1987 Honda Accord Needs Help!!!

[Esquire3Gz]

In April '09 I bought my first car off of Craigslist, a 1987 Honda Accord LX. I was told that all that was wrong with it was the carberatour. So, I went to the local Pull-A-Part and bout a new one and installed it. She ran for about four days with these: Smoke from engine, smoke from tailpipe, and high idle RPM. After the 4th day, she would stall whenever I wouldn't have the gas pedal pressed. So at redlights, speedbumps, stop signs, and etc, she would cut off. I was then informed that I had an oil leak from my Valve Cover and Oil Pan Plug. With futher inspection I figured out more.

Problems of Concern:
1) If I start my car without pressing the gas, she comes on and turn immediatley off. Why?

2) If I start my car with my foot pressing the gas, she'll eventually turn off. Why?

3) My disrtibutor is leaking but there is no oil resedue on the rotor inside of the distributor cap. Would a bad distributor cause my car to cut off or is it related to something else?

4) There is a knocking in my valve cover, what is that?

I just honestly want knowledge, answers, and guidence! It's my first car and I don't wanna give up on it. I've always wanted a bad ass Honda anyway. If you guys need pictures or anything let me know! I NEED HELP ASAP! Thanks in advance.

[1987AccordLx-i]

In April '09 I bought my first car off of Craigslist, a 1987 Honda Accord LX. I was told that all that was wrong with it was the carberatour. So, I went to the local Pull-A-Part and bout a new one and installed it. She ran for about four days with these: Smoke from engine, smoke from tailpipe, and high idle RPM. After the 4th day, she would stall whenever I wouldn't have the gas pedal pressed. So at redlights, speedbumps, stop signs, and etc, she would cut off. I was then informed that I had an oil leak from my Valve Cover and Oil Pan Plug. With futher inspection I figured out more.

Problems of Concern:
1) If I start my car without pressing the gas, she comes on and turn immediatley off. Why?

2) If I start my car with my foot pressing the gas, she'll eventually turn off. Why?

3) My disrtibutor is leaking but there is no oil resedue on the rotor inside of the distributor cap. Would a bad distributor cause my car to cut off or is it related to something else?

4) There is a knocking in my valve cover, what is that?

I just honestly want knowledge, answers, and guidence! It's my first car and I don't wanna give up on it. I've always wanted a bad ass Honda anyway. If you guys need pictures or anything let me know! I NEED HELP ASAP! Thanks in advance.

smoke from the engine means your leaking oil on the exhaust... what color is the smoke from the tailpipe?

1] carb could be bad or badly tuned
2] same as 1
3] just change the o-ring on the distributor
4] what kind of knocking... tick tick tick... or BANG BANG BANG?

and pictures always help us make better solutions

[lostforawhile]

In April '09 I bought my first car off of Craigslist, a 1987 Honda Accord LX. I was told that all that was wrong with it was the carberatour. So, I went to the local Pull-A-Part and bout a new one and installed it. She ran for about four days with these: Smoke from engine, smoke from tailpipe, and high idle RPM. After the 4th day, she would stall whenever I wouldn't have the gas pedal pressed. So at redlights, speedbumps, stop signs, and etc, she would cut off. I was then informed that I had an oil leak from my Valve Cover and Oil Pan Plug. With futher inspection I figured out more.

Problems of Concern:
1) If I start my car without pressing the gas, she comes on and turn immediatley off. Why?

2) If I start my car with my foot pressing the gas, she'll eventually turn off. Why?

3) My disrtibutor is leaking but there is no oil resedue on the rotor inside of the distributor cap. Would a bad distributor cause my car to cut off or is it related to something else?

4) There is a knocking in my valve cover, what is that?

I just honestly want knowledge, answers, and guidence! It's my first car and I don't wanna give up on it. I've always wanted a bad ass Honda anyway. If you guys need pictures or anything let me know! I NEED HELP ASAP! Thanks in advance.pick and pull carb doesn't mean a thing, probably the same things wrong with your old carb. might be WHY it was at pick and pull. very few people can fix these carbs, i tell everyone go to importcarbs.com best price on a tested good rebuild.

[jasonrebellion]

you can buy a new oil plug with a gasket for like 3 bucks at autozone, that should fix that leak. the first 2 sound like an idle issue.

[Esquire3Gz]

My brother has well knowledge about cars and he's definatley helping me but he's not expert so tht's why I'm trying to reach out to you guys as aids also. My brother also has a friend that is a mechanic. He came out to my car and did some looking for himself. After jacking up the front and going under the car, he told me that I had a rear main seal leak. I can't fix that myself because it order to reach it, I have to remove my transaxle (coming from Hanyes Manual) unless you guys would know otherwise?

The smoke coming from the car is a blue-ish color. Just recently my Coolant reserve top popped off and my coolant bubbled over! I was scared as hell, only because I had no idea what happened! After it stopped I looked around my engine and noticed that I had coolant running out the meeting of my cylinder head and engine block. So, yes, I do have a bad head gasket. I would like to try to fix it myself to save money but, it looks like I'ma just have to pay for it.

I changed the O-Ring on my distributor already and she still seems to be leaking. After more inspection, I noticed that the black cap behind my rotor was movable. It must have broke somehow. Unless you guys would know of how to fix this piece, I'll just buy a new one.

As far as my valves go, how would I adjust those? I know when I touch the top of of the valve cover it seems like the knocking. coming directly from the right side. The knocking is more like a tapping, not BOOM BOOM! Lmao!

I just checked out the price of Carbs and them things ain't cheap! I"ve heard of guys taking them aprt and giving them a good cleaning and such. Would you guys recomend this? If so, what cleaning solution?

How do you post pics? I have a video also of my car acting up tht I'll post.

[Xybris]

As far as my valves go, how would I adjust those? I know when I touch the top of of the valve cover it seems like the knocking. coming directly from the right side. The knocking is more like a tapping, not BOOM BOOM! Lmao!


This is a good guide with nice pictures: http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39319

[1987AccordLx-i]

sorry to say but that blue smoke means your head gasket is shot... could be the cause of your bad idle and the coolant bubbling over...

is the knocking constant or only when you rev the engine? if constant then its the valves.. if under load then its deep internal engine...

all these things are fairly easy to fix if you have the money...

to post a pic, put the IMG code here... for video im not sure.. but post the link to the video here so we can see it where ever its at (youtube, photobucket, etc)

[Dr_Snooz]

My brother has well knowledge about cars and he's definatley helping me but he's not expert so tht's why I'm trying to reach out to you guys as aids also. My brother also has a friend that is a mechanic. He came out to my car and did some looking for himself. After jacking up the front and going under the car, he told me that I had a rear main seal leak. I can't fix that myself because it order to reach it, I have to remove my transaxle (coming from Hanyes Manual) unless you guys would know otherwise?

The smoke coming from the car is a blue-ish color. Just recently my Coolant reserve top popped off and my coolant bubbled over! I was scared as hell, only because I had no idea what happened! After it stopped I looked around my engine and noticed that I had coolant running out the meeting of my cylinder head and engine block. So, yes, I do have a bad head gasket. I would like to try to fix it myself to save money but, it looks like I'ma just have to pay for it.

I changed the O-Ring on my distributor already and she still seems to be leaking. After more inspection, I noticed that the black cap behind my rotor was movable. It must have broke somehow. Unless you guys would know of how to fix this piece, I'll just buy a new one.

As far as my valves go, how would I adjust those? I know when I touch the top of of the valve cover it seems like the knocking. coming directly from the right side. The knocking is more like a tapping, not BOOM BOOM! Lmao!

I just checked out the price of Carbs and them things ain't cheap! I"ve heard of guys taking them aprt and giving them a good cleaning and such. Would you guys recomend this? If so, what cleaning solution?

How do you post pics? I have a video also of my car acting up tht I'll post.

Alright, take a deep breath. Your first car is a big responsibility but you don't need to freak out about it. These wonderful little cars will drive hundreds of miles without oil or coolant. They keep running even if they need head gaskets, main bearings and new distributors. Yours isn't going to explode in the next two days, so you have time to figure out what's going on and fix it.

If you overfill your coolant reservoir tank, it will bubble out like that when the car warms up. The coolant at the head gasket could be a leak from an oring higher up so look for that. The running issues sound like you got a crap carb from the yard. It's actually more likely that a carb from the yard will be crap than that it won't. Blue smoke usually means burning oil but it can be hard to tell the difference between black smoke (gas) and blue smoke (oil). Make sure that you are indeed getting blue smoke. My guess is that it's gas from your crappy carb.

You can rebuild your own carb, but you shouldn't. At least not yet. You want to learn on easy stuff first. Carbs, and especially these carbs, are very difficult. Start with oil changes and work up from there.

I'd be very surprised if you have a rear main seal leak. You probably have a valve cover gasket leak which is dribbling down to the bottom of the engine and looking a lot like a rear main leak. Most oil leaks on these cars are just a few $3 - $20 orings or gaskets that are very easy to fix.

The tapping is probably valves. Just adjust them. It's relatively easy, but there is a "feel" to it that will take a long time to acquire. You can try it, but be prepared to do it a few times before finally getting it right.

A head gasket is a major repair and you'd do well to leave that one to someone else for now.

Don't worry about the black piece inside your distributor moving. It's no big deal.

The upshot here is that a good mechanic always looks for the cheap fix before going to the expensive one. Before buying a new carb, run a can of fuel injector cleaner through it first. See if that helps. If not, then move on from there. Spend some time in the carb section of this board. There are a number of incredibly knowledgeable carb members here, so read extensively and then post any questions in that section.

Last bit and then I'll stop. This is the link to the Honda factory service manual. (http://honda.roadpwnage.com/manuals/pages/usdm-accord-1989-full.php) It's your best friend. Learn it, live it, love it.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[lostforawhile]

Alright, take a deep breath. Your first car is a big responsibility but you don't need to freak out about it. These wonderful little cars will drive hundreds of miles without oil or coolant. They keep running even if they need head gaskets, main bearings and new distributors. Yours isn't going to explode in the next two days, so you have time to figure out what's going on and fix it.

If you overfill your coolant reservoir tank, it will bubble out like that when the car warms up. The coolant at the head gasket could be a leak from an oring higher up so look for that. The running issues sound like you got a crap carb from the yard. It's actually more likely that a carb from the yard will be crap than that it won't. Blue smoke usually means burning oil but it can be hard to tell the difference between black smoke (gas) and blue smoke (oil). Make sure that you are indeed getting blue smoke. My guess is that it's gas from your crappy carb.

You can rebuild your own carb, but you shouldn't. At least not yet. You want to learn on easy stuff first. Carbs, and especially these carbs, are very difficult. Start with oil changes and work up from there.

I'd be very surprised if you have a rear main seal leak. You probably have a valve cover gasket leak which is dribbling down to the bottom of the engine and looking a lot like a rear main leak. Most oil leaks on these cars are just a few $3 - $20 orings or gaskets that are very easy to fix.

The tapping is probably valves. Just adjust them. It's relatively easy, but there is a "feel" to it that will take a long time to acquire. You can try it, but be prepared to do it a few times before finally getting it right.

A head gasket is a major repair and you'd do well to leave that one to someone else for now.

Don't worry about the black piece inside your distributor moving. It's no big deal.

The upshot here is that a good mechanic always looks for the cheap fix before going to the expensive one. Before buying a new carb, run a can of fuel injector cleaner through it first. See if that helps. If not, then move on from there. Spend some time in the carb section of this board. There are a number of incredibly knowledgeable carb members here, so read extensively and then post any questions in that section.

Last bit and then I'll stop. This is the link to the Honda factory service manual. (http://honda.roadpwnage.com/manuals/pages/usdm-accord-1989-full.php) It's your best friend. Learn it, live it, love it.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.well he has those carbs on sale for just over 230, thats not bad, these aren't like holleys to rebuild, these are a major pain to build and make them work right again, actually knowing that the carb is not going to conk out on you is well worth the money,

[Esquire3Gz]

Alright, take a deep breath. Your first car is a big responsibility but you don't need to freak out about it. These wonderful little cars will drive hundreds of miles without oil or coolant. They keep running even if they need head gaskets, main bearings and new distributors. Yours isn't going to explode in the next two days, so you have time to figure out what's going on and fix it.

If you overfill your coolant reservoir tank, it will bubble out like that when the car warms up. The coolant at the head gasket could be a leak from an oring higher up so look for that. The running issues sound like you got a crap carb from the yard. It's actually more likely that a carb from the yard will be crap than that it won't. Blue smoke usually means burning oil but it can be hard to tell the difference between black smoke (gas) and blue smoke (oil). Make sure that you are indeed getting blue smoke. My guess is that it's gas from your crappy carb.

You can rebuild your own carb, but you shouldn't. At least not yet. You want to learn on easy stuff first. Carbs, and especially these carbs, are very difficult. Start with oil changes and work up from there.

I'd be very surprised if you have a rear main seal leak. You probably have a valve cover gasket leak which is dribbling down to the bottom of the engine and looking a lot like a rear main leak. Most oil leaks on these cars are just a few $3 - $20 orings or gaskets that are very easy to fix.

The tapping is probably valves. Just adjust them. It's relatively easy, but there is a "feel" to it that will take a long time to acquire. You can try it, but be prepared to do it a few times before finally getting it right.

A head gasket is a major repair and you'd do well to leave that one to someone else for now.

Don't worry about the black piece inside your distributor moving. It's no big deal.

The upshot here is that a good mechanic always looks for the cheap fix before going to the expensive one. Before buying a new carb, run a can of fuel injector cleaner through it first. See if that helps. If not, then move on from there. Spend some time in the carb section of this board. There are a number of incredibly knowledgeable carb members here, so read extensively and then post any questions in that section.

Last bit and then I'll stop. This is the link to the Honda factory service manual. (http://honda.roadpwnage.com/manuals/pages/usdm-accord-1989-full.php) It's your best friend. Learn it, live it, love it.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Hey man, big ups to you and evrybdy else for helping me out! Mos def!

No offense, but I'm not completley blind to cars. Let's just say I wear glasses and ask alot of questions! I've been doing oil changes for a minute. I felt :owned: when you said tht, it's all good though! Lol!

The smoke coming from the engine and tailpipe is blue. I haven't changed my Distributor yet so I that is a cause. My Valve Cover also has some imperfections so tht can definatley be a cause too.

I have some Fuel Injector Cleaner by Lucas ( MY BROTHER LIVES & DIES BY THIS, SO SHALL I!) but because I don't have a FI, I thought I couldn't use it. How would I apply it?

The reason the guy said it was a Rear Main Seal leak is because when he went under the car it was jacked up by the front. There was oil leaking through the Transaxle sight-hole under the engine (that opening twoard the middle of the car.) Is there anyway to make sure of this?

I'm not gonna mess with the head gasket, I'll DEFINATLY PASS!

As far as carbs go, I've been searching the sight and I keep seeing talk about Weber? What is so good about them? Should I get one?

Is there anything else you guys could let me know to do? I appreciate it.

These are the leaks I'm speaking of:

http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/Blaze7133/ValveCoverEngineBlockLeaks-1.jpg

Here is a picture of my entire engine bay. Even in the pic you can see the leak. Also the first thing I did when I bought her is paint what I could out of excitement! :flash: LMAO!!!!

http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/Blaze7133/EngineBay.jpg

[lostforawhile]

Hey man, big ups to you and evrybdy else for helping me out! Mos def!

No offense, but I'm not completley blind to cars. Let's just say I wear glasses and ask alot of questions! I've been doing oil changes for a minute. I felt :owned: when you said tht, it's all good though! Lol!

The smoke coming from the engine and tailpipe is blue. I haven't changed my Distributor yet so I that is a cause. My Valve Cover also has some imperfections so tht can definatley be a cause too.

I have some Fuel Injector Cleaner by Lucas ( MY BROTHER LIVES & DIES BY THIS, SO SHALL I!) but because I don't have a FI, I thought I couldn't use it. How would I apply it?

The reason the guy said it was a Rear Main Seal leak is because when he went under the car it was jacked up by the front. There was oil leaking through the Transaxle sight-hole under the engine (that opening twoard the middle of the car.) Is there anyway to make sure of this?

I'm not gonna mess with the head gasket, I'll DEFINATLY PASS!

As far as carbs go, I've been searching the sight and I keep seeing talk about Weber? What is so good about them? Should I get one?

Is there anything else you guys could let me know to do? I appreciate it.

These are the leaks I'm speaking of:

http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/Blaze7133/ValveCoverEngineBlockLeaks-1.jpg

Here is a picture of my entire engine bay. Even in the pic you can see the leak. Also the first thing I did when I bought her is paint what I could out of excitement! :flash: LMAO!!!!

http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/Blaze7133/EngineBay.jpgis there blue smoke all the time? or just when you first start it up or hit the gas, if it's the latter it might be valve stem seals, if they are bad they will make it smoke like an 80's caddy, after a long time they carbonize and fall apart, the dizzy won't make oil get into the engine, the valve cover won't eithier, they will leak, but they won't cause smoke out the back, your valve cover seal is leaking for sure, most of them leak, it's an easy fix, just be sure to put sealer on the points on the head where the seal goes from flat to round on the ends, the rest doesn't get sealer. normally you get a kit that has the three grommets and the valve cover gasket. when you put the new seal on, make sure you clean the surfaces on the head really well, and it's only about ten foot pounds to tighten, just snug it up, the gasket seals like an O ring. too much and it will leak. your dizzy seal make sure you got the right one, there are two, the dealer always gives me the wrong one for some reason. just order both,they are cheap. then you know you have at least one that's correct. the valve cover or the dizzy leaking will always make it look like oil is coming from the head gasket in that corner, lots of people will try to say it's the head gasket, but oil leaking collects under that corner

[Dr_Snooz]

the valve cover or the dizzy leaking will always make it look like oil is coming from the head gasket in that corner, lots of people will try to say it's the head gasket, but oil leaking collects under that corner

Those leaks will also look like rear main seal leaks. Fix the dizzie and valve cover before going any deeper.

One question is how does the car run? Is it running like an old Massey Ferguson or is it good? Does it run nice down the highway?