Burnt rubber smell and white smoke?

[Karynne]

Sorry, that post was more me venting than anything. Now that the sticker shock has faded and logical thinking has returned to my woman brain I know you guys are right. Any 25 year old car is going to have some hiccups that need to be smoothed out. Now that I've calmed down I agree that it could be a lot worse, and I'm thankful that my transmission and engine are still solid at 235k.

I tend to err on the side of caution, so I think I'll hold off on the Seafoam for now.

Today was also expensive, but gratifying too because now I have four shiny new tires and my alignment has been corrected. The front tires were extremely bald and had some side wall cracking so it was definitely time for some replacements. The back ones were barely street legal anymore so I figured I might as well get a whole set put on. My alignment was way out of whack as well, so it's driving a lot smoother now that I got those things taken care of.

Yesterday we had some dry weather so I was finally able to get out there and paint my bumpers. I'll post some pics of the car tomorrow, it's too dark right now. New tires, no pinstripes, fresh bumpers, I'm not going to lie my car is looking pretty sexy now.

So the trip to the mechanic and tire shop cleared up most of the issues I'd been noticing with the car except two. My car is still painfully slow upon acceleration (once I'm past 50 mph it's fine), and the idle surge is back except now it's happening at stop lights, not just when it's warming up. The mechanic had spotted a distributor seal leak, which may or may not hint at a larger problem within the distributor. Could a bad dizzy explain the sluggishness and idle surge? I haven't replaced the PCV valve yet because I can't seem to find the damn thing. My Haynes manual is just confusing me even more, so can anyone explain to me where exactly this thing is in an '87 LXi? This may be the only time I will say this in my life, but please explain it to me as if you were talking to a five year old child. I like pictures too if that makes it easier. I'm reeeeally hoping it's just the PCV valve.

By the way, in case I haven't said it recently, you guys are freakin' awesome! I seriously appreciate the help, I don't know what I'd do without this forum. Thank you so much!

[POS carb]

pcv is #18, top center, a little to the right

[Dr_Snooz]

The idle surge is caused either by a vacuum leak or low coolant. If the coolant is low, you'll have to fill and bleed the system properly to fix it. There are two distributor seals. If the one fails, it will leak oil down the side of the block. If the other fails, it will fill the inside of the distributor with oil. If you remove the distributor cap and see oil, you'll know it's leaking. Otherwise, it's fine.

As for the sluggishness, start with the basics. Do a tune-up and a bottle of injector cleaner. An Italian tune up might also be in order. Of course, it might have gotten all kinds of that with a bunch of kids in auto shop working on it. Who knows?

Do you have a check engine light?

[Karynne]

pcv is #18, top center, a little to the right

Thanks!

[Karynne]

Just got back from a trip to Portland to visit my mechanically inclined dad and solicit his help for working on the car. We didn't quite get everything done that we set out to accomplish but we covered a fair amount, and the car is running better now. I'll be making the trip again in a few weeks so we can finish everything, but this is what we did so far:
- Upgraded to the Sylvania Silverstar 55w headlights as I could barely see with the ones I had. We also adjusted them since they were way out of whack.
- Installed three new Bosch wiper blades and wow, what a difference! Now I can actually see out the windshield when it's raining, kind of important considering I live in Washington state.
- Regapped all the sparkplugs, none of them had been gapped properly but they were all brand new. The spark plug wires were also brand new so we didn't bother changing them.
- Cleaned everything under the hood so I can pinpoint any oil leaks.
- Checked out the distributor and found the cap and rotor are brand new, no oil on the inside. We also had an epiphany that the oil sludge that hinted at a leaky distributor seal could be old, and the problem could have already been fixed. Now that everything is clean I can keep an eye on it and see if it's still leaking.
- Tested the rear defrost and everything is getting voltage so theoretically it should be working. Meh. It's not that important.
- Tested the PCV valve and discovered it's faulty. We bought a new one but we couldn't get the damn hose off and ended up running out of time so I'll have to tackle that in a few days.
- Checked all the hoses and connections, everything looks good.
- Checked all the fluids and they are all fresh and at the correct levels, we're pretty sure they were changed at the auto repair school.
- Finally changed the bulb for my dome light. LOL, not exactly rocket science...

That was pretty much all we got to this weekend as we ended up just visiting most of the time. But he gave the car a really thorough inspection (from the top end at least, we couldn't get his wheel ramps to work for us) and declared it "a pretty damn good little car". I feel a lot better having my dad check it over as I know he wants his daughter's car to be safe and reliable, and he has no profit motive to sell me repairs I don't need. The things we didn't get around to were the PCV valve/hose replacement (probably the source of the vacuum leak), fuel filter replacement, and changing out the serpentine and power steering belts.

While we were at the auto parts store my dad picked up some Seafoam and something called "Engine Restorer & Lubricant" (made by Restore Automotive Products). He was buying so I wasn't about to complain. Would doing some Seafoam in the gas tank (and only the gas tank) be too risky for my little high-mileage hatch? I was getting the impression from previous Seafoam related posts that doing it in the gas tank is fairly safe, but I'm not sure if I was reading too far into it. And yay or nay on the "Engine Restorer"? I've never heard of it so I'll do some research into it, but wanted to get your guys' opinion too.

As for the "slow acceleration" apparently I'm just not used to a four-cylinder, LOL. My dad assured me that it's fine and that it's actually a lot quicker than any of the four-cylinders he ever had, so I'm going to stop looking for problems that aren't there. We still have a few things to do but all in all I'm really happy with how the hatch (affectionately named Toto) is running. The two and a half hour drive home was incredibly smooth and comfortable thanks to the new tires, alignment, and tranny fluid top off. It was so smooth I actually almost fell asleep a few times so I guess I'll have to make sure I'm well rested before taking it on the freeway, LOL.

Thanks again for all your help guys!

The idle surge is caused either by a vacuum leak or low coolant. If the coolant is low, you'll have to fill and bleed the system properly to fix it. There are two distributor seals. If the one fails, it will leak oil down the side of the block. If the other fails, it will fill the inside of the distributor with oil. If you remove the distributor cap and see oil, you'll know it's leaking. Otherwise, it's fine.

As for the sluggishness, start with the basics. Do a tune-up and a bottle of injector cleaner. An Italian tune up might also be in order. Of course, it might have gotten all kinds of that with a bunch of kids in auto shop working on it. Who knows?

Do you have a check engine light?

What is this Italian tune up you speak of? It sounds interesting. Nope, no check engine light.

[cygnus x-1]

Just got back from a trip to Portland to visit my mechanically inclined dad and solicit his help for working on the car. We didn't quite get everything done that we set out to accomplish but we covered a fair amount, and the car is running better now. I'll be making the trip again in a few weeks so we can finish everything, but this is what we did so far:

- Checked out the distributor and found the cap and rotor are brand new, no oil on the inside. We also had an epiphany that the oil sludge that hinted at a leaky distributor seal could be old, and the problem could have already been fixed. Now that everything is clean I can keep an eye on it and see if it's still leaking.

The distributor seal is leak prone so that's a good one to watch. It's also fairly easy to replace.

- Tested the PCV valve and discovered it's faulty. We bought a new one but we couldn't get the damn hose off and ended up running out of time so I'll have to tackle that in a few days.

The hose is probably hardened up from age and exposure to oil. The odds are high that it will break when you do manage to get the PCV valve out. You should still be able to order a replacement from one of the online dealers.

http://www.hondapartsdeals.com/
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/
http://www.hondapartsnow.com/

While we were at the auto parts store my dad picked up some Seafoam and something called "Engine Restorer & Lubricant" (made by Restore Automotive Products). He was buying so I wasn't about to complain. Would doing some Seafoam in the gas tank (and only the gas tank) be too risky for my little high-mileage hatch? I was getting the impression from previous Seafoam related posts that doing it in the gas tank is fairly safe, but I'm not sure if I was reading too far into it. And yay or nay on the "Engine Restorer"? I've never heard of it so I'll do some research into it, but wanted to get your guys' opinion too.

The Seafoam is fine in the tank and might help clean out the injectors. The Engine Restorer shouldn't hurt anything but I doubt it will help either. It's one of those things that theoretically could help in some situations, but the difference is going to be small.

What is this Italian tune up you speak of? It sounds interesting. Nope, no check engine light.

LOL! The Italian tuneup is to take it out on the freeway and floor it. The idea does have some merit as it helps to burn out any carbon deposits in the cylinders. The Seafoam does something similar in that is helps to clean out sludge deposits.


C|

[Dr_Snooz]

What is this Italian tune up you speak of?

Take the car out and thrash it for a while. It works better for Ferraris and Bimmers though. Those cars are designed to run at 150-200 mph. When they are forced to run at half that speed or sit idling in traffic, they load up real bad and run like doo. Take them out and run them flat out and they behave like a different car. If your car sat for extended periods idling in the auto shop class, it could be loaded up too.

[Karynne]

Thanks Cygnus for clearing all that up. One of the auto parts stores we had gone to carried the hose for my car, should I wait and buy the OEM hose online or does it matter? As for the Seafoam, the chick at the counter recommended doing it a day or two before I plan on replacing the fuel filter incase it gets gummed up with whatever the Seafoam cleans out. I'll be heading down to Portland again in a few weeks and the fuel filter was already on our to do list, so I think I'll just hold off till then.

Dr. Snooz: That makes a lot of sense as my car is running beautifully now that I clocked some freeway miles on the ol' odometer. I wasn't able to really floor it as there was some traffic on I-5, but I was able to keep it at about 85 for half an hour. Once it got dark I just gave up. It's too stressful trying to decipher whether those headlights three cars back belong to a Crown Vic or just a harmless Corolla.

[2geeSEi]

I agree with the oil filter base gasket. When those things leak, oil runs right down the exhaust bracket on the back of the motor. On the cat, if you unbolt the front flange and look into it, you should see a white honeycomb if it's ok. If it is melted or black, then it is bad.

[catapano]

Just had 87 Honda Accord do the same thing this morning. Smelled like burning rubber and smoke from steering column. Had to leave it and head to work.

The idleing issue-it needs a part but I cannot remember what it is. You have to take it to a Honda and have them run a diagnostic test, then get the part and fix yourself.

Thanks.