'89 Accord idling high and running hot.

Hey all,

I just stumbled upon this website and I'm super stoked. I have a question that I'm hoping you all will have an answer to. I am new to car mechanics but I'm excited to get my hands dirty- after all, Hondas are apparently the automatic coffee maker of the car world.

Backstory: Bought my 1989 Honda Accord at a wholesale lot about a year ago. 88k miles with a CarFax report 5 pages long. It was clear that this person probably drove once a week to church and then backed it into the garage. Truly amazing car. I've put about 8k miles on it in the last year. It's been checked out by Honda and, unfortunately, Midas when I was desperate for an oil change. Neither mechanic said anything was wrong, so I'm wondering if this is a quirk of the car of if I should be concerned.

My car idles super high at the start. About 3k, I tap the accelerator after about 2 mins, drops to about 2.5k, couple minutes... 2k, couple minutes 800-1.2k and it's ready to drive. I quickly discovered that my car does not like to be put into gear before it's dropped low enough- it's how she earned her name, Punchy. Because of this, I have a routine to get my car going in the morning that coincides perfectly with my morning cigarette. I've been told it's because it's old and quirky, but it's still in very good condition.

The other day, I started my car and had it idling for about 5 minutes when I noticed a burning rubber smell, so I turned it off and flipped the hood. All the innards were as hot as if I had driven my car across town on the freeway. I felt around the radiator hoses and they appeared to be half full of air- coolant and/or water kind of gurgles up but doesn't spew up like it should when squeezed. I dumped a ton of water in the reserve tank, hoping that would fix it. Nope.

I've paid more attention to my temp gauge since then, and it sits pretty near halfway when I power the car up- even after 5 mins. Also the car's first start of the day is not reliable on the first try- something that definitely did NOT happen before. It always started reliably when it was completely cool, as long as I gave it two slow pumps on the accelerator before turning the ignition.

I'm not even sure if this carburetor related, but I apologize if I am not posting in the right place.

Sounds like the carb is getting tired. The carbs on these cars are wonderfully complicated inventions. So complicated, in fact, that very few people can fix them when they get buggy. Download the manual (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vtyhl48z5...udl0xk_Oa?dl=0) and start reading through the carb section. When you're ready to take a crack at it, do so. Until then, let the car warm up a little before shifting into gear.

From what you describe, I'm not seeing an overheating problem. Overheating problems are stuff like coolant boiling in the reservoir tank, temp needle in the red, loss of power, etc. The burning rubber smell is likely unrelated, so don't be afraid to look around and find what caused it.

Good luck.