Bought a Cheap Accord
- Thread starter JoeDirt41
- Start date
Those transmissions do very, very well with amsoil. You can also use something like dexron VI with lubegaurd black. I ran mobil 1 universal ATF with lubeguard black and liked it. Back then, M1 was a dexron III replacement and was thicker than the Honda fluid, but LG black softened the shifts back from the banging that a raw Dex fluid would bring. I lost some mpg, yet the vehicle became noticeably quieter. Idk if such M1 and LG black fluids are still available, but amsoil is a great fluid in these.
No harm in running a half can of seafoam in the oil. I’ve done this for a year or two with several high mileage used cars and have seen no harm and definite benefits like reducing oil consumption slowly over time. I just won’t romp on it with the seafoam in there, and usually run a slightly thicker oil to compensate.
How’s the PCV system? Throttle body clean? Hose condition?
No harm in running a half can of seafoam in the oil. I’ve done this for a year or two with several high mileage used cars and have seen no harm and definite benefits like reducing oil consumption slowly over time. I just won’t romp on it with the seafoam in there, and usually run a slightly thicker oil to compensate.
How’s the PCV system? Throttle body clean? Hose condition?
Bud_One
Site Donor 2025
Great car.. I have a 97 EX Wagon , that's down right now with a busted lower pass side ball joint.
Your engine sounds like mine and has been making that noise since I purchased it in 2012 with 134k miles.
Its like a piston skirt issue or something. Mine has not changed in sound nor has it affected any performance.
Currently it has 250k on it. It doesn't change with any different oils either. I've run Amsoil SS to 15W40 Delo Syn Blend oil and everything from 5W-30 to 20W-50. Put an inline magnafine trans filter on the trans and it will help it live a little longer. My original trans took a dump at 200k.
Your engine sounds like mine and has been making that noise since I purchased it in 2012 with 134k miles.
Its like a piston skirt issue or something. Mine has not changed in sound nor has it affected any performance.
Currently it has 250k on it. It doesn't change with any different oils either. I've run Amsoil SS to 15W40 Delo Syn Blend oil and everything from 5W-30 to 20W-50. Put an inline magnafine trans filter on the trans and it will help it live a little longer. My original trans took a dump at 200k.
Maybe I'll try out some 5w40 and see if it quiets it down. I'm willing to experiment a bit with this car.
It seems to shift okay so far with the global ATF i put in, but I've only driven it to the cul-de-sac and back. I still need to put plates on it, as I didn't want to plate it until I was certain it wasn't a total basket case.
I'm not sure whether Seafoam really does much. I know it absolutely can free up sticky lifters, and it may have some cleaning ability, but I think it's pretty mild. At any rate, I've never seen it hurt anything when used properly.
I cleaned the PCV valve, and it works fine. I haven't pulled the throttle body yet to clean it. One of the heater coolant hoses is very soft from oil leaking all over it, but it's not leaking yet. Radiator hoses are fine for now. It definitely has oil leaks but its not leaving drips on the driveway yet.
Glad to hear the noise didn't affect performance for young. It doesn't seem to affect the performance of this car; it's running just fine.
All I can say on some noise is on my sons Forte. After running a couple rounds of EC30 (and getting respective carbon in filter) his motor is quieter especially at startup. No guarantees just my opinion but I figure that his piston rings freed up some and maybe allow the pistons/rings to move and center up a bit better. Still using same viscosity oil it had been.
His car wasn't really burning any oil before or now. The noise reduction difference was even noticed and commented by my wife.
Maybe try the VRP in whatever viscosity you want or get some EC30 and use a qt in your changes.
hey you can regret not going before now, but imagine NEVER going and you regret it the rest of your life?! Good for you, thanks for the back story.. ya now I know what you mean about the general ed requirement "filler" classes. and yup you always appreciate something later on, I've been there too.
ok back to the car..
I'm wondering if it's the pistons too, remember the piston slap I mentioned? The civic was notorious for this issue back then, looks like the Accord got a higher quality material and is resisting it better. The piston slap (clack clack clack) would happen when it was cold, once warmed up no noise. Just like this noise but this is so much better than the Civic. And yes the Civic would piston slap itself until the entire engine was dead 300k+ Luckily I had the engine block replaced and that went away.. I don't think you have to do this with this one. Could easily just (like others said) use a heavier oil..
but no I don't think it's old gas in the tank.. just like mine it was in the block. A heavier oil might quiet it up more, mine started around 100k miles back then.
@JoeDirt41 I didn't read all the other posts.. yup maybe try a heavier weight oil, and you are.. Be interesting to see if it does quiet it up. but overall when I think about the life this car went through, it's not doing bad at all! Could be a lot worse!
I think piston slap matches the symptoms pretty well. Maybe I'll try out a 5w40 and see what happens. I'd agree this car has definitely seen some stuff in its 27 years and it probably hasn't seen this level of care in quite a while.
I took the rusty exhaust manifold heat shield off today and media blasted it and painted it with some flat black high temp paint. It should look a lot better than before. Looking online, I noticed Honda used black heat shields on some of their cars, so it still has a factory-appearance.
that looks awesome! good job!
I know the heat shields on the civic were always silver, like a cheap looking stainless steel. Took about 15 years til they rusted off. oh wait, no they turned rust color, it's a factory option! lol..
Black sounds really nice and would look great in the engine bay!
Might be piston slap but it's the lowest I've heard, mine was like a truck diesel, clack-clack-clack.. crazy loud. But a thicker oil might help, like you said you're not invested that much and don't have much to lose.
Purchased a new air filter for the car yesterday. Carquest Premium, just went with what we had on the shelf at work. Looks to be old stock, but I expect that with a car this old.
When I went to change the filter, I snapped off two of the four air cleaner box fasteners. Fortunately Dorman makes replacement screws just for this purpose, and I was able to reuse the sleeves to retain them as captive screws.
For the pieces that were broken off in the lower air box, one I was able to get one removed with pliers. The other broke off flush, and I had to remove the threaded insert from the plastic box and weld a nut to the broken stud and spin it out. After that I wire wheeled the insert and sprayed some black paint on it.
I ordered three new bolts from the Honda Dealer for the heat shield so I don't have to reuse the old rusty ones. Should have them tomorrow.
Mismatched/incorrect hardware is a total peeve of mine so I get a bit particular with it.
When I went to change the filter, I snapped off two of the four air cleaner box fasteners. Fortunately Dorman makes replacement screws just for this purpose, and I was able to reuse the sleeves to retain them as captive screws.
For the pieces that were broken off in the lower air box, one I was able to get one removed with pliers. The other broke off flush, and I had to remove the threaded insert from the plastic box and weld a nut to the broken stud and spin it out. After that I wire wheeled the insert and sprayed some black paint on it.
I ordered three new bolts from the Honda Dealer for the heat shield so I don't have to reuse the old rusty ones. Should have them tomorrow.
Mismatched/incorrect hardware is a total peeve of mine so I get a bit particular with it.
it's always the details/little things that make the difference! 
My heat shield bolts didn't come in today, but I got it back together with the old ones for now. Looks much better. Installed the new air filter with the repaired housing as well.
Decided to change out the brake fluid in the master cylinder reservoir. Glad I did. It was nasty.
Sucked the old fluid out and got it as clean as I could, then refilled with new DOT3. I'll probably bleed to the calipers eventually, but I didn't feel like snapping off bleeders today.
After cleaning-
Decided to change out the brake fluid in the master cylinder reservoir. Glad I did. It was nasty.
Sucked the old fluid out and got it as clean as I could, then refilled with new DOT3. I'll probably bleed to the calipers eventually, but I didn't feel like snapping off bleeders today.
After cleaning-
If you're feeling extra, you can flush brake fluid directly from the ABS modulator
https://charm.li/Honda/1997/Accord ...draulic Component Bleeding and Fluid Service/
Bleeding sequence for if/when you feel like bleeding at the calipers
https://charm.li/Honda/1997/Accord ...air/System Bleeding/Without Anti-Lock Brakes/
https://charm.li/Honda/1997/Accord ...draulic Component Bleeding and Fluid Service/
Bleeding sequence for if/when you feel like bleeding at the calipers
https://charm.li/Honda/1997/Accord ...air/System Bleeding/Without Anti-Lock Brakes/
whoa!! now that's nasty looking!! but great cleanup job! and this is starting to look a lot better..
One possibility: go to your local police narcotics sergeant or lieutenant, tell him you just bought the car, the prior owner was an alleged convict and you'd like a drug dog to sniff out your Honda. Maybe get it in writing from the po-po that if the dog hits, you won't be charged with anything. Who knows? Drugs could be hidden behind a body panel. etc.
Thanks! Yes, I'll have to pop the wheels off and take a closer look at the calipers. I hate bleeding because without fail, I always manage to snap a bleeder. My favorite penetrating oil as of late has been a quick blast with my MAPP torch. I know it's not great to torch on calipers, but I might just lightly warm them up. I looked at work, and we do not stock calipers for this, so I'm a bit hesitant to just try to turn them.
Thanks for that info. Wonder if my scan tool will work on something this old? It's bidirectional and has an ABS priming function but it does have somewhat limited compatibility.
It was bad. Maybe the worst I've seen, I can't remember looking at anything worse. Thanks! I'm very happy with how its turning out. I wish the title would get here so I can get it plated.whoa!! now that's nasty looking!! but great cleanup job! and this is starting to look a lot better..
Stopped at the Honda dealer this morning after class and my bolts came in. Made in Japan according the package.
I also got two key blanks as the keys I got with the car are generic Ilco keys. They were only $6 each, being that there is no chip in them. I'll take them to the hardware store and have them cut.
I also got two key blanks as the keys I got with the car are generic Ilco keys. They were only $6 each, being that there is no chip in them. I'll take them to the hardware store and have them cut.
If you didn't already do so, remove the bolts and apply a liberal amount of nickel or copper anti-seize paste to the threads in case you need to remove them in the future.
I highly, highly suggest that you take the keys to a local locksmith to have them cut instead of a hardware store. Since you splurged on OEM Honda key blanks, you want them cut perfectly. Last time I had a car key cut at a hardware store, it cost me $300 because the key could not be removed from the ignition switch. It bound up so badly that I had to pull the key out with Vise-Grip pliers which destroyed the tumblers in the ignition switch. Cost me $300 to replace the ignition switch because I tried to save $2 by avoiding the locksmith. Expensive lesson learned.
Dealer should be able to cut from the VIN# if you want nice original keys not copy of the worn one. Probably not much different than locksmith.
