pdx_accord

Long story ahead on my saga with a FILTHY import motor, but has anybody else ran into this problem. I read up on umpteen import engine swaps but nobody mentioned them being dirty. When diagnosing my engine's troubles a few shops commented with "would you ever change your oil if you had to toss your engine at 35k". Curious if anyone eles had run into this.

LONG STORY

I recently replaced my f22a in my 1990 Accord. I hunted around for a cheap deal on an H22 but alas was too poor to afford it and wound up purchasing a f20a1 from an importer in Portland, OR (Big Jim's Engines). When we started replacing the seals & gaskets we found the engine had massive deposits & varnishing. The valvetrain area had gunk and the oil pan was filled with crap. It looked like the owner had NEVER changed the oil.

Luckily no metal was in the oil pan so we went ahead with the swap. My friend (ASE certified friend that is) did most of the swap and it fired on it's first try didn't throw any codes and idled along for 10-15 minutes. When we took it out on a test drive we made it slightly more than two blocks before the low oil warning light came on. We drove it back and tried a couple tricks. First: engine honey, then a switch to 50weight oil + Power Punch which both failed. We waited until the next day fearing the oil pump was bad.

The warranty stated you had to replace every gasket, seal, water pump, even certify the radiator. I never bothered with the radiator and was too cheap to do the oil pump ($180 right). I had called around for a good price on the oil pump and the Honda dealership counter asked if I had checked the bypass valve in the oil pump almost immediately after I asked for the price on the oil pump. My mechanic friend disassembled the old oil pump off the dead f22 and found that it could stick (mine was stuck from nice copper rod bearing shards) and figured he could even pull it out without yanking the belts & accessories off the front of the engine (and charging my cheap *** to do it) saving some money.

We were all set to try the bypass valve trick but when we dropped the pan we took a look at the oil pickup tube which was cleaned to perfection before install. It was full of gunk. In 20 minutes of running it had filled with s**t. We cleaned it up and put it back in ran engine clean through it with 10w30 and drained the oil which was filthy and some flecks in it. You could see that under the oil cap it was cleaner and it's been running flawless since then (cross fingers only 600 miles).

Hope everybody gets a cleaner engine than I did and BTW the f20a1 I got was a SOHC. Everywhere I look it shows as DOHC, anybody know the scoop on it?

90H22

Haven't had the experience YET but just ordered an engine from HMO. If any of you guys have experienced this do you think an engine flush at a local shop is a good idea?

Man, that sucks, good thing you didn't really spend too much money replacing good parts though.

CD8

mine was pretty salty on the outside from the boats on the way over here... nothing can really be done about that, just some simple green and wire brush.

internals were fine, just change out your oil when you get it and youll be cherry. i got mine from HMO.com by the way.


[Modified by exaccord, 11:57 AM 9/14/2002]

pdx_accord

Two1Accord,

The engine flush is what worked wonders on my engine. Unless your shop is using a machine to do it (I believe Fram makes an engine vacuum or something crazy like that) do it yourself. We poured a bottle of it in with fresh oil and you run your car at idle for five minutes and drain the oil out. It's like running solvent through your engine it dissolves any crud that's inside.

The perfect thing would be if your importer was nearby would be to see if you could pull the oil pan or valve cover. Show up with money so they'll know your serious and they'll probably let you do it.

My engine was a little funky on the outside and the truck driver (local delivery) mentioned that they don't have the folks in Japan wash them off. He said they had engines show up with water in the cylinders. It was easier for them to let them stay dirty and DRY.


[Modified by pdx_accord, 8:20 PM 9/14/2002]

Nick M

Sorry to hear about the bad experience. I got my H22a from HMO. It was/is mint. Looks like its new. OBD1 too.

90H22

Thanks for the help, I'll prolly just do one of those five minute idle flushes. Sounds easy enough.