new here! love my civic but need help (electrical)

[LittleCivic87]

hey everyone,
I'm Mike. I'm new here. I drive a 1991 Civic CX which has, unbelievably 114,000km. I bought it off my best friend, who got it from his grandfather. he practically never drove it.

After a few years of me driving it, although I take care of it and really dearly love my civic, it's starting to have some issues that are probably partially a result of being parked outside all the time. (Weather in Calgary sucks btw.)

My problem is an electrical one. first of all, my daytime running lights seem to not function anymore.
more importantly though is my second issue. my city lights don't work, although my full headlights work. the trouble starts here though. when I start my car and turn on my headlights, my side markers and tail lights work. here's the weird part. the minute i release the handbrake, the side markers and the taill lights go out. my brake lights still function when i step on the gas, the dash is still lit, and i still have headlights. but I've now been pulled over for not having tail lights. so i need to get this fixed before i start getting pulled over all the time.

All the fuses under the dash seem to be ok. I've checked them. I haven't had a chance to look under the hood though. could this actually be any of the fuses under the hood though? I also have checked and replaced all the bulbs.

I really hope I can fix this myself if it's simple enough. I could just be overlooking something.

I've only ever seen one other thread on a forum somewhere describing my exact problem. and nobody got back to that guy.

Please help!
Thank you! and I'll be sticking around. see you all!

Mike

p.s. I didn't know if I should repost this in the General Tech forum. I didn't want to double post/flood. but it might be worth it? I'll leave that at the mods discretion. Cheers

 

[EJ6_DMS]

it would be worth checkin them under the hood.
it could have had a dodgy re wire by previous owner at some point?
or due to the age of the car the electrics could be corroding and failing?
not tryin to freak you out btw

 

[LittleCivic87]

looks like the fuses are fine under the hood. I actually went by honda and they told me that it's probably the running light relay (behind the glovebox)
I guess I could try replacing that first. or maybe somehow bypassing it all together.

no dodgy rewire. I know the previous owner and they always took the car to the dealership. it was barely driven as is.

and I figured it probably has something to do with the car just being old and starting to die slowly

no worries about freaking me out. just trying to fix it! thanks!

 

[EJ6_DMS]

cool i hope you get it sorted, be interesting to know wot it is when you find out.

 

[LittleCivic87]

problem solved!

I fixed it! It was the Running light relay that needed to be replaced. it's the one that you find behind the glove box.
I ended up going to a junkyard and poking around a few civics. for those of you that may have this issue in the future, make sure that the relay is the exact same one as the one you already have in your car. My relay is the RZ-0095 and the relay from the 1991 civics doesn't work. it looks the same, but has a different model number and color. it has one pin less. when i plugged it in, it caused my lights to not work at all. funny how the relay in a 1990 civic is different than in a 1991 even though they are the same gen.

Just thought i'd post in case anyone else has this problem.