Need alot of help with an '87 Accord carb

**baron4406** · 09-22-2002, 03:35 PM

Ok I needed a work car, in the past 10 years I've owned over 30 cars and not a single import. But when time came to get a car to run back and forth to work even my Camaro buddies recommended a Honda. Seems they feel they are reliable and run forever. So I picked up a good deal on an '87 Accord from a hole in the wall dealer. I was amazed that even after drving the car three seperate times over two weeks it was one of the smoothest running cars in that price range I had ever seen plus the interior was immaculate and the A/c blew cold as ice. Well thinking I had the work car thing licked I bought it. well the second day it left me sit 100 miles way from home. Bad fuel pump. the filler neck is rusted big time so I assume alot of rust got into the tank. Replaced the fuel pump & filters and it ran good for another few days then quit. Got it towed AGAIN and this time tore off the tank and replaced all the fuel filters again and cleaned the massive amount of rust from the tank. Well the car now will run good for a day then not run. The problem was today the car would not idle, at ALL. It does this alot...sometimes its a broken vacuum line sometimes I have no idea what's wrong. I assume this car has major carb woes...........a replacement carb is $400 and I'll take the car to a junkyard before I spend $400 on a carb (paid only $900 for the car as it). My question to any guru's here is this carb has the most emissions garbage on it i've ever seen.....I live in an area without emissions so what can i tear off of the carb and still have it run?? This stuff has gotta go. The reliability of this Honda is pitiful, it has left me sit more times than the 30 cars I had before it COMBINED. So much for Honda quality I guess. So is there anything I can do here?? Selling the car is impossible since I don't even have the title yet. Is there anyway I can salvage this carurator to make the car actually run?? Rebuild it?? If I tear it off none of this emissions garbage is going back on that's for sure.................also will a dealer laugh at me if I bring a 15 year old car in for the filler neck recall?? I assume they will laugh me out of the place. Otr should I just junk this car and take the $900 loss?? Its would be a shame since the motor itsself uses no oil and runs ok-when it runs

**shepherd79** · 09-22-2002, 04:22 PM

welcome on board.
first thing first. there was recall about fuel tanks or something like that so honda dealer should replace it at no charge.
about the vacuum lines, yes we all hate them.
you are lucky because you can get weber carburator for our engines. you won't have any vacuum stuff.
there are two places i know that sell weber carb kit for out cars.
http://www.carbs.net/Weber/Dataresul...8&Model=ACCORD
or Nopi
http://www.nopionline.com/index.cfm?...rburetor%20Kit
if you have auto trans don't worry, it will fit with little mods to it.
Ask Mike (A20A1) or Carl (CARBurn), they have weber on their cars.
I am working right now on elumination of vacuum lines on stock carb. i am gonna turn the US emmisions into european emmisions.
i hope that helps.

***A20A1*** · 09-22-2002, 08:49 PM

Ok you are in luck.

You can run the carb with very little vacuum lines.

I have one way which includes removal of the choke plate and shaft and the fast idle and choke puller.
unfortunately ERIC isn't here, but he could tell you how to maintain most of the parts. I never bothered to write much down.

since you like your A/C I assume you're gonna keep the a/c idle boost diaphragm. You can remove it and still maintain smoothe idle by turning the throttle stop screw to a higer idle and just run the car like that.
Wihtout choke function the cars throttle wiil need some attention for the first 10 minuets of driving before it warms up.
Its pretty easy to keep it from stalling and I've drivin without the intake manifold heater which makes things worse.

anyways pull all the lines off
- run 1 line fron the power valve to manifold vacuum
- run 1 line from manifold vacuum to #2 on the distributor advance
- run 1 line from the smaller vacuum port on the front of the carb to the diaphragm on the right side of the carb (vacuum secondary diaphragm).
- remove or run one line from idle diaphragm on left side of carb to manifold vacuum.
- I'm unsure aout a/c idle boot diaphragm at rear of carb
- I'm also unsure about the air jet controller. It has 3 vacuum lines labled A B C.

all other ports are plugged.

I'm sure you can figure out how to keep the choke operational, if not remove it.

plug the lines to the EGR and Air suction valve. You could also remove the charcole canister and float bowl vent pipe. I have a few pics on my web site if you need a closer look at the carb with everything removed.

I hope I didn't forget anything

http://www.geocities.com/accord89lx/Carbtech.html
Carb Page
http://www.geocities.com/accord89lx/index2.html
Main Page

**bigpoppa88** · 09-22-2002, 09:23 PM

I too spent the summer agonizing over my carb problems from high idle , low idle, cold start problems, too lean. I solved it all with a trip to the junkyard and spent $16.00 on a carb and no problems so far and she runs better than she has in the last 2 years. Try a cheap carb swap.....worked for me!

**GreenMachine** · 09-22-2002, 09:33 PM

I had many of problems with my 87 carbed to ! so I know exactly where your coming from, I almost gave up on honda.

Anyways about the filler neck, take it to honda. I did it last year, they have to its not like they got much of a choice. Good luck

**baron4406** · 09-23-2002, 12:59 AM

Hey thanks for the tips, I'm gonna pull everything I can. As far as the A/C I can live without it, but it KICKS-its alot colder than the one in my Camaro so its a shame to disable it. Right now I have the idle set high so it at least runs and doesn't stall. Tonight after work I begins pulling all these vacuum lines off. Trying to chase down ever vacuum leak will drive me to drink. Thanks guys I'll let ya know how it goes.

**shepherd79** · 09-23-2002, 03:38 AM

the other thing you can do, i get rebuild kit for carburator.
they are about $30. chabge gakets and everything else. you never know in what condition is your carb.

**DanG86LX** · 09-23-2002, 09:03 AM

Stall problems and no idle come from.. the rusty filler pipe. Fine dust particles find their way through all fuel filters to the carb float bowl. I found about 1/2" of fine mud on mine. When the car is cold started all that mud is stirred and find its way through the fine idle passages and block them. The only way to get rid of this mess is :
- remove top of the carb and clean (carb cleaner) the float bowl and all fuel passages. From the top u can remove the only jet that matters - idle jet. Clean the idle well and passages thoroughly.
- change all the fuel filters every two weeks till u get fuel filler fixed.
- go to Honda and claim the recall: 93021 OCT 93 Recall - Fuel Filler Pipe. Since is a safety recall they should fix it for FREE.
- the fuel pump (in the tank) has an intake filter that might be clogged too.

More info here:
https://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3419
http://87accord.com/carbpage.html
http://87accord.com/carbrebuild.html

***A20A1*** · 09-23-2002, 06:00 PM

so any updates?

I'd get that recall done that dan mentioned.

I never new about the intank filter, is it replaceable or do you just clean it?

**SiR** · 09-23-2002, 08:32 PM

I think he means the fuel pump strainer. It can be changed for a new one.

Rooz

**shepherd79** · 09-24-2002, 06:43 AM

hmmm, i may have to check mine out.

**baron4406** · 09-24-2002, 01:13 PM

Ok I tore out all the junk and it seemed to run ok, well no worse than before at least. Then this morning I tried to start it and it wouldn't start...well it eventually did after 10 minutes of cranking. So this car NEEDS a choke BADLY. So I never took the electric choke off but I notice there are 2 vacuum fittings on the choke itself and two on another vacuum canister that is also connected to the choke. Any idea where to hook these up so my choke works and the car starts??

Also.........there are two vacuum lines on the distributor, instructions I got on here just said to connect #2 to a vacuum source.....what about the other line??

**baron4406** · 09-24-2002, 02:55 PM

Ok update!! I simple connected all four of the vacuum fittings to the mainfold............also I noticed that the choke is an electric choke...DUH..........I simply put the choke plate back in. I also connected the two fittings on the distributor to manifold vacuum. Took the car for spin.........darn it really runs great now. No hesitation whatsoever and it actually is pretty peppy. Definately feels like I picked up some power. Now we'll see if it will start tomorrow morning easier. Also gonna call a Honda dealer tomorrow and see if they will replace the filler neck. Thanks for the tips and I'd like some more if ya can.

***A20A1*** · 09-24-2002, 06:40 PM

hmm... I knew the choke was electric but I always figured the choke puller on the top left side of the carb had more control of the the choke... I guess not though.... lol, I told you it would be around 10 minuets...

**DanG86LX** · 09-24-2002, 08:32 PM

baron4406, if u want to hook those vacuum lines correctly, look here: http://www.angelfire.com/sd/bryhig/honda/vacdiag.html

***A20A1*** · 09-24-2002, 11:56 PM

I was so happy when I was able to understand that diagram and the one under the hood.... no more dizzy spells

***A20A1*** · 09-24-2002, 11:58 PM

Hmm time for me to modify the pic and erase some of the unessentials.

**DanG86LX** · 09-25-2002, 01:30 PM

A20A1
I was so happy when I was able to understand that diagram and the one under the hood....

so I know which ones to ditch :lol :lol :lol

**baron4406** · 09-25-2002, 03:01 PM

Well I actually made it back and forth to work today.....yahoo!!! Anyway the only problem is the idle isn't very staeady. In fact it kinda worked its way down untiol it stalled at every light. GRRRR. Turned it back up............not alot more I can do.

***A20A1*** · 09-25-2002, 05:28 PM

use the throttle stop srew to set base idle...

**baron4406** · 09-26-2002, 08:57 AM

Well i did use the stop screw to set the idle......problem is it still won't idle right. Every light it stalls. If you just sitting there its ok but when coming to a stop it stalls. May rebuild the carb............tried to adju8st the A/F screw since I'm sure it would cure the major stumble on the low end.....but there IS NO screw there!! Either that or there's a plate covering it. If its a plate is a sturdy one I'll have to take the carb apart to get it out. I tried a screwdriver but it wouldn't budge......

***A20A1*** · 09-26-2002, 04:50 PM

there is a plate covering the air fuel mix screw.

I'm guessing you still have a vacuum leak... thats why you stall or your float level is off.

Here you can browse this post, I have some pics with the plate covering the screw removed.
https://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6416
https://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6416

**Neuspeed87lx** · 09-27-2002, 10:17 AM

i had some problems with my carb....i got sick of it and ripped it out took it apart cleaned it blew all the crud outa the hoses and slapped it back on ....now it runs perfect! im happy with it

**baron4406** · 09-29-2002, 01:11 PM

Ok guys I finally got sick of all the problems, so I ripped the carb off and took EVERY emissions piece off it. I plugged every vacuum line except for the power valve and vacuum secondary plus I hooked up both lines on the distributor to the manifold. Also got a rebuild kit and rebuilt the carb, when I bolted it back on I sprayed the spacer with Hylomar on both sides to cure any vacuum leaks there. Result?? It runs perfectly now. The only problem now is I took my choke off, I tried to keep the choke on but I discovered that it only opened halfway. I figure its because I didn't have those 4 vacuum lines hooked up right, but good luck trying to figure out the factory diagram, they run lines to that black box in the corner. Now I'm in good shape EXCEPT when it starts to get cold. Trust me this thing will NOT start without a choke, so what are my options?? Is there anyway to set a choke up on this car now?? I still have time it doesn't get really cold for a bit here.............any ideas?? Will that infernal electric setup work on my car with all the emissions crap off it. What would I hook the vacuum lines to??

**Dutchboy** · 09-29-2002, 01:24 PM

you could probably make the choke a manual one.. im sure that you can buy a setup at the local auto store that comes with a cable and the needed parts to make it work,,
THen you wouldnt have to make it with vaccuum.

Ive used the manual choke setups on my old accords.
Ben