I'm having a couple of problems with my 1992 Honda Accord. It's got about 165K miles on it and is still in decent condition considering the age.

I don't know a whole lot about cars. I can change the oil, change a tire, change a thermostat, and a few other things, but beyond that I'm sort of clueless. So I'm hoping someone can help me, give me a few talking points when I take it into the dealer.

First Issue:
The 1st problem I'm having is that the engine temperature gauge runs hot whenever I idle. So, whenever I have to stop somewhere - a red light, a drive through - the temperature guage goes up to 'H', into the red. However, the temp guage goes back down into the normal zone if I either (a)turn on the heater inside the car (which really sucks in the summer) or (b) begin to move again, as if the blowing wind cools off the engine.

Second Issue
I start the ignition, and the engine turns over, but it struggles to start. Fortunately, it starts on the 2nd or 3rd try.

And yesterday, as I was driving, the car just stopped on me. I was driving, and it just stopped. Again, I was fortunate in that I pulled over and the car started for me. But I've got feeling that the car stopping and the trouble starting are related.

Anyone know what this might be? Alternator? Starter?


Like I said, I don't know much about major car repair, so whenever I go into a mechanic I feel like I should just hand over a signed blank check and just bite the bullet. If anyone has some good talking points I could use, that would be great.

Thanks in advance

 

Well as for the Overheating, Did you replace the t-stat recently, if not.. then go ahead and do that..

as for the starting problem and the car dying... i dont know, the car should still start because thats what the batterys for... Could be a starter solenoid,

 

I've had that same exact problem with the car dying out of nowhere few weeks back. The car would just die even when I'm moving. The problem went away after I held the throttle at 4,000rpm for a couple secs. I thought this was just a problem in the fuel system so I put in some fuel-system cleaner and now its all good.

 

Your overheating could be the motor on your radiator fan not working. You can hook it up to a car battery and see if it works to test it.

Your stalling and hard starting could be a distributor issue. Those Accords are known to have ignitors go bad in the distributor. Though usually the car just dies.

 

Is there any way for me to tell all of these things, or am I pretty much at the mechanic's mercy?

Your overheating could be the motor on your radiator fan not working. You can hook it up to a car battery and see if it works to test it.
How would I go about doing that?

 

With the radiator fan motor, a quick way to check is turn on the A/C. Both of the fans in the front should be on whenever you turn on the A/C.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bad Scooter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is there any way for me to tell all of these things, or am I pretty much at the mechanic's mercy?

Your overheating could be the motor on your radiator fan not working. You can hook it up to a car battery and see if it works to test it.
How would I go about doing that?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Gus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">With the radiator fan motor, a quick way to check is turn on the A/C. Both of the fans in the front should be on whenever you turn on the A/C.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
OK, thanks.

If it's not working, is that something easy to replace?

 

yes the fan itself is easy to replace. however i'm leaning towards a bad fan switch. the fan switch triggers the fan to turn on if the coolant gets hot enough (usually during stops or at drive thrus etc, just like you're experiencing). test your fan out first before looking at the switch.

to test the fan:
note: looking in front of the motor, radiator fan is on the left, condensor fan is on the right and both should be on with the a/c.
- the one you wanna look at is the left fan
- find the electrical plug, unplug it and get wires to the fan-side plug (speaker wire will do)
- connect one wire to the (+) of the battery and the other to (-)
- if the fan turns on it's not your culprit, your fan switch may be bad
- you can do the same procedure on the right fan


the second problem you have is most likely the main relay. search on here for more info. it's a typical symptom on most 4th gen accords. you'll prolly have to replace it. good luck!

 

And one more thing.

This morning I noticed the smell of burning oil.

Could that be because of the overheating, or would that be something totally separate?

 

OK, the fan is working. I turned on the AC, opened the hood, and both fans were running.

Should I try replacing the thermostat?

 

That sounds like an idea. Also make sure to bleed the coolant system as well. There's a little bleeder valve right by the thermostat housing.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bad Scooter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">OK, the fan is working. I turned on the AC, opened the hood, and both fans were running.

Should I try replacing the thermostat?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

for every problem that a car has, there's usually several things that can cause the problem. First, you should try to figure out why the problem is occurring. If your cooling fans are working, that's a good start. Have you ever had the system flushed? have you ever used any kind of coolant system sealer? Have you even looked at what the coolant looks like?
I almost always start off with minor overheat problems by checking to see if there are any coolant leak issues by topping the system off, and pressure checking it. ( if you don't have a tester, it should only take about 5 minutes, and $15 to have it tested elsewhere). This can save you a lot of messing around if it's got a simple leak. After you know the system is full, and tight, bleed it out. Most hondas have a bleeder valve on the thermostat housing. If you know you've got coolant, the system is tight, with no air pockets, and the car is still putting out heat, or not cooling at all ( stuck thermostat, or water pump), then you can assume there is a blockage of some type in the radiator, hoses, or heater core. If you've done all of the above, try doing a cooling system flush. I think more often then not, when a car slightly overheats, and drops down when the engine is revved up there is a blockage in the radiator.... when the car is revved, the water pump runs faster ( or you're driving faster) and get more coolant around the blockage/into the radiator to be cooled off.
There is no point in replacing your thermostat if the temp doesn't stay all the way down, or stay pegged on hot, Thermostats typically work ( and let the car control it's temp) or they don't work and stick open, or stick closed. Sticking closed will cause the car to overheat, and staying open will take forever to warm up.

As for the multiple cranks without starting, and dying while driving, that can be just about anything you can imagine that is electrical, or fuel related. If you're interested in having a properly maintained car, and doing work yourself. I'd start out with doing a very basic tune up. A lot of the times replacing certain wearing parts will help tremendously.
If you have no records on what has been done to the car, and have no idea when or what has been replaced, I usually go out and just buy a few things such as:
Spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor ( wires are the least needed here for the most part)
Fuel filter, fuel injector cleaner
1- can of intake cleaner, and spray this into the throttle body with the car running........
PCV valve
air filter ( if needed)
Once you know that these things have been done ( and for CHEAP if you do it yourself, and about an hour of your time) then it can make it easier to assume that you've got a sensor/relay/fuse/spark issue going on, and can work towards that.

 

Ditto what mylude90 said. Also, check the cooling fins on your radiator. Make sure they're good. BTW, the stalling/starting problem would not be your starter solenoid, after all, the engine is already running. The starter solenoid is supposed to operate at the instant of turning on the ignition key at the starting position. After that, it is in the OFF position.

 

Are the fans running when the car temp gauge reads above 1/2?
They are 'forced' to run with the A/C on; that doesn't mean the temp sensor is good.
The T-stat would cause the overheat to happen all the time, if it was bad.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by standbackimapro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well as for the Overheating, Did you replace the t-stat recently, if not.. then go ahead and do that..

as for the starting problem and the car dying... i dont know, the car should still start because thats what the batterys for... Could be a starter solenoid, </TD></TR></TABLE>
We don't think so. "t-stat, batterys, starter solenoid"??? Having a good battery and getting an engine started are NOT the same thing. Related, but not the same thing.

 

I have had the same issue with my 90 accord and I did pay for that tech to fix it. The over heating issue is a know issue with 90-93 accords. It is caused by a bad relay and you can verify that by turning on the AC and seeing if both fans run. If they do then check to see if one fan runs without the AC on, with the car hot, and turned off.

The other issue that you are having I had as well. The Accord would crank and crank but not turn over. After a few tries it would start but sometimes it would just die wile driving. I had to replace the computer and a relay to resolve this issue. I have been driving the car for the last 100K without an issue now.

Good luck.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by downforjc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The other issue that you are having I had as well. The Accord would crank and crank but not turn over. After a few tries it would start but sometimes it would just die wile driving. I had to replace the computer and a relay to resolve this issue. I have been driving the car for the last 100K without an issue now.

Good luck.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
How much did that cost you?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondadude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The T-stat would cause the overheat to happen all the time, if it was bad.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I might be a little confused.

It is overheating all the time. But when I drive, the wind apparently cools the engine down. Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?

 

If the thermostat is stuck closed, the coolant can't go through, and the engine will run hot no matter how fast you go. Thermostat is not the problem.

 

So it never over heats as long as your moving, but every time you stop the temp gauge starts going up. I know this sounds silly, but your symptoms are exactly like a car that is low on coolant. If you know for sure that it is full and bled, what I would do is hot wire the fan, where it runs constantly. Then drive it until it is warmed up, then come to a stop and see. If it is still getting hot, like before, I would let it cool off and double check your coolant level. Turning on your heater is just adding a mini radiator into the mix as you are removing heat from the coolant with the blower motor blowing across the heater core (mini radiator). If wiring the fan hot solves the problem then you need to look into what is triggering the fan or sending the signal to the fan to operate. If your fan is intermittent, it will over heat when no air is passing over the radiator but as soon as you start going it cools down says something is going on with the fan. Does it do it with the a/c on? that forces both fans to run. If it's good with the a/c on, your fan switch or temp sender or whatever triggers the fan is faulty........Good luck

 

Your overheating is caused by a bad fan switch. No airflow when stopped = overheating. Simple. There's two fan switches, my bet is the one on the thermostat housing is bad (I had similar symptoms with mine). They are cheap and easy to replace. The relays and fan motors are fine since they run when the A/C is turned on.

The cutting out issue is not your starter, and its not your alternator. You would be draining your battery if your alternator was bad but the car would continue to drive normally as long as the battery was charged. My crankshaft pulley fell off the other night driving home (bolt wasn't torqued to spec) and I lost my accessories including the alternator, charge warning light came on the dash but I made it home.

It could be a bunch of things but it would be smart to go ahead with a basic tune up. You might find obvious problems while doing it (such as a corroded spark plug wire) but it also can't hurt and its not expensive. Plug wires, plugs. distributor cap, rotor, fuel filter. It could also be your main relay or simply a loose connection somewhere, including a loose ground.

 

I had the exact same thing happen to my 92 accord. For no reason and without warning it would just quit running. But would restart after a couple of try's and run fine. Unable to pinpoint anything that was the cause, I did notice during the inspection that pretty much everything was beyond its useful life. A complete tune up (everything electrical) and a rebuilt distributor solved the problem. That occurred at 135,000 miles about a year ago and it has not missed a beat since.