Bought a 1990 Honda Accord

[Pablo]

With 190K. AT, most other standard Accord stuff. $1500.

Well I should say the daughter did the buying. I found it, a honest guy at work bought a new minivan and just wanted the car easily sold and he is willing to make any known issues, well known...if you know what I mean. We have not even picked the car up yet.

Car is in great shape, body near perfect!!, and a nice first car. (you would not believe some of the garbage we looked at in the last few months!!)

The issues we have discussed withe the P.O. so far:

1) Will need tires soon. Good learning for the daughter.
2) Starter motor sticks "engaged" - Just happened for the first time for him yesterday. He said he would put a new starter in....anyone know about Accord starters?
3) Has a slight acceleration hesitation when warm, just tiny off idle roughness. Does not do this when cold. (???)
4) Idle seems OK but slightly rough, no missing, just not perfectly smooth...maybe related to above.
5) Sun roof has a slight leak. Seal? (?)

When we get the car I'll have more info/questions I'm sure - but if anyone can help with the listed stuff I'll grateful.

 

[Cutehumor]

I believe you the garbage cars that people try to sell at a premium price. Honda Accords are good cars and you got a good price. Do you know the timing belt history?

 

[addyguy]

A good buddy of mine's folks had one of those....he learned to drive on it...we drove it all over the place....then his folks sold it to him years later....last time I saw it, had like 200k miles on it.

Was not well-looked after either, and just kept going. I think it had an automatic transmission repair or replacement, but beyond that, it was bulletproof. Amazingly reliable cars.

 

[ViragoBry]

I believe 1990 was the first year that all trims of the Accord were fuel injected, so you may have some dirty injectors. You may want to run some Techron through it, and perhaps change the fuel filter. Stumbling issues beyond that could be caused by any number of issues, including the need for a tune-up and possibly a fuel pump, although those typically either work fine, or not at all.

If he can't provide any recent service records, throw a set of plugs and wires on it and see if it doesn't clear up.

 

[Johnny]

Go ahead Pablo, put some Techron in it.

 

[exranger06]

4. Check motor mounts. Mine were bad and it made an annoying vibration at stop lights. If I put it in neutral and took the load off the engine, it wasn't as bad, but still noticable.

Pull the plug wires off the plugs and see if there's any oil on them. The seals for the spark plug tubes are known for leaking. If you need to replace them, might as well adjust the valves while the valve cover is off.

 

[RTexasF]

When was the timing belt, tensioner, and water pump last done? That could cost as much as the car.

Just a possibility but the sunroof leak could be as simple as the drain channels being clogged. I've cleared them before by running stout weed eater string through them to clear blockage.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

Most Honda engines are interference engines. I agree with RT - find out when the last time the timing belts and tensioners were changed. If it's outside the spec, accomplish that maintenance before driving it very much, or you could be springing for a new engine.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: RTexasF
When was the timing belt, tensioner, and water pump last done? That could cost as much as the car.

Just a possibility but the sunroof leak could be as simple as the drain channels being clogged. I've cleared them before by running stout weed eater string through them to clear blockage.


No, labor for the belt job is about $200-250 around here (2-2.5 hr) and parts if you use Gate or AC Delco are about $80-180 depends on where you buy it from. I've bought my own parts and send it to an independent mechanic before, total about $350 in the SF bay area. Should be even cheaper where Pablo lives.

 

[RTexasF]

Using aftermarket T belts or water pumps on a Honda is flipping a coin. It's just not worth the risk. In this instance the aftermarket parts are simply not as good as the originals. Sometimes cheap is not cheap.

 

[exranger06]

I recently paid waaay more than $350 for a timing belt on my Honda....about $750. $50 of that was just sales tax, so about $700.
$330 labor
$145 timing kit (timing belt, balance shaft belt, tensioners)
$60 water pump
$50 valve cover gasket kit
$48 plug wires
$?? spark plugs (don't remember)
and the rest was misc stuff like antifreeze.

I'm so glad the rest of my vehicles have timing chains.

 

[greenaccord02]

I second the timing belt recommendation.

Also, wait until you have only a quarter-tank of gas left and pour in 2 cans of berryman's b-12. Drive home from the store (or at least a few miles) and let the car sit overnight, letting the solvent marinate in the fuel lines. Fire up the car the next day and drive it till it's almost empty before refilling.

That's also a good procedure to do before changing the fuel filter, so if it's due for one of those (and it probably is) you might want to go ahead and do it. It's not hard on that generation, as I recall. Both of those are cheap and might really help smooth out that idle and pep up the acceleration.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: RTexasF
Using aftermarket T belts or water pumps on a Honda is flipping a coin. It's just not worth the risk. In this instance the aftermarket parts are simply not as good as the originals. Sometimes cheap is not cheap.


I think it really depends on what you buy. I would use only OEM on some parts but rubber products from top tier producers are all about the same (i.e. Gates, Mitsuboshi, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Yasaki, etc) for the identical application. OEM Honda is just a rebrand of these because they don't have a rubber factory.

Heck, the aftermarket gasket from Felpro is better than the one from Toyota, rubber vs cork only.

Now if you are talking about some no name Chinese knock off, well, that's a gamble.

 

[BearZDefect]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
...
Car is in great shape, body near perfect!! ...

2) Starter motor sticks "engaged" - Just happened for the first time for him yesterday. He said he would put a new starter in....anyone know about Accord starters?
3) Has a slight acceleration hesitation when warm, just tiny off idle roughness. Does not do this when cold. (???)
4) Idle seems OK but slightly rough, no missing, just not perfectly smooth...maybe related to above.
...
Lucky you don't use road salt there. Those Accords rust badly with road salt, but were excellent cars otherwise.

2) Maybe the starter just has some build-up in it that needs to be cleaned out.

3) Blockage of some EGR runners is a possible cause because one cylinder then gets too much.

4) Possibly engine mounts, as already written above.

 

[Geonerd]

Here's a cheap 'try' to improve the idle. Buy some $2 NGK or Denso plugs for the car. I chased a rough idle and off-idle hesitation on my 92 Accord for some time (ER ports, injector wiring, sensors, etc.) before replacing the fancy platinum plugs with the cheap copper units. The improvement was miraculous.

Another thing to check is the distributor rotor. AFAIK, there was a change of design halfway through the 4th gen (90~93) Accord run. If the car happens to have wrong part, the rotor will wear, become loose, and wobble on the shaft. Not good.

Next time you're changing the oil, check the steering tie rod boots for cracks. Also give the lower front wheel ball joint dust seals a look. They tend to crack, allowing grease out and dirt in. If caught soon, you can clean up the joints, re-pack them, and replace the boot/seals. Buy genuine parts for either of these fixes, the aftermarket boots are junk.

Changing the cam belt (and balancer belt, and H2O pump while you're in there) is not exactly simple, but it's not brain surgery either. 'Breaking' the pulley nut is the hardest part of the operation. If you take it to a sympathetic shop, they can rattle it loose, then torque it down tight enough to get you home, at which point a smaller air gun or breaker bar will work.

Cheap-ish genuine Honda partz at http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/

Good luck!

 

[Tahoe4Life]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
With 190K. AT, most other standard Accord stuff. $1500.

Well I should say the daughter did the buying. I found it, a honest guy at work bought a new minivan and just wanted the car easily sold and he is willing to make any known issues, well known...if you know what I mean. We have not even picked the car up yet.

Car is in great shape, body near perfect!!, and a nice first car. (you would not believe some of the garbage we looked at in he last few months!!) adn

The issues we have discussed withe the P.O. so far:

1) Will need tires soon. Good learning for the daughter.
2) Starter motor sticks "engaged" - Just happened for the first time for him yesterday. He said he would put a new starter in....anyone know about Accord starters?
3) Has a slight acceleration hesitation when warm, just tiny off idle roughness. Does not do this when cold. (???)
4) Idle seems OK but slightly rough, no missing, just not perfectly smooth...maybe related to above.
5) Sun roof has a slight leak. Seal? (?)

When we get the car I'll have more info/questions I'm sure - but if anyone can help with the listed stuff I'll grateful.


Pablo with all due respect how can you recommend this 1990 Honda Accord with 190K miles on it with it needing so much work. This car is going to be nothing more then a money pit for your daughter.

My daughter 11 months ago bought a 2000 Ford Police Interceptor[formally Florida Highway Patrol]for 1500 bucks with 120K miles on it. The car needed nothing. The car now has 155K miles on it and the car has had zero repairs. My son also has a Police Interceptor [2003] with a ton of miles on it and has no issues with it. Those cars make the perfect learning car and most important they are one of the safest cars on the road.

They are overall a very low maintenance car and its not bad on fuel. So far all they have done is change the oil every 5k miles.

Let me get my flame suit on.

 

[CivicFan]

Dude, do you seriously you expect a 16-17 year old girl in high school to drive a police interceptor?

 

[Tahoe4Life]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Dude, do you seriously you expect a 16-17 year old girl in high school to drive a police interceptor?


My kids have no problem with it.

 

[CivicFan]

Lucky you

 

[Johnny]

I did not have a car in high school. Still trying to figure out how I survived.