Hey collective members of Honda-Tech, I've been having some troubles with my 94 Accord, and I am going to try to fix it myself, but it's really my first major foray into Automotive repair... So I can use all the help you're willing to give!

I'll give info about the car, and issues, as well as a time line of what happend/what I did and add pictures as soon as I can. I'll be picking up the Hanyes or Chilton, from a used book store today, and buying a jack/jack stands, and my own tools in a few days. I want to get it into running condition to either drive for a few months, or sell. I'm going to replace it with a BMW E36, but might be buying a Del Sol to drive and fix up for a few months and then give to a friend as she needs a car and likes the little sucker.

Car:
1994 Accord EX
25X,XXX miles
1 Owner before me, not sure about upkeep/accidents
While i owned it - minor hit to front driver's side, minor body work done, new bumper, mechanical seemed fine, some break work, other general upkeep

Issues:
Major - Overheats after use
Minor -
Dash lights (speedo,etc) don't work
Break pedal needs to be floored to stop car (thinking air in lines?)

Issues in detail:

Main Issue - overheating
Alright I'll start with the first time it happened. I was idling in a drive thru with a friend, when we heard a hissing noise, moments later smoke started coming from passenger side of hood, temp was approaching red. Turned car off, looked around and smoke was coming from roughly passenger side near window.
Bit later a friend with more auto know-how and I took a look around and found the Radiator Fan wasn't working, and fuse was blown. Replaced fuse but blew after running, Called up a shop they said it was Radiator Fan was bad, asked $240 and so we went to Autozone and picked one up you $40. Replaced fan, worked all right, but temp still rose. After coming back we checked radiator, seemed to be dry, filled up and seemed fine. Couple days later I was once again in a drive thru, and low and behold, same smoking issue from same area and temp started rising. Next day I refilled radiator, drove a bit, came back to find what seemed to be the antifreeze I put in not quite pouring out, but leaking out quite quick... Roughly same area as smoke came from. A day later I filled radiator, and let it idle, drove a tad, and waited for it to leak so i could find the leak, however after ~40 minutes of idle, nothing happened.
So now I can't seem to find the leak and I'm certain the moment I try to drive it somewhere, it'll do the smoke/overheat routine.

I'll upload pictures and show the exact area later today.

Minor issues -
Dash lights don't work.
After replacing the Radiator Fan, it was dark and we took it for a drive, only to find the dash lights not working. After checking the fuse (was good) and finding the rear lights are connected to the dash, yet they work fine, we're assuming the cluster bulbs are out? Any info on replacing or other issues it might be? and yea I messed with the dimmer thing, but could that be bad instead of the cluster?

Breaks - not a huge issue, I've got a coupon for firestone to flush breaks for a dollar over the price of break fluid so I'll just let them do it. Any other possible thing it could be though?


Thanks in advance, it's been a real headache for me

I'll post pics with areas pointed out and all later.


EDIT:

Here's pics

The blue circle is roughly the area smoke came from and where it leaks, after smoke the whole area is wet.


Here are shots of the area in the event someone can just see something wrong...





Shoot I can't post pics yet I guess...

 

Bump... anyone? I'll add the pics when I'm allowed to post. Any heads up on a chilton or haynes manual being better? I'm getting new tools soon, and I'll be taking off the front end, cleaning up the engine bay, and then going leak hunting. Any suggestions on the dash lights? And if I need to tear into the dash, has anyone posted any how to's for it?

 

Replace the dimmer switch for the dash lights

Assuming you're not losing any fluid in the brakes I would flush out all the old current fluid and put new fluid in.

- Check fans coming on and working
- Check level of coolant
- Bleed the coolant
- flush out coolant for new Honda coolant
- When was the last WP and TB done?

I would suggest looking through the FAQ prior to posting anymore.

 

I would try to get a Helm's manual for the car.

How long have you owned the car?

Honestly, what I do when I buy used cars is replace as much of the maintenance items as I can so I can start the service records from that point. Cooling system is the first thing I do; radiator, thermostat, and hoses.

Does the radiator look like it has been replaced? If it's questionable, I would replace it. OEM style replacements are pretty inexpensive.

You need to be very careful now. I wouldn't let the car overheat again. It's definitely pushing it now.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few places where coolant can leak. There are coolant hoses all over.

 

on the thought of over heating, i have a 95 accord the thermo stat was replaced 6month - year ago but recently when i get out of the car it smells hot (it def. not electrical) the temp gauge on car says its fine, any ideas?

 

http://www.hondahookup.com/manuals/ check here for your year/model service manual..

on the overheating side, have you jack up the car to see where the leak is coming from?

my accord had an overheating issues a month ago, found out it was the inlet heater hose, that goes from the cylinder head to the passenger side firewall. In order to see that hose or gain access to it, you need to remove the intake.

 

the thing is there are no fluids leaking from the car, ive checked on and off for the past week, yet Everytime i get out of the car from driving it something smells hot and this happens at different places (store, school etc).

 

sorry I was referring that to the OP.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the reply, it looks like my christmas presents will be a jack, stands and some decent tools so I can actually go to work as all of my friends tools/equipment and space is in use or 200 miles away... can't really get there to work on it.

I checked out the shop manual from Hondahookup, gave me a couple ideas of where to check, thanks!

Well, looks like I won't be able to tear the car apart until the 25th, but on the upside I just got $100 worth of tools/equipment for free, best thing I've got from Santa since I was 5

I'll be looking at picking up a dimmer from a local parts car if I can find the time, and working on other details here and there, gonna see about restoring the leather seats too, mostly as a test for this leather repair/recolor stuff I've seen, but nicer looking seats can't hurt the resell value...

hopefully I'll find the time as I have jury duty tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure they'll pick me

 

my 94 accord has pretty much the same problem as yours.

but my car doesnt seem to over heat even with the radiator fan fuse pulled out (fan stuck on motor mount after accident.. need new radiator frame)

my instrument cluster also doesnt have any lights... pulled out the dimmer switch and found an open so i assume that is the problem.

my speedo / odo also does not work... from what i've heard the 94 accord uses the tranny vss to measure both speedo and odo so i think it could be the vss.

as for your brakes... check if you have any leaks in your brake lines and also if you are low on brake fluid... might be sucking in air.

 

Hmmm, you dont sound like a newbie mechanic ... sounds like you have some knowledge or experience. Real newbies are just completely lost and use different words, i.e., they sound really dumb. Maybe you are just relating words from techs you spoke to locally and have in turn related that here. At any rate, your first mistake is even thinking this is going to be a piece of cake, a walk in the park. If you have never done auto mechanics, and you have a good career then I would say stop right there and let your mechanic friend do the work, or find a good trustworthy independent honda tech, because you have no idea what you are about to get involved in. It is beyond me why people encourage people to take on auto repairs, yet these same people would never take a radio or washer or dryer apart, they would call a technician or advise you to. Today's vehicles are more complicated than the space shuttle [according to the discovery channel] ... they are made up of something like 15,000 parts, many of which are interelated. The work is difficult and time and labor intensive. It is frustrating at best. It can be dangerous [battery, fuel, high pressures, toxic substances, etc]. But the one thing no manual will tell you, even if you have the offcial HSM, is experience ... of course, H-T can help you with that, but might not. Many threads go unanswered. Your going to need to know a certain amount of physics and engineering type of technical mundane stuff, either before you start or your gonna have to learn in on the spot, because the manuals are NOT going to tell you that stuff ... and the manuals will rarely tell you why you are doing something, and if you dont know why, then you are going to be in a world of **** when something does not go by the book ... AND you can count on that, eventually it will happen. All men or women who work in trades know that truth. When you know why you are doing something you can improvise, fabricate, modify, whatever you need to do to get the job done. I have accumulated over $50,000 in tools over the years. It takes time to build up a tool set. I will eventually get rid of some of them, as I gain even more experience.

Now having warned you about all of that, I would say, if you like vehicles [I dont], and you are mechanically inclined [I'm not], then you just might enjoy doing this stuff more than I do [I dont]. I do it out of neccessity, not for fun, if I didnt do it I would not be able to afford to own a used car or drive - well, actually I could afford it, but then the mechanics would have all my money and I would have none. All I really accomlished is to keep my money from going to them, but I lost too much time in my life over this crap. I invested all kinds of time and money and took a path in life that I wish I had not taken. I pray to God that he will help me get off of this time consuming, life consuming, path. Fat chance of that !!! After I post this reply I will be posting my own question about something I have no experience with.

My point is more speciifically this. A BMW tech once said to me, even I struggle with doing reapirs, sometimes I cannot go any further with a repair, or even dont know where to start, until or unless I talk with a BMW engineeer in Germany (BMW is hooked up to Germany via the computer network at the BMW dealerhsip)

This stuff is not something on the equivalent of Home Depot weekend home repairs. There are no Home Depot stores for automotive work, because it is just too techy and time consuming, with little rewards, and automotive stuff depreciates leaps and bounds, while homes appreciate leaps and bounds. This is a major industry and it is protected, via, a conspiracy of values and interests - if you doubt that, wait until you run into a problem and try to find a Honda dealership to tell you the procedure about a repair [he, he, he], aint no such thing as help like that. Much of this stuff is proprietary or monoploized by nature of the money interests involved. Its a war for sure, because after all, 99% of the people only care about money $$, not truth, or doing the right thing, its just the way of the world, and its worse here in the US than anywhere. I dont envy where you are at right now.

Be careful with YOUR safety first. There is much advice that wasnt very well thought out. Go slow, double check everything, be methodical, analytical, and especially, use good common sense.

The second mistake you made was to think that Haynes or Chilton is what you need to work on a Honda. Those books are for techs who already know what to do. You NEED A Helms service manual, or an Official HSM. THAT is the first thing to buy when you are going to work on a Honda. Working on a Domestic vehicle, then you NEED that mfrs service manual.

BRAKES:
Btw, breaks are spelled brakes. Possibilities: Air in line(s), leak in line(s), master cylinder seals shot, wheel cylinder leaking, completely worn pads [doubt it though].

OVERHEATING:
I'm not a motor head and neither do I want to be one. Safety modding, or improvement modding is fine and sometimes needed, though. As for your vehicle overheating, that other post that told you to be very careful at this point is absolutely correct - you dont want to warp or crack the head, or blow the head gasket -- then its game over !!! So, you need to do some testing to find the cause of the overheating. You could go to NAPA and buy a chemical test kit to see if any hydrocarbons are in you coolign system. If they are, you are going to need to take the motor apart and fix the head (a nightmare of issues for the uninitiated). If the test indicates the cooling system is free of hydrocarbons, then you need to find that leak before you use this vehicle any further, so you dont cause a head problem. I would visually check for leaks, run a pressure test (borrow friends Stant or similar tester), unless you have an air compressor, then you can improvise a mock pressure test [another entire post], do a leak down test, do a compression test. Dont trust or bother to or get tricked into the type of hydrocarbon test that use a sniffer, as they were designed to test minute amounts of hydrcarbons in the emissions systems. They are calibrated way too sensitive and can give a false postive result. Meaning they are so accurate that it can say you got hydrocarbons in the cooling system, but the reality is that if anyone had any petro on their hands while working on any part of the cooling system, then the sniffer will pick that up, and then you think you got a head gasket issue. Consumers are greatly taken advantage over in this manner, and ironically the dumb techs even believe the test themselves.

FOMOCO tested a sniffer in LA, by placing one on a bench on a table out in the open in an automotive shop and the thing said there were hydrcarbons present - Well, duh, I guess so. And dont be fooled by white smoke that might be present when you first start your Honda. They can or will do that especially in the winter, and it looks as if you got a bad head gasket, but if the smoke goes away, then you dont. Now here is a subtle thing about that. Some engines have a slight head gasket leak, that will go away when the engine is warmed up [thermal expansion], and others still, that dont have a leak until the engine gets warm [again, thermal expansion], because of the type of and place of, the opening in the gasket. But either way, it is minor and you can go for quite sometime until you need to deal with the issue, but the sooner you do the better.

 

Hey thanks for the replys guys, I'll be taking it under advisement...

In fact I've taken it to firestone to have them do a preliminary check. They'll be checking the cooling and for the leak, though I've pretty much gotten it narrowed down, but this should certainly help. They'll also be checking the engine for issues from overheating.

I'll pick it up tomorrow and see how it is. My dad's thinking that if it's not to expensive, we'll just have them take care of the leak... probably for the best, there's still plenty to work on fixing

 

Minor update-

It was kinda expensive, but it's a bit more reassuring than me doing it as my first big fix.

I was right about the leak, hose was replaced. Turns out air in the brakes was due to one of the lines being damaged... so that was nice to know, and apparently Accords have lines that cost $70 a pop...

Anyway, I've found a car being parted out. I'm gonna pick up the dimmer switch, maybe the wing on it (looks OEM, it's also a black 4dr 94 ex, but I dunno if they ever came with wings)

I've also got a busted fuel gauge... now I'm not sure if it's the gauge, or something further down the line, but I was thinking of trying to get a new one... or would I need a whole cluster to try to resolve a issue there? I'll be looking back through the diys and stuff to see if I can get some more info there.

Anything else I should be trying to get? I was going to check out the hood and driver front fender as mine got banged up in a minor collision, and I figured it'd be cheaper to get some used or aftermarket ones than pay someone to repair it. Opinions on doing this?