Hi,
I'm new to this forum, but I need to ask a question of a large Honda audience. My 1999 Accord LX has a manual transmission, a 2.3 liter four cylinder engine and about 55,800 miles on it. I am the original owner and it has been dealer serviced according to Honda's schedule. It recently developed a rattle when I engaged the clutch. It went right in for service and was diagnosed as a bad clutch. After replacing the clutch, when it went out for a road test, the original noise was even worse. The engine bearings were replaced and the dealer covered them as a "goodwill warranty" item, so I only (!!) paid for the clutch replacement. Nine (9) days after I got the car back, the noise returned. This time they replaced the short block which American Honda covered as a "goodwill warranty" issue, only charging me for the labor involved!! My questions follow: Should this engine have "died" at only 55,000 miles?? Does anyone have any similar experiences with this engine?? Should I have any confidence in this rebuilt engine?? Thanks!!

 

man that doesnt sound normal to me, do you drive it like ****?

 

There's going to be horror stories with every brand available, But engine failures in low milage Honda's are rare.
In my capacity(s) working in GM dealerships for 25 years, It became apparent that dispite the head-long drive to save money by the manufacturer, it was cheaper (in this senario) to replace the short block right off, rather than fit a new crank, bearings ect ect ect. I think you can feel better about the repair, now that they replaced the short block.
I hope it was an omission on your part when you discribed "replaced the bearings", because if they were worn/scored/wiped then the crankshaft was damaged as well, and should have been replaced as well. And you don't mention it.

What I'd question is; why did you have to pay for the Labor on a repair which was probably caused by the first repair (we call that a "come-back")(Flat-rate techs hate them)???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P_Adams &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
What I'd question is; why did you have to pay for the Labor on a repair which was probably caused by the first repair (we call that a "come-back")(Flat-rate techs hate them)???</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I second that. Why did you have to pay? Shouldn't that have been fully covered by your warranty anyway?

Also, the only explanation I could come with is that your one of the extremely rare people who encounter serious mechanical problem with a Honda. That is of course under assumption that you haven't been unusually hard on your car.

 

No, I bought the car new in '99 to get to/from work. Occasionally used for vacation trips, but hardly ever off-road... actually, never off-road... And I've driven stick shifts for the last 35+ years with no serious problems. So I'll just write this off to bad luck!!

 

They replaced the bearings, but not the crankshaft. I asked them to mic the crankshaft to see if it was within specs, but it didn't show up as a replaced part on the invoice. So I ASSUME it was O.K. The car was out of warranty at 55,800 miles. As for the "come-back" aspect of this series of repairs, the dealership said that the clutch went as a result of the undiagnosed engine problem. Then, after the clutch was replaced, the engine knock was even more evident, so they looked for an engine problem and "diagnosed" bearing failure. All in all, a very frustrating experience.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments!!

 

sounds to me like someone was covering their *** for the mis-diagnose in the first place ......and as well sounds like u might have had an issue with the crankshaft ....which by the way is part of the short block , that is why it did not show separate on the invoice.........
did they ever tell u what the engine problem was??? why did they replace the short block??

 

D:
As I understand it the progression of events went:

1)
Original Complaint; Rattle when Clutch was 'engaged'
Dealer Diagnosed as Bad Clutch (Wrong Diagnosis, ultimately)
Replaced Clutch
Never left the shop
Customer Paid 100%
*No mention of "worn" clutch (ok, it may have 'needed' it 'cuz it was worn...)

2)
Rattle when Clutch was 'engaged" - Worst after Clutch replacement
Dealer Diagnosed as Bad Rod & Main Bearings.
Replaced Rod & Main bearings
'Crankshaft question????'
Customer Paid 000% (Goodwill)
Repair lasted 9 days

3)
Rattle when Clutch was 'engaged' (Now known as bearing rattle/failure)
Dealer diagnosed as repeat bearing failure
Replace Short Block Assembly
Customer paid 100% Labor, Honda Bought Short Block.

My thoughts?, I'm of the opinion that the Dealer's Service dept should have picked up the labor charge, handed him the keys and wished him a "Good Day". No way is the customer in any way responsible for how it was diagnosed, or the repairs handled.

P

 

A few of my friends own 6th gens and ive seen horror stories of blown engine or abnormal oil consumption. From what ive, seen those engine are pretty weak compared to other honda engines. Basicly they cant take much abuse without breaking... One of my friend blew his f23a1 but he was always over-reving it, wich is not the purpous of that engine considering the 95mm stroke and SOHC. A few other had big oil consumption problems, but then again they were ofter racing on 1/4 mile. Almost all of them ended up swaping to an H22.

Usualy honda engine can take huge amount of abuse without breaking, but the f32a1 dont seem to be up to the task, but again I dont know how you drive your car so i cant realy explain the damages.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lookalike &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A few of my friends own 6th gens and ive seen horror stories of blown engine or abnormal oil consumption. From what ive, seen those engine are pretty weak compared to other honda engines. Basicly they cant take much abuse without breaking... One of my friend blew his f23a1 but he was always over-reving it, wich is not the purpous of that engine considering the 95mm stroke and SOHC. A few other had big oil consumption problems, but then again they were ofter racing on 1/4 mile. Almost all of them ended up swaping to an H22.

Usualy honda engine can take huge amount of abuse without breaking, but the f32a1 dont seem to be up to the task, but again I dont know how you drive your car so i cant realy explain the damages.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You have GOT to be kidding me. Your ricer friends have their engines fail after always over-revving and drag-racing (probably thinking their OBX exhaust improved their 1/4 time) and you blame the engine? Just ridiculous. I nominate this for worst post ever.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lookalike &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A few of my friends own 6th gens and ive seen horror stories of blown engine or abnormal oil consumption. From what ive, seen those engine are pretty weak compared to other honda engines. Basicly they cant take much abuse without breaking... One of my friend blew his f23a1 but he was always over-reving it, wich is not the purpous of that engine considering the 95mm stroke and SOHC. A few other had big oil consumption problems, but then again they were ofter racing on 1/4 mile. Almost all of them ended up swaping to an H22.

Usualy honda engine can take huge amount of abuse without breaking, but the f32a1 dont seem to be up to the task, but again I dont know how you drive your car so i cant realy explain the damages.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Whoa there, buddy. Don't blame the engine b/c of your buddies' mistakes. I used to abuse the crap out of my motor, and after 157,000 miles it still runs like new. My friend has regularly tracked his for 4 years now and hasn't had a problem either. With the exception of some people running turbos, I never hear of someone blowing their f23 w/o having done something stupid.

And btw, the f23 has a 97mm stroke.

 

But still, the point of this tread is to know this:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Should this engine have "died" at only 55,000 miles?? Does anyone have any similar experiences with this engine?? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I have seen similar experiences of that particular engine dying after short amount of time, and it was from over reving. I am not trying to say that this engine is crap or anything, just saying dont abuse it too much by reving it high. If you're dumb enough to wait for the cut-off limit each time you shift, well this particular engine will wear off more quickly. I'm not saying my friends were right, just explaining how I've seen berings fail on that particular engine.

Sorry about the 95mm, but 97mm make it even less favorable to reving high...

And one last thing, when i said that this particular engine couldnt take as much abuse as other engines, i just ment that ive seen a lot of H22 and f22a1 take A LOT of abuse without breaking. Some of those engines, like my good old f22a4 with 300K km had a lot of millage, but never broke because of internal dammage.

But then again i'm just sharing what ive seen... I dont pretend to know it all, just sharing experiences.