[downest]

I'm in the middle of doing the timing belt on my dad's 89 Accord (LXi, 4dr auto). I'm also removing the rest of the AC, it was in a minor front ender a while ago that broke the condenser, and he just removed it and doesn't care about AC, it's mostly a winter car. Anyway so I noticed he has a lot of... extra stuff. I was going to remove the charcoal canister, but there is another mini canister on the side of it, does anyone know what this is? Also right now I only have the top T belt cover off, but the belt is covered in nasty grimy sticky stuff, like oil and tar mixed. What seal would cause this, the upper one on the cam? The bracket for the AC seems to share the bracket with the PS pump, do I have to take the whole thing off to get the AC compressor out? Is there anything else I should remove to make future maintenance easier, stuff that doesn't matter or whatever? The car has about 250k on it, and it's had a hard life.

 

[Tiersin]

my dads minivan had a leaky compressor, and it got covered in sticky road crud, that may be it.

 

[downest]

It turned out to be 2 brackets after all, just so covered in crap I couldn't make out the bolts. The AC doesn't leak, it blew cold until the accident. Anyway, I broke the damn crank pulley, the PS belt part. I hate this car, it's the only Honda I really don't like. I'm trying to convince my dad he wants to get rid of it, but I think he's going for the highest mileage honda ever.

 

[Kwicko]

Not sure about the '86-'89 Accords, but when I changed the timing belt on my '91 Accord, I pretty much swore I'd never do it again. Those damn things - even the 4-cylinder ones - are put together like a puzzle box! I had to remove some of the cruise control stuff, the PS pump and hoses, the alternator, and who knows what else, just to get down to the timing belt covers. And like you, my crank pulley fell apart; the rubber part between the inner and outer sections of it was shot, so I had to buy a new crank pulley.

Then, when you get it all apart, you discover that there are TWO timing belts in there! An upper which drives the cam, and a lower that drives the balance shafts and the sprocket for the upper belt. And you need to "index" the balance shafts by immobilizing the rear one so they don't get out of phase with the rest of the reciprocating mass. Fun. Really.

Heu did the job on a V6 Accord, if memory serves, and I think it nearly ruined his life. I'm sure if we all did this stuff on a regular basis it would be child's play, but my big fear is that, by the time I need to do it again (NEVER!), I'll have forgotten all the little tricks I used. In fact, I pretty much HAVE forgotten them. Sucks getting older. Or maybe it's just all the drugs I did when I was younger. I can't remember...

I think HondaHookup.com has a PDF of the service manual for your dad's car, which could help a bunch.

Mike

 

[downest]

Thanks Mike, I did end up going there. I tried to DL it the other day but it didn't work, and his Haynes manual got wet in the trunk somehow. It doesn't have a balancer belt, so it wasn't that bad. I actually broke the cast pulley, I was bracing it from moving the only way I could see to, and the damn thing broke. Honestly this car is terrible, I don't think it owes anyone anything. I hate seeing Hondas in the junkyard, but if I saw this one I would know it's little four cylinder soul is at peace finally. I happened to find a very clean 91 Si hatch today for 600 bucks, so I'm trying to get my dad to get that for his beater car, and I'll probably buy it from him later on before he runs it into the ground. I'm doing my best not to be able to find a crank pulley. Majestic wants about 100 for a new one, he's going to call some junkyards tomorrow, but I don't know if they are going to want to go through the hassle of getting one. He doesn't care about the PS, but when I was trying to convince him to get rid of it, I told him about how the broken section would throw the whole motor off-balance. I'm tempted now to just put it on and when the whole motor shakes itself to death it will be a done deal. I hate this evil little car, it's such a pain to work on. Maybe I will take some pics of it tomorrow and show you how terrible it is, I really don't think anyone understands it. I did some "custom fabbing" today with it because I was so mad at it, removed some "extra" things. If he finally gives up on it, it's getting the sawzall, I'll part out what's possible and then spread the pieces to far corners of the country.

 

[Tiersin]

sounds like my dads van. In order to replacce the spark plugs, you have to remove the intake manifold...all three rusted together pieces, the alternator, and the distributer. god, i love the honda crx, working of almost any other car will tell you why.

 

[dohcrxl]

I hate Accords, hatem hatem hatem. But, you wouldn't be able to tell though looking at the line-up in my driveway... a 90 and a 98v6 amongst the scatter. Oh yeah, I hate Accords. They're reliable vehicles but are hell to work on. Everything is connected to everything else sometimes for pointless reasons and for one thing to come out they all have to come out. I've had my 90 coupe for 4years and all I basically did was change the oil but It's got 190k on it now and is due for a waterpump timing belt and head gasket while I'm at it. I'm so dreading it. Oh yeah another thing, I hate Accords. In the amount of time it takes me to drop my d16a6 I could probably change the alternator in any given Accord.

Really though, we're just absolutely blessed with the CRX and its simplicity. Most modern cars are a pain to work on. I helped a friend drop a tranny in his Eclipse GST last week and that was hell in comparison to the CRX as well. All but the driver side motor mount had to be completely removed. You can't just undo the bolts and the tranny drops down like on our rexes. But, still easier compared to a 5-speed tranny I did on a 96 four cylinder Accord. That reminds me, I hate Accords.

 

[mattminerDOTcom]

i did a tbelt, water pump, balance shaft belt, etc on a 97 4 banger accord. while i didnt have any problems (besides being surprised when i saw a belt id never seen before), it did take an awfully long time.

one upon a time i did a headgasket in an 89 lxi, kicks your ass until you figure out the timing marks are on the flywheel....

[email protected]

 

[Kwicko]

But Heu, how do you feel about Accords? There's a rumor going around that you hate them.

Honestly, I still mostly love 'em. You pop the hood, and if you're a "Honda Guy", then things are mostly where you expect them to be - except for the little strut that holds up the hood. And the oil dipstick.

It's only when you decide to actually WORK on the dang thing, that's when you realize how interconnected things are. Couple that with my impatience, and you have a recipe for disaster. I have this habit: if a bolt is being stubborn and refusing to come out, I tend to look "upstream" a bit, to see what the thing's it's connected to is connected to. I joke that I once removed the rear suspension on my Accord in order to change the front rotors... and I'm only half joking!

Mike