, one, who designs a system with no redundancy and two, the pic below which is from a rover key with a matching chip in it. Basically he said that the fob can't be copied as they're not available anymore and that fixing that one is about the top and bottom. He reckons Honda won't have a bar of me either with the age of the car. I'm not gonna take that as gospel. When I get to the bottom of this I will let you know what happened. I was halfway through fully restoring my car when this happened so I'm not just gonna stop like. There's only a handful of them left in Ireland and I've been looking after it ten years now. They'll have to bury me in it at this stage haha. I won't be stopping anytime soon anyways. I'll keep you posted

It sounds like you need to get a project thread started

Think I'll try some of your gunk Dave The engine bay is the one bit of the new one that needs some smartening up.

Jeese, so many little things and Honda did with individual cars to make things complicated years done the line! Glad you got that sorted mate! Regarding getting a key chipped, I'm pretty sure they need the key that has the chip so they can clone the chip? Not sure if they might be able to do it from the fob, always worth a try. Thanks for writing this up though as all this info is useful right now and even more so in years to come for these cars.

Flicking through the original brochure for the car is awesome isn't it! Love the original books for these. Best thing for degreasing the bay, and I've been using this since the 80's (and my dad used it since the 70's!) is "GUNK". It's availabe in spray on (great for getting into tight areas) and once sprayed on, leave for about 3 mins then work with a brush. Finally rinse off then wash area with normal hot water/car shampoo and dry it all off. It gets rid of caked on oil and all sorts, really good stuff mate! Found some pics of Ruby and DD's bays after I'd "Gunked" em!

The rear wheel arches are available for the civic on ebay and all4honda. They're cheap enough. I done the whole rear wheel arches on mine and carried on with the sills from there. The sills are not a complicated shape so although it's a pain, it's not too bad as long as the rust hasn't reached under the door, that's where it gets tricky. Also worth noting that there is stuff available for preventing sill rust, it's like a waxy stuff that you spray inside the sill and behind panels. I can't remember what it's called but it slows down any rusting from inside out nicely I'm told. Haven't gotten some myself yet but its on the list for future proofing

Glad that you got to the bottom of it mate.. Nice puzzle that one

And there's your fob listed for a rover 600. Same board

Theres the pics with the numbers from inside the keyfob. My mate found most information by following the part number on that little black chip.

Right, so there has been developments. I took the information I got from yourselves, another forum about an mb6 I found on here, the Haynes manual for my car and I talked to an electrical controls engineer who's a friend of mine who was able to find ridiculous amounts of information by having a look at the little circuit board that is inside my key fob, so strap in haha. First off, you were all absolutely correct about the key, it's a copy, original key probably long gone. I found out that there was in fact an optional extra alarm from factory. Tell tail signs of your car having it are that there's no siren, it just sounds the horn repeatedly, no extra boxes or anything around the car (obvious I know but stick with me) and an infared receiver made into the dome light next to the rear view mirror. I will post pictures of that last one but my car has all of those. So, I found out its one of very few alarm systems that used an IR signal instead of radio waves and I found out that Honda wired these so that the immobiliser can be disarmed two ways. One, the IR key fob sends the signal, the car is happy and switches it off with the alarm. The second is the chip in the key, so when the fob dies your still good, car detects the key, happy out, triggers the central locking to say its happy when you turn it and switches everything off. What happened to me is that whoever owned the car before me lost that original key but had the two plastic copies and the two keyfobs which turned out to be made by valeo and were also used in the rover 600 and a couple of integras. I also seen the circuit board part number on a Renault site too which was weird. So basically with the absence of the chipped key, my car has been relying on the fobs to disarm all along. I realised that turning the key in the door only works if the fob is powered up, presumably because the fob still interacts with the car. My controls friend said that the car probably looks for the infared emitter when you turn the key and the fob automatically bounces back. So long story short, I split the fob and seen that the battery contacts were slightly corroded. I sanded them back and put it back together. Turned the key in the door, bam, immobiliser switched off, alarm turned off. My next mission is seeing if I can get the IR signal cloned with new fobs. I'm also going to see and auto locksmith tomorrow to see if there's any way I can get a new chipped key. I had that done before with a Toyota, I just brought them the ECU and the key together and the sorted it in 20mins but my car being the major pain it is I won't hold out hope for a solution that simple but I will let you know. So there you go haha. If there's anything I got wrong please let me know but I put a lot of effort into getting this info so I hope it's all sound. Sure looks like it from my end. Thanks so much again to everyone.

Hi All, Hope you're all doing alright - long time without an update. First off, I had the timing belt & other belts changed around the new year (if i remember right) so happier knowing thats been done. Next on the list is the clutch when funds allow. I've finally got round to fitting a 3 point front brace I got for Christmas - fitting wasn't too bad but needed a few things doing first for ref: Air con & PAS pipes needed a nudge over, the bracket which holds the wires/connectors next to the drivers side strut needed removing, needed to remove the bracket on the bulkhead which holds the throttle cable and pipe from the master servo to intake & the fuel filter holder bracket which holds them needed chopping off too. Oh and the holes on the brace where the tops of the suspension turrets go through needed enlarging slightly. Not had a chance to test it out yet so will report back. All this has made me tempted to remove the air con to declutter things slightly, never use it so just lugging it around! It does highlight just how grim the engine bay is though so will need to give that a good clean at somepoint. Can anyone recommend a decent degreaser/cleaner for the engine? Was also thinking of removing the resonator from the airbox - Is there any drawbacks from doing this other than an increase of noise? Did also pick up a brochure for the car - proper impulse buy but so pleased with it: Cheers, Dan

Hope you feel better soon mate. I wonder if your immune system has kicked in more with you having it before? Hopefully the next one is milder.

As long as your for for Forza tomorrow mate! ;) Seriously, hope ur ok tho :(