5 years of ownership, 1 week of driving...

[newaccorddriver]

After 5 years of parking, and building up my Accord and prepping it for boost, the day finally came where I had a chance to drive what I worked on. The only positive thing is, it handles like a beast, but lacks the power from the lack of boost.


The main things that pissed me off in the week I drove it is mainly the following.
Leaking transmission seal
Driver side axle boot ripped on a brand new axle with less then 50km on it
Oil leak from the head gasket next to the distributor
Oil leaking from behind the timing cover for some reason?
Power steering fluid mysteriously disappearing without a trace(or atleast nothing on the floor)
Lower alternator bolt was found to be nearly 90% worked out of its original position
Clunking sound from front of the car(replaced radius rod bushings, pending test drive)
The car is horribly low, but handles like its on rails
The pacesetter exhaust is horribly loud
Little odds and ends


Asides from the problems listed, I can see myself driving it for the next little while. Its a pretty decent car, but its not like my old 2003 BMW 325Xi, or my 2010 Camry, or my 1990 Skyline. The Accord is in a league of its own

[2drSE-i]

After 5 years of parking, and building up my Accord and prepping it for boost, the day finally came where I had a chance to drive what I worked on. The only positive thing is, it handles like a beast, but lacks the power from the lack of boost.


The main things that pissed me off in the week I drove it is mainly the following.
Leaking transmission seal
Driver side axle boot ripped on a brand new axle with less then 50km on it
Oil leak from the head gasket next to the distributor
Oil leaking from behind the timing cover for some reason?
Power steering fluid mysteriously disappearing without a trace(or atleast nothing on the floor)
Lower alternator bolt was found to be nearly 90% worked out of its original position
Clunking sound from front of the car(replaced radius rod bushings, pending test drive)
The car is horribly low, but handles like its on rails
The pacesetter exhaust is horribly loud
Little odds and ends

You can buy new boots for your axle, cheap.
The oil leak next to the distributor may be the Distributor O-ring
Oil leak from behind timing cover could be a lot of things, Valve cover gasket?
Power steering fluid could be the rack leaking, and filling up the boots. Give it another week or two, and those boots will break. Alas fluid though.
Tighten it back up
Clunking could be a number of things. Aftermarket Upper A-arms are ridiculous noisy. Hopefully you got the problem fixed.


Hope i helped

[Ichiban]

Hah, I put teg axles in my car, then drove it up from BC. Apparently the one axle didn't like the B20A midshaft so I had to use a block of wood and a prybar to get it in. Wrecked the boot at 0Km. Anyways, it ended up blowing CV grease all over the firewall and timing belt on the way up to Red Deer. The $20 replacement boot is still sitting in the back of the car.

[stat1K]

you worked on the car for five years and all those leaks are still there?

i'm sure the head gasket isn't leaking but probably the distributor o-ring as that's very common. the oil behind the timing belt is either a cam seal or the front main behind the crank pulley. transmission seal is annoying to fix but basically rtv and your good, the gasket they used to begin with was paper and failed more often, now honda uses hondabond to seal the cases. the clunk in the front, does it happen on stopping/starting/turning etc...? often times it's the front mount or the rack bushing that causes a clunk.

[newaccorddriver]

you worked on the car for five years and all those leaks are still there?

i'm sure the head gasket isn't leaking but probably the distributor o-ring as that's very common. the oil behind the timing belt is either a cam seal or the front main behind the crank pulley. transmission seal is annoying to fix but basically rtv and your good, the gasket they used to begin with was paper and failed more often, now honda uses hondabond to seal the cases. the clunk in the front, does it happen on stopping/starting/turning etc...? often times it's the front mount or the rack bushing that causes a clunk.

It actually took me about a month to rebuild the motor from the bottom to top, but 5 years to put it in, and get the car running. I ran into issues along the way which delayed it.

Everything on the motor is new short of the crankshaft and connecting rods. New seals, new pistons, new bearings, and new gaskets were used. I guess its possible that the distributor seal is leaking as it is one of the few things I didnt change.

I took out the tranny yesterday as I had found out it was the axle seal on the passenger side that was leaking.

The front end clunks when it hits a bump on the road. I changed out the radius rod bushings, but I havent driven it yet since I took out the tranny and have yet to put it back in.

[newaccorddriver]

You can buy new boots for your axle, cheap.
The oil leak next to the distributor may be the Distributor O-ring
Oil leak from behind timing cover could be a lot of things, Valve cover gasket?
Power steering fluid could be the rack leaking, and filling up the boots. Give it another week or two, and those boots will break. Alas fluid though.
Tighten it back up
Clunking could be a number of things. Aftermarket Upper A-arms are ridiculous noisy. Hopefully you got the problem fixed.


Hope i helped

I have a spare axle from when I did the 5 speed swap prior to scrapping my old accord for the current one. The one thats in the car was new when I installed it.

When I said it was leaking near the distributor, I meant it was leaking at the front corner. Not 100% sure if its the distributor leaking, but I will be changing the O-ring anyways.

Ill give the boots at the PS rack a check and go from there.

[stat1K]

clunks on a bump could be the shock bushings or bump stops.