My son has a 1990 Accord, and it died while he was driving it. Upon towing it home I pulled a spark plug wire to discover oil in all of them. Now this was on the plug and not in the actual cylinder head where the spark is produced. Will the presence of this oil cause the car to die? I know fouled electrodes in the plug will, but I have no experience with this issue.

Thanks in advanced.

 

no. maybe if the oil stays there long enough to get caked on but that is highly unlikely. you need to replace your spark plug tube seals to fix the oil in the tubes. but as far as your car dying, that is NOT your problem.

 

ditto.
I had this issue b4, it won't cause the car to die.
Like he said replace those seals.

 

Yeah, what they said. Might cause a rougher idle here and there but no way should it cause the car to die.

 

Well, thanks for the input. I was hopeful it was something that easy.

 

if it died while driving it could be due to a bad distributor, happened to me while i was driving my old integra. Made a left turn and it sputtered and shut off on me and wouldn't start back.

changed the distributor and fired right up.

 

It might be something else because usually the combustion will burn the oil right off and out from the exhaust IMO. You'll need to replace the o-ring seals too because if you don't then oil will just keep going down there.

 

easy answers on a honda dying...

ignitor
coil
ignition pod
timing belt gave
very very rarely a fuel pump. or lets just say never for those cars.

 

Here is something you can try...Take the spark plug wires out and connect the spark plugs. Ground them each one at a time to something, like your header heat shield bolts, then have someone try to start the car. Check each plug one at a time to visually see if they are firing at all. If one or all isn't, well it is probably the distributer acting up and it's time for a new one. If you do have spark in all the spark plugs, the next thing I'd try is a compression check and report back the results.

EDIT- Oh, and I assumed the car isn't starting back up.

 

id say an overhaul isnt out of the question if you plan on keeping the car long term

 

Thanks for all the help. He paid $50 for the car from a family member, and it isn't worth an overhaul. I hope it is something simple, and not a timing belt or something worse. I probably won't look at it for a day or two, it's supposed to rain.

 

I pulled the distributor cap and found that the timing belt is gone. Does anyone know of a good site that has a decent tutorial on replacing this? I have replaced timing chains on V8's before, but these transverse mounted enginges can be a pain. And I know on some cars you have to cut holes in the wheel wells to gain access or drop the engine, and I really don't want to deal with all of that.

Thanks again

 

Hope this helps https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/how-replace-timing-belt-timing-balancer-belt-water-pump-f22b1-1908944/ . It shouldn't be too bad. Just take your time, grab a beer, and maybe get help from a friend and you should be able to finish it in an afternoon.

 

your not supposed to see the timing belt by opening the distributor....timing is on the other side

 

I didn't "see" the timing belt by removing the distributor cap, I did see that the rotor inside was not spinning like it should when I turned the key.

 

gotcha....take the timing cover off to confirm

 

he did confirm. but next time, for an even easier way, just look at the rockers under the oil cap :p

ok so, the bad news is you don't have experience with honda and the worse news is the F/H engines are the hardest/most complex to do.
and the worst news is that body is the most cramped one with that motor.

i would really recommend not doing it without a lift. unless you are very patient and can take your time while potentially fetching a diff tool every day you will get frustrated doing that job.


a previous post i made on this https://honda-tech.com/forums/showpo...73&postcount=3

 

Luckily my ex-wife's boyfriend is a diesel mechanic, and he has volunteered to fix it for free + parts. So I say more power to him, and I hope he has the tools.

 

diesel does not equal metric tools.
but compared to working on a diesel, a honda is a vacation.
and make sure the complete job is done or you will be back in there. or if by chance you are in houston i can do it :D

and... ex wifes boyfriend? fixing your stuff for free?

 

Whoa, this mine and her sons car not mine.

 

Replace seals under valve cover (spark plug seals) and might need to replace the spark plug wires. If oil was on them for awhile, it might have damaged them.

 

oh haha. forgot about that part. been a while since i read the first post

 

Knight, No problem. LOL. I do have some sense of pride, even though I live in the land of Lions.