Honda Accord (1990-1993) Maintenance and Repair

honda169

it will kick out and spin it just makes a whining noise

elroy5

If the starter is actually doing something, it's not the clutch switch. I was under the impression that nothing was happening. From your last post, it sounds like the starter is not engaging the flywheel, and not turning the engine over. Don't know if you can buy just the affected part, or the entire starter would need to be changed though. I would have the starter tested.

Fukuyama

yep.i finally decided to egt a rebuilt TCU. go to ebay and look for the seller: mandigital. i bought one from him 140 bucks with 3 year warranty ...good deal and no more s or D4 blinking

mstaple

Hello,
I have a 1993 Accord EX. I have owned it for about 3 years now with very few problems. For the last couple of days I have been having problems with the gear shift. It's very difficult to shift between gears. Moving the shifter from in gear to neutral is fine, but moving from neutral to any gear requires great force. Since owning this car, I've occasionally had a similar problem with shifting into 1st gear, but now it's all gears.
Has anyone had a similar problem who can offer some insight?
Thanks
Mike

thegraduate

I'm not a mechanic so I'm not much help to you, but just to clarify, you do mean a manual transmission, right? If indeed it is an automatic, check the shift-lock release maybe? If it is a manual, I'm no help!

mstaple

Yes, it is a 5 speed manual transmission.

user777

on some rare occasions, I would have difficulty getting into 1st on my '94 accord MT. what I would do would be to go to reverse first, then back into first. I think this happens to many folks.

but what you are describing sounds a lot like a mis-adjusted or inoperative clutch. i'm pretty challenged in this area, but I'm thinking there is a hydraulic resevoir (clutch master cylinder) for the clutch next to the one for the brakes. look in your owner's manual and see if it describes where the clutch cylinder and resevoir is located, and see if there is sufficient fluid or if there is water in there.

sorry as to not be of more help.

mstaple

Thanks, you were a great help.

That's exactly what it was. The hydraulic resevoir for the clutch was almost empty. I filled it to the max with DOT 3 brake fluid and now everything is running smoothly. Now I just have to watch the fluid levels to see if I have any leaks.

Thanks again.
Mike

user777

right, keep watching it, and if the level appreciably drops you're going to have to find the location of the leak. i'm not sure what honda recommends for the clutch master cylinder, but if its DOT3 brake fluid, you're good. I try to keep it to OEM spec'ed fluids.

glad it worked out.

lilengineerboy

Both the '93 Accords Ive had required a new clutch slave cylinder. Neither required an actual clutch.

user777

same with my '94.

vegetenz

Hi my 92 wagon recently started leaking oil around the valve cover gasket and into the spark plugs, it was idiling really rough and stalling out.So I changed the gaskets and spark plugs. Afterwards it stopped losing oil but still idled rough but now only when it warms up instead of all the time so I'm wondering what could be wrong.

elroy5

If the oil in the spark plug tubes gets high enough, it will short out the plug wires. This will cause the engine to run very rough. The valve cover is not the only place where oil can enter the tubes. If you were to look down the tubes (with a flashlight) you would see there are two seams where the oil can enter. One at the valve cover, and one under the rockerarm assembly (about an inch farther down the tubes). These are sealed by o-rings, and are much more labor to change out. If you could clean the tubes out with a rag, then run the engine for a short time, you may be able to tell which seam the oil is entering from. Good luck.

116549

What would you think of putting some soundproofing material from Advance Auto on the hood? It doesn't have any, and I thought it would be a decent idea, since old cars get a little loud. Would you just slab one on there, or would you have to cut all of the little pieces out to fit the small indentions? Any suggesstions?

elroy5

If you don't want the noise from the engine coming into the cabin, I don't think soundproofing on the hood will do much good. The soundproofing would have to be applied to the firewall, which would be more difficult.

116549

but it would quiet the noise on the outside, wouldnt it?

lilengineerboy

I have never known that motor to be loud. If it is, there is probably something wrong. The original Honda service manual calls for periodic valve adjustments. If you are getting a lot of clicking and tapping, it might be time to check the valves.
If there is an exhaust leak or a cracked manifold/broken stud, the matting on the hood would do little to dampen the noise.
If it is a rod knock or something serious, I certainly wouldn't waste my money on damping the sound if I needed a new engine or a new vehicle.
IIRC there was a sheet of flame-retardant sound deadening material on my hood already. You might be able to find a factory replacement from Majestic Honda or similar.

116549

no, theres definetly not anything wrong with it, I just thought it might be a good idea since it doesn't have one currently. So yours already came with one? Thats weird that there isnt one on mine.

lilengineerboy

You know, I went back and looked through the pictures I have. The '93 EX sedan didn't have one but the '91 LX wagon did. The '91 had its hood replaced at one point though, so I am not positive its a factory Honda hood/pad.
I don't ever remember either of them being remotely loud when serviced though. The '91 had quite a racket until the valves were adjusted, the manifold repaired, and the mid-pipe replaced. It had a super-heavy duty high performance aftermarket alternator installed that once adjusted, never made a lick of noise. The '93 was always quiet.
I would be reluctant to add one if it wasn't there initially. If the hood itself is rattling and making noise, there might be a spot weld that let go, or maybe you could use "spray on bed-liner" material to dampen the vibration on the bottom side.

116549

Yeah, its not bad now, and I dont think I would need to waste money on one, especially since I am getting my dad's 2002 CRV in a few months-only 60000 miles, new tires, runs perfectly, and a 5 speed. pretty cool. thanks for your help!

thegraduate

Got one with the 5-speed, consider yourself LUCKY!

sunilb

My brother's 1992 Accord EX has 160K miles on it, and he's telling me that he's only getting ~ 20mpg in mixed use. He's a pretty mellow driver (no fast starts/stops).

This is after he's had a major tune-up done on it (spark plugs, air filter, etc) and checked the tire pressure.... what could be causing this? Is there anything we can do to increase his gas mileage?

Thoughts?

lilengineerboy

My '93 Accord 5spd F/E tanked on winter gas. It went from 31 to about 26/27. I was surprised at the extreme drop.
I would probably check/change the fuel filter and run techron or a similar additive to clean the fuel system and injectors. Some people have had good luck with SeaFoam but I haven't used it. Oh, is the car running cool? Sometimes if the car won't heat up fast enough, it stays in cold start mode longer and uses more gas. That is typically either changing the thermostat or the coolant sensor.
You might also want to check the alignment (if the wheels aren't going straight, it puts a drag on the system) and the brakes (dragging brakes obviously aren't so good).

thegraduate

I wonder how long his typical trips are. Short trips, letting the car warm up for a long time, etc.. can really hurt mileage. To be fair, the revised EPA Estimates for that car are only 19/26, so 20 isn't TOO terrible. I'm sure you know Hondas are typically more than capable of doing at least as well as the OLD estimates, much less the new ones. I'm no mechanic, but my suggestions were going to be to check the air filter and spark plugs, so now I've got nothing!

corkscrew

Do Honda's have a sub-filter like the same year Integras? Agree, that short trips will hurt mileage. Engine needs to be at operating temp for best mileage.

lilengineerboy

Perhaps check the fuel filter on the firewall.

user777

first thing i'd do is inflate the tires to the pressure listed on the sidewall. i'd make sure there weren't any obvious obstructions in the air path upstream and downstream of the new engine air filter.

i'd have a new set of high-quality plugs put in the thing.

i'd run a bottle of injection cleaner.

could be a sticking throttle body or fast idle issue.

yeah short trips, failure to really get the thing to temp, and seasonal changes in fuel could have something to do with the lowered F/E.

is the vehicle bogging going uphill, like perhaps it is underpowered?

if so, it's possible the CAT is beginning to loose efficiency and drastically changing the back pressure on the engine. when that happens the available power and the F/E will start trending downward.

sunilb

thanks, everyone!

his trips have varied from 2 miles to 20 miles, mostly (80% of the time).

i'll double-check his tire pressure and I'm pretty sure he had a new air filter and spark plugs put in (but i'll double check that as well). not sure about the fuel filter.

will definitely add the injection cleaner this evening.

if we could this thing up to the mid-20s that would be more respectable.

user777

to see if he's really got an issue, take it on the highway and cruise at 65 for a good 250-300 miles, and avg a few tanks.

that kind of short tripping in stop-n-go, sounds like that is the major factor. vehicle is mostly hanging out in a rich condition.

lilengineerboy

first thing i'd do is inflate the tires to the pressure listed on the sidewall.

I would advise against this. The pressure listed on the sidewall is the MAXIMUM INFLATION PRESSURE. As the car is driven, the tires heat up, and the air inside the tire heats up. When air is heated, it expands. This means the tire pressure is above the MAXIMUM INFLATION PRESSURE. This creates an unsafe condition.
Is the tire going to blow off the rim? Probably not. Is that taking a risk? Yes.
*Would the ride quality suck? Yes*

elroy5

first thing i'd do is inflate the tires to the pressure listed on the sidewall.

Isn't that 44lbs? I imagine that would feel like you were riding on the rims. Not worth the extra mileage IMO.

user777

thanks, i meant to about 4to5 psi below max inflation pressure. :shades:

on my '02 with 44psi max, i don't inflate to 32 or 36.

i target 39/40.

pyradell

I have a 90 and a 93 honda accord. each with problems that the other seems to not have.is it possible to just simply put them together without real problems? like the 93 transmission put into the 90 and struts switched and stuff like that. will it work??

elroy5

The transmission computer is one thing I know is different between the 90 & 93 models. The 90 had the sport-shift mode, and blinked trouble codes at the computer, and the 93 uses the D4 light on the dash to blink codes, and has no sport-shift mode. Those are the only two differences I know of, but it could mean different wireing and plugs on the computers. I would check that out before switching the trannys. Good luck

tdussault

Occasionally my RPM just goes to 0 for no reason. the car was stalling before but oil was leaking into the pugs so I had the gasket replaced and the plugs and the fuel filter. Runs OK but just sometimes it bogs and the RPM goes down. Wondering if anybody has this issue. Car has 176,000 on it just my winter beater.

row17

My 1993 accord was bogging down spuradically (like it was running out of fuel) & it turned out to be the EGR valve.......

Roland

blufz1

Don't spend any more money on it. It's probably just your cold start,short trip driving. To test,just fill up at a freeway on ramp station then fill up again on the way back at the same pump and check the mileage. Try to combine short trips and errands and run more of them with a warm engine and fewer w/ a cold start.

lmgrizzle

I removed my heat shield to get at my oxygen sensor and in the process sheared off the bolts that hold it on. Is it bad to have it off or should I not worry about? My intuition tells me it doesn't matter, but I'm not sure.

pyradell

90 honda accord le and 93 honda accord se..am i able to switch front ends? tire rods....etc..

lilengineerboy

Majestic Honda

Has microfilm online (exploded parts views) for all models and years of Hondas. You can go there and see if the part numbers are the same. If they are, then you're golden, if not, you might have to do some more trial and error.

My guess would be the spindles, uprights, and axles and bearings would be different since the 93 has ABS and the 90s doesn't. Tie-rods are like $30 on eBay, you might want to just get new ones.

pyradell

my key wont turn when i go to start my car. i know turn the wheel and stuff like that. but even if i do it sometimes it just wont budge. this car has front end problems. would this have anything to do with this?? if not, would taking it apart be the best idea? the steering wheel that is.

lilengineerboy

I did have to replace the ignition cylinder on my '93. The key switch wouldn't turn. The '91 had to get replaced because it would turn but not do anything.

elroy5

Click on this link and read up. It will probably give you an idea what the problem is. Good luck
http://techauto.awardspace.com/ignitionswitch.html

marcia4

Hello all! this is my first post - a newbie.

Have a 92 Accord with 162K. Car was overheating (no red) and mechanic thought it was the temp. coolant sensor (for the computer) and said I could save some money and replace it myself. Bought the Neihous (sp?) brand as instructed. Couldn't get the sensor out (didn't have right tool) and so I (my bad) drove it for a month or so and used the temp. dial to reduce the temp. Fans didn't want to run consistently - sometimes they would, sometimes not. OK, so new radiator because it split a seam on top and mechanic replaced the temp. sensor at that time.

Just before Thanksgiving, was driving up to Morris, MN and the heater is blowing ONLY cool air (it just started blowing cold air - had heat before that).

Drove home with cool air, called my mechanic and he said it was probably low on coolant. Sure enough, opened radiator cap and saw no liquid, so added to top. But, now I don't have heat and it's COLD in MN and the car is still overheating (well, never reached the red zone, but the gauge goes almost to the red and then the fan kicks on and car cools down some.

Usually, the temp. gauge 'lives' around the D for drive, but now, once it reaches temp., it will climb up to the N (drive, neutral, park, etc.) and stays there, regardless of RPM... however, when I come to a stop sign or light, the engine temp climbs. Once I start moving, the gauge drops down to N again.

The really weird thing, though, is the hotter the engine gets, the cooler the air.

My mechanic has replaced:

radiator
temp. sensor
thermostat
coolant flush
heater core flush
some other valve cleaned out
water pump ) which looked fine, by the way but replaced it anyway along with the timing belt and some offset (?) something-or-other belt since he was there anyway

He doesn't think it's the head gasket, because I haven't noticed any white smoke and when re-filling the system with coolant, the air bubbles are clear (no gaseous smell or look) and apparently the oil looks fine and I haven't noticed any fluid leak on the snow where I park.

After he put in the water pump, we ran the car in his shop for at least 20 minutes and the thermostat opened up fine, the heater was blowing HOT air like crazy and the temp gauge stayed on the "D" and didn't climb. Yea! We thought it was fixed!

I started to drive home and approx. 2 miles along, after going up a steep, curvy incline, the temp. once again started to climb but the heat kept blowing Ok. by the time I had gone approx. 8 miles, the temp was almost up to the "P"ark and heater was blowing cool air. Then the road started going downhill (15% grade) and the temp. started to come down some but still blowing cool air. For some reason, the temp will go down slightly when going downhill.

I know I've gone on and on, but this problem has been going on for a long time.

Anybody have a clue what is wrong? I really appreciate any help.

M

kiawah

Not a Honda guru here, but I thought I remembered reading where the cooling system gets air-blocked after a drain refill, and you need to jack up the right front corner of the vehicle and open some air drain screw.

You might want to send an email to Elroy5@carspace.com, from your carspace email. See mailbox in upper right hand corner. I believe this one is right up his alley.

marcia4

Thank you! I'll email him now. Appreciate your response

M

elroy5

From all those symptoms, it could be the fan timer, air in the system, or clogging. Read the link below, it should help. Good luck

http://techauto.awardspace.com/overheating.html

pat

Let's not ask people to take conversation off-line - keeping the questions and answers here on the board will help many others now and in the future by building the Forums' knowledgebase. When the conversation goes off-line, that opportunity is lost.

And, as we see, elroy5 is here and helping, as always.

Marcia4, welcome to CarSpace! Glad to have you here. Keep us posted.

kiawah

Sorry, 30 lashes....

pat

Heh, not necessary. Have some egg nog - there's some over there on the table for everyone.