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View Full Version : Third gen in Car Talk article, in paper



FatDave
10-08-2004, 11:47 AM
yeah, im sitting in the crapper this morning with my trusty automotive section on the St.louis Post Dispatch and what do i see? Tom and Ray talking about our Beloved 3rd gens here goes it :

Dear Tom & Ray: After spending the day working under the hood of my 1989 Honda Accord, i found myself cursing the engineers who vomited this forsaken labyrinth into my engine compartment. Then i wondered: Which makes and models made within the past 10 years are the easiest for the average shade-tree mechanic to work on? Bill

Ray : I feel your pain, Bill. Your car is, in fact one of the biggest pains in the ball joints for an amateur to work on. You couldn't access anything inside the engine compartment without taking off at least 10 vacuum hoses.

Tom: I remember the vacuum-hose diagram for that car. I think it weighed about 14 pounds.

Ray: That was the era in which vacuum hoses and solenoids were the preferred methods of emissions control, especially by japanese automakers, who insisted on maintaining high mileage while controlling emissions. Nobody really knew how to do that yet, so they were patching together anything they could find that would work. And to honda's credit , the stuff did work. It's cars had low emissions and great gas mileage, and they were very reliable. But all that stuff did make it difficult for shade-tree mechanics.

Tom: The truth is, almost any car made in the past 10 years will be better. by the mid 90's, carmakers were switching over to much more sophisticated computerized engine-management systems to control emissions. Todays cars have just a handful of vacuum hoses

Ray: I think the easiest to work on are late-model, four-cylinder Japanese cars. Anything from 2000 on will be easy compared with what you're used to.

Tom: so, you got hosed, bil -- vacuum hosed. so did all of us who worked on cars from that era

accordlxi2.0
10-08-2004, 11:58 AM
haha . . . ..
that's some stuff, i kinda agree.
but i say once you take off the air box, everything is easy to get to.
that's why i'm dying to take the emission test and get a civic air box.

i think they are used to domestic's though if they say 200 and up on import's . . . .

A20A1
10-08-2004, 12:57 PM
Holy sh!t thats hallarious ... lol

At least they provide a accurate discription and give credit to keihin / Honda for working out the emissions and milage issue without a heavy reliance on ECU management.

FatDave
10-08-2004, 03:18 PM
ya know i was rather pissed about that article then realized my god, im so used to working on my the 3rd gens that im immune! when i had to replace the water pump on the first one i had, i cussed and screamed and jumped up and down while taking 4 hours to do it, without this you guys on this board i'd have moved on long ago i may not post much, but i'ev been hanging around almost a year now and have a DEEP respect for alot of you guys and the honda engineers

accordlxi2.0
10-08-2004, 06:32 PM
i have to admit though, carb's suck but i rather have a honda than a domestic.
it took me like 1 day to do the alternator, and trust me dave i was bicthing and screaming just like you, cuase i had started my job and needed to get the car running again.

but thanks to the pro's here on 3g's they helped me out.

oh man when the engine went down because my stupid ass tried to replace the side engine mount, lol, that was funny.
i could'nt think of what else to do but leave it and come to these guys.
but they help me out here too, fast also.

even when it was a different car.

Jareds 89 LX-i
10-08-2004, 07:09 PM
Back in the day I always had that stereotypical thought too that foreign cars were harder and more cramped to work on. Once I got the 3rd gen though (as well as my moms 5th gen, my sisters Maxima, and her old Mazda too) and actually started messing with it and doing stuff, I realized that it's really not all that hard at all, you just need to know what to do and how to do it, and then it's easy! Now that I work on Fords everyday, let me tell you compared to some of these newer cars (not talking about vacuum lines.... those are a bitch I do admit, but just about every older car had the same thing) are much much harder to work on. Not saying everything, but in general. Try doing just about anything on a Lincoln LS, even the 3.0 V6 is ubber cramped, much less the 3.9L V8. Or a late model Continental (FWD 4.6L DOHC 32valve V8), just to do a serpantine belt takes about an hour if your good. I can't even get one of my skinny fingers between the tensioner pulley and the frame of the car. Or an alternator on a 2.5L Cougar... LOL forget it!! A 3 bolt starter on some older 4.6's and on Focus's.... don't even bother. A/C compressor on a 24valve Duratec Taurus/Sable... not much fun either. Evaporators.... almost all of them, gotta pull the entire dash off. Compared to all of these cars, my 3g is a total piece of cake to do everything I just mentioned! Hell I can have the alternator out in about 20 minutes. Once you know how to do stuff, it makes it so much easier than you thought :)

nswst8
10-08-2004, 07:17 PM
that we do so much on our cars here that we have turned into the very thing that we envy. 3rd Gen experts :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: .
I have no problem at all jumping knee into the accord.

accordlxi2.0
10-08-2004, 07:26 PM
oh man the sable, i like the power but it's under ford.
see my mom did good, cause for some reason the ford's reliabilty is worse than mercury well some mercury's.

people would tell me don't buy a honda part's are expensive.
and the lower ball joint's go out quickly, because teh car sit's low( that's only on the 4th gen)

and so on.

actully my dad's 95 240sx is a bitch to work on.
and the part's are expensive . . . . ..

Strugglebucket
10-08-2004, 08:33 PM
heh, this thread is making me proud of myself:)
Seriously though, I think my third gen is pretty easy to work on. And the FI model's vacuum hose stuff is really pretty basic. My car is the first car I've had where I can look in the engine bay and know exactly what everything does, how it works, and how it comes apart and goes back together. That's probably why I'll never get rid of it.

Andrew
10-09-2004, 06:32 AM
that's why i'm dying to take the emission test and get a civic air box.

Why are you waiting until after your emmissions test to get the civic air box, it shouldn't affect your emmissions should it?

accordlxi2.0
10-09-2004, 08:48 AM
oh yea your right! lol, lol.
oh man what was i thinking last night.

actully i should say i can't wait to remove the ABC valve.

but really i can't wait to start my efi swap.

i know i won't be making a mistake.

A20A1
10-09-2004, 02:27 PM
keep the air bleed valve from the stock air box.. you may need them

speedpenguin
10-11-2004, 03:29 PM
actually the car talk guys strongly prefer imports.
as for the hoses, it's just something you have to get used to. 3rd gens do have a whole bunch of hoses that can be incredibly frustrating if you're not used to it.

sporkHSP
10-14-2004, 05:24 PM
yeah, im sitting in the crapper this morning with my trusty automotive section on the St.louis Post Dispatch and what do i see? Tom and Ray talking about our Beloved 3rd gens here goes it :


hey, its another STL 3gee. whats up man? i live in University City(when im not in Chicago for school).


i learned mechanics on this accord, and so far every hood ive looked under has seemed easier to handle than the LX. But when we were in Arkansas pulling the transmission for my car, we were pretty pissed at the Honda Engineers.

AccordEpicenter
10-14-2004, 05:32 PM
hmmm... idk about you guys but the 3g has been one of the easiest cars to pull trannies out of... particularly 5 speed cars.

carotman
10-15-2004, 09:20 AM
The EFI system is pretty simple when it comes to vaccum hoses (especially the 88-89). It doesn't have more hoses than any later accord except for the map sensor.

The carb was a pain... no wonder I converted to EFI :D

speedpenguin
10-18-2004, 03:47 PM
the carbureted ones are the difficult ones, i had trouble with the tranny, too.
haven't worked with an EFI yet, but it sounds a whole lot easier.

truetune
10-31-2004, 02:42 PM
umm, thats a funny ass article the accord hard to work on my ass, sense I got rid of all the AC, PS, and stock air box the car is ubber easy to work on, though I kinda feel sorry for you carby guys EFI is the way to be. I think a rotory may be a slight task to play with cuz I duno WTH Im looking at when I see one of those along with a boxer subaru motor. Those are quite interesting.

accordlxi2.0
10-31-2004, 05:02 PM
oh trust me efi is easy to work on.
thats why when io had my lx-i i did'nt really work on it, i worked on the lx more than i did mines.
that's why i'm gonna convert to efi as soon as i start working.

FatDave
11-01-2004, 06:24 PM
i cussed honda when i replaced the fuel filter, i cussed them when the door fell off my sedan, i cussed them the first time me sunroof pissed on me backing out of my driveway, but i give them props everytime i look at the oddometer, or when im motoring at 85 - 90 mph, and getting better MPG than most cars doing 55, and the day i realized just about every nut or bolt on these cars is 10,12,or 14MM

speedpenguin
11-08-2004, 04:19 PM
amen