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Honda Accord (1990-1993) Maintenance and Repair
Mr_Shiftright
Member Posts: 64,481
In order to make the original and highly popular “Honda Accord Owners: Problems and Solutions” forum more manageable, we are dividing that forum into “Accord generations”.
Please make sure you are in the right generation for your Accord, and then post your questions concerning any maintenance or repair item.
Thank you again for helping to make the Accord forums so great here at Edmunds!
MrShiftright
Host
Please make sure you are in the right generation for your Accord, and then post your questions concerning any maintenance or repair item.
Thank you again for helping to make the Accord forums so great here at Edmunds!
MrShiftright
Host
0
Comments
Not likely it is the trans. Make sure you change the fluid often (25K) it only holds about 2qts ($3) and there are no filters you can change, so it's simply drain and fill. Clean dipstick area thoroughly before you check or fill trans to prevent sand/grit from falling in hole.
Tell the dealer just what you said "stumble on light acceleration"
I'm driving a 1993 Accord in cold Canadian weather. Last few days weather has been really cold and I find my windows (all of them) frosted on the inside. One of the side windows does not seal properly and I think it allows the night-time cold into the cabin, dropping the temperature and freezing up any moisture in the cabin. I can't scrape the frost off from the inside and even after a day of driving and trying out the various climate control settings, I can't get rear side windows defrosted. Any advice, recommendations? The cars a beater and I'll be trading in by spring time, so I don't want to spend a lot of money getting the driver side window fit into place. Its only out by a quarter of an inch when fully closed. Is that an easy fix? Thanks.
You may also have a slight leak in the heater core, which will also add humidity. Usually though, you can smell the sweet smelling anti-freeze.
Running the car with the A/C on will also aid in defrosting the windows.
Mrbill
I have a '90 LX and at 175K I enjoy driving it more than nearly every other car I've driven, new or old. The rare times something breaks on it (the original distributor finally gave it up at 170K) I can always find a cheap replacement nearby or on ebay and have it back on the road immediately. Parts are everywhere and any problem you have will likely be one that is well known and easily fixable.
I would not hesitate to buy a well maintained 90-93 Accord as a daughter/son first car. I only wish I had been given something that reliable as a first ride. Then again, you do learn a lot with a car that rarely runs.
In summary, I think you can expect 200K miles out of a 90-93 Accord. I think you will routinely get near 300K with care. And considering just how well-built the cars are, how well documented the few common problems are, how popular that vintage of Accords are (many available cheap parts!), and how helpful other owners are, it's a car you should not lightly pass by.
I live in the Denver area and these are very popular little cars that are sold for more than Blue Book value.
I am a newbie here. I currently have three Hondas. A '91 Accord LX, a '99 Ody EX, and an '05 CR-V EX. My Accord (170,000 miles A/T) has developed a ticking sound coming from somwhere under the timing belt cover towards the lower end of the block. Everything with the head and valves and compression has been adjusted and found to be OK. The ticking is not present at idle and will become audiable at around 2000 RPM and cannot be heard anymore over 3300RPM. I don't know if it goes away or is simply drowned out. Main crank, rod and wrist pin bearings have all been ruled out. The engine runs fine and acts normal under all road conditions. The ticking does not appear to be load related as it is present at a high idle as well as under acceleration. It does seem to be less pronounced during deceleration, when the wheels are 'pushing' the engine... All mechanics want to drop in a new (used) motor, but nobody has been able to identify the source. ...an idler? ...which one? Any pointers or like experiences are greatly appreciated.
Chris.
I have a 1990 accord ex and have noticed that it has been pulling to the left...I have had it aligned twice and its alignment doesnt seem to be the problem...could it be a tire is out of round??? Is there something else that could be causing this....tires are inflated to specs...I havent been able to figure this out...has anyone else had this problem??? Any info would be appreciated....thanks.
*You might be able to verify this before doing the tire switcheroo by inspecting the weather boots on the left side - if any of the joints' rubber sealing boots are torn, grease has exited while moisture and dirt have entered. Bye-bye joint. But CV joints can fail just from normal wear even when the sealing boots are intact.
I have a 1990 accord exr and have noticed that if i take off from rest its slow. upon advice from someone i checked the TCU, the code is 8. i believe this is solenoid problem. Where is the Solenoid and what is the solution?
thanks
femi
im getting code 43 and my book only goes to 42. I dont seem to be loosing fluids and normally it runns great. no misses no off beets. i Know its not the tranny as if you down shift to D3 from d4 the problem does not change.
PLEASE HELP WITH ANY IDEAS!!!!!
under normal acceleration the tach operates fine, but under heavy acceleration it begins to spike and jump all over the place in a range from 4k to 7k on the gauge. Im mean its seriously all over the place under any moderate to heavy acceleration.
Any one have any idea what is causing this??
Does anyone know if this problem is related to bulb burning out or alternator is having problem?
with it dark and your lights on, when you activate the window switch, do you see the lights dimming? a slight dimming of the lights would suggest the motor is getting power when the switch is activated but it isn't moving the window.
if you don't see dimming, then it's possible the switch has gone bad.
to completely diagnose it, i'd probably take it to an independant shop specializing in hondas.
I have a 1990 accord exr and have noticed that if i start the car and take the gear to drive the "S" light keeps on blinking and take off from rest its slow. Upon advice from someone i checked the TCU, the code is 8. i think this is a solenoid problem. Where is the Solenoid and what is the solution?
thanks
femi
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com
i looked at everything AT related but couldn't find an image with a "solenoid". maybe it is a part labeled "valve" that has an electrical pigtail.
it is something with a plate, and some cylinder looking things attached to it.
go to
http://www.ebay.com
and type in:
honda accord shift solenoid
there is one on there - this would give you an idea what it looks like.
this site has information on diagnostic codes for the TCM
http://home.earthlink.net/~michaelpkeefe/HowTo_Codes.htm
"8" seems to imply trouble with the Shift Control Solenoid Valve B...
googling indicated "B" was the lower of the two. not very helpful huh? googling also turned up a procedure where one person recommended using wd40 to clean the screens of the solenoid. i misplaced that link. sorry.
perhaps a local library for a Helms, Haynes, Chilton service manual for your model year? otherwise an independant specializing in honda repairs.
Of course alternators can be fixed. :P The sealed, but replaceable bearings aren't usually the problem, though. The usual problem is just worn brushes and/or one or more faulty diodes making up the full-wave rectifier bridge that converts generated AC current to DC current that the car can use. A rebuilt alternator from an autoparts store is likely to be just as reliable as a very pricey brand-new unit from a take-yer-money-ship's parts department - and may not only even be cheaper than having your old alternator fixed through a mechanic, but carries the peace of mind of a warranty and having had all its electrical subsystems inspected and replaced if necessary. (Most if not all alternators over the last twenty years have the voltage regulator built-in.)
for me, a rebuilt from an autoparts store is the way to go specially if the car is no longer under warranty and it's your dime right? under warranty? new OEM parts please.
two true stories about refirbished parts:
1). i failed a CV joint in my old 5spd/MT accord because i didn't attend to a leaky / torn boot (since then i've learned my lesson). i was told it was cheaper for the half-shaft (?) and CV joint to be replaced... aftermarket / refurb parts, and service done at a shop i trust very much. three days later, my wife out on her own, the shaft failed (?) in the middle of an intersection. the service manager said in 26 yrs in the biz, he's never seen that happen.
2). more to the point, my toyota corolla's alternator dies on my wife. she has it replaced with a remanufactured unit. one week later the replacement dies.
things happen with remanufactured parts, just as they can with new parts... i have a tendency to place more trust in new parts where i think the serviceability of the old part may be complicated or error prone.
When I got the car back it had a bad engine vibration that can be felt all the way through the RPM range, not just at idle. At highway speeds the high frequency vibration can be felt throughout the car so much it will make your hands and feet tingle. The engine noise inside the car has also increased dramatically, probably due to harmonics from the vibration. The car has just been tuned up and is otherwise running great.
I immediately took it back to the dealer. They didn't seem to think it was a problem and after a few minutes determined the culprit was probably the front engine mount(torque rod). This seems an unusual coincidence to me, since the car was smooth and quiet prior to the timing belt replacement.
My question is, does this type of vibration sound characteristic of a worn engine mount?
Happy new year
femi
I replaced the battery and the following day I ran into the following:
Went to work and back (35 miles) with no issues.
Parked the car and then drove it about 10 miles when the sport shift light started flashing.
Parked the car for the night. On the way to work the light was off initially and then started flashing again. A couple of miles later the check engine light came on and the speedo and odo stopped working.
I leave work at the end of the day and dont have any idiot lights on initially but the speedo/odo is still not working. Within a mile or so it all starts over again.
All the while the car is running and shifting like it has since I bought it with 110,000 miles on it. The upshifts are fairly harsh from time to time and often it upshifts at a low rpm (when it probably shouldnt) and does so in a harsh manner...almost like it has a old school shift kit in it.
I've seen similar posts but nothing noting a battery change or all of this stuff happening at once. Can somebody give me some idea as to what I can do to rememdy it? I am assuming that all of the issues are tied to a common cause and that the battery swap probably started the sequence of events.
i suspect everything is connected to a speed pickup sensor which is intermittent. perhaps just a loose wire. i don't know. i think the speedo dropping and the harsh shifting are a result of it failing to sense speed properly.
the problem is the acceleration is going up and down
when this is hapenig the temperature marker dont work
can some body help me
Anyway, I'm having a rough time changing a burnt out driver side headlight bulb. I finally got the power cable off, but I still can't seem to get the actual bulb out. I guess it's supposed to rotate counterclockwise until it releases, but I can't get it to budge. Do I need to push it in while turning it or something? Can anybody walk me through this part? Thanks a million.
If it's just after starting the car (which is a pretty common problem for this vintage), it could be something as simple as a Fast Idle Valve needing to be replaced. This is also a pretty easy part to troubleshoot. Just undo the 2 screws holding on the lid after starting the car, lift the cover, and feel for vacuum.