We will see.

First let me rant about how WHY does Honda not have a torque setting for the head bolts, every other MFG I know of is smart enough to give you a setting. Not Honda the book says 22lbs then 90 degrees 3x on the pattern.

I did a timing belt and head gasket on this accord I bought not running from Craigslist. It ran eventually but got hot and had random misfire. I begain to suspect my compression gauge doesnt work. I bought a new comperssion gauge and yep, the problem is low compression. #4, #3 had 90 psi, #1 and #2 had about 120 psi. I got out the breaker bar and 14mm and went in the pattern around tightening the head bolts as much as possible. I am up to 155 psi on #1/#2 and about 140 psi on #4/#3. Minimum psi is 135 standard is 178 psi.

I'll drive it a bit and see if it gets hot again I'm betting it doesn't.

#1 BEFORE



#1 AFTER


ugh look at the inside of the valve cover! I put 1.8 miles on the car since the headgasket "repair"



Time for an oil change and coolant flush and change.

 

I changed the oil and flushed the coolant and changed it. WOW it starts so easy now. I let it idle for a while and it didn't get hot and the tach is working?!

I'll burp the coolant over the weekend and take it on a few short trips... you know nothing I won't mind towing it home from. If it runs good its going on a trip to and from work.

 

If you didn't have the head machined or re-straightened it's going to leak again, it's just a matter of how long. If you did, you should be good to go. There should be torque specs in three stages. I'm thinking you were using a Haynes or something junk like that.

 

Thank you for your reply and advise.... yep Haynes manual.

I did not machine the head, I visually inspected it and checked with a feeler and straight edge. I have performed 6 head gasket repairs and have never had a head machined for that reason. At this point its not smoking, idles and doesn't overheat and I took it for a drive with no codes and no issues.

I bought the car for $700 not running to GIVE 100% GIVE to our retired pastor. He had a couple strokes and can't climb into his 1996 4x4 Dodge Ram that I have kept running for over 250k miles on the original drivetrain.

At this point its running and ready to give to him. He knows enough about cars that if it overheats he will stop and call for a tow. If it does leak again I will machine it like you advised. I'm not keen to tear back down a running car.

Now I just need to fix the multiplex controller issue and leaky valve cover gasket.

Thanks!

 

Here is a link to a downloadable factory service manual w/ all the torque specs.
http://hondatech.info/downloads/Auto/Manuals/Accord/

 

The F23A engine uses an initial tq number then proceeds to use 2 or 3 tq sequences using 90° steps in order to torque the head bolts. How many sequences depends on whether you are using new or old bolts. IIRC That is straight out of the shop manual????? I could never get that '98 ISO shop manual to work. I think some guys just go with the F22B1/2 tq specs instead of using the degrees.

 

thanks for the info ghost

 

I used new bolts. I have gone in sequence 45-90 degrees about ten times now

It runs great. Tried the paper clip trick for dash lights and that fixed it. So I ran to the store for wire splices and it worked for a second or two now it doesn't work at all even with the paper clip?! The fuse on the drivers side for instrument lights is fine. Any guesses?

 

It's very easy when you put the paperclip in to accidentally put it in the wrong slot in the service connector. Just look at it closely and you will see the metal pins. Put it into those. It's possible to put it into the wrong slot which only has plastic. Try again.

 

I may have been jumpering the wrong wire the second time I tried with the paperclip cause this am it worked with the paperclip.... my splice kit doesn't work I don't think its making good contact with the wires. What would be wrong with shrink tubing the paper clip?

 

I also re torqued the head again, 80lbs, 90lbs, 100lbs and finally at 110 lbs. A few bolts turned again at 110lbs.

 

whats your question ?

 

What would be wrong with insulating the paperclip and just leaving it in place? This is what I did BTW.

I have a new problem Vtec malfunction po1259. I searched and read the exhaustive posts.... given that it is oil based and the sludge I had from poorly sealed head gasket is it abundantly likely that my issue is due to crap in it. If so should I remove the solenoid and flush it with clean oil? I took the top off and the plunger moves freely. I did not test it for the 11 ohm

 

No issues with insulating the paper clip as long as the ends are bare to make a good clean connection with the electrical contacts.

You should completely remove the VTEC assembly from the cylinder head and clean, and or replace, the filter/screen gasket. That is the gasket found between the cylinder head and the assembly. It is a fairly common issue with VTEC engines and dirty oil and or sludge buildup.

 

Sweet! Thank you Ghost for the advice! I'm going to follow it tomorrow.

Is there a super fast way to de-sludge the engine? I am already running Castrol GTX which I have heard is anti sludge. I have heard you can run a quart of ATF and it will remove sludge quickly?

EDIT searched and yep I'll be changing the oil after I clean my VTEC solenoid then refilling with a quart of GM ATF. Idle it for 5 min then drain and refill with Castrol GTX and a new filter.

 

There is a process using Seafoam as well. The directions are right on the bottle for cleaning the crank case.

You could also try using a 100% synthetic engine oil once you have it cleaned up. I changed over to 100% synth on my F22B2 and the engine seemed to love it. Ran it for over 2 years and when I tore the engine down you would have never known it was 15 years old.

 

Cool I have used seafoam for intake manifold/fuel injector cleaning via vacuum lines on my G35. I think ATF cleans out more sludge.... and my sludge is from head gasket fail. I had the head and oil pan off when I did the rebuild so I know it was sludge free until I didn't get bolts torqued enough on the head gasket. I ran for 1.6 miles with it mixing oil & water. I changed the oil a couple days ago

 

With regards to your paperclip question, if you're asking if you can leave the paperclip there all the time, the answer is no. When you jump the service connector it prevents the ecu from altering the ignition timing. This is how you're able to adjust ignition timing and set base idle.

 

It jumped on the back of the gauge cluster? I think we might be talking about different things?

 

Yah never mind I confused your thread with another.

 

No problem thanks for your help

 

I did remove and clean the Vtec solenoid... did not test it electrically. I removed exactly a quart of oil via the drain plug. Poured in a quart of ATF.

Started the car let it idle for 2 min
Held 3000 RPM for 20 seconds
Held 5000 RPM for 20 seconds
Let it idle for another 2 min.

I drained the oil, not really that remarkable... I mean you could see that it was chocolate milky and thin. The oil pressure light did not come on while I was running the motor with a quart of ATF.

I refilled with 4 quarts of Penzoil and half quart of Lucas Oil Stablizer, new filter.

I'm going to try to go for a couple errands in the car tonight and see if the VTEC messes up. My local dealer stocks the solenoid for $155 + tax new and the u pull it junkyard has them for $15. I think if I replace it again it will be with a new part.

DIRTY



CLEAN

 

MAN!

I put almost 20 miles on it tonight.

I drove around the neighborhood twice. No issues.

I drove three blocks out around the neighborhood and stopped at a gas station popped the hood took a look everything looked great no leaks no strange idle.

Full throttle works and the car is kind of fast! I hit the highway and tested the cruise control.

I started to like this car for the first time ever! I stopped at Lowes to pick up some hardware for another project. I was inside the Lowes for about 10 min. I came out and it would not start. It cranked and cranked.... I finally just held it to start until it came to life after about 1 min of turning the motor over. It was miss firing really bad had to put it in nuetral and rev the motor to keep it from stalling at stop signs in the parking lot. CEL was flashing. Once I got out on the street the CEL went off and stayed off.

I drove about a block and it started getting hot. I turned on the heater, It made it within about 1/4 inch of the H. When the car was moving it would go down to almost the middle but then it would creep back up at lights. CEL stayed off. I got home and popped the hood neither Efan is running. I tried turning on the AC to see if the fan would come on and the car stalled and would not start.

I had 1 stored code 1399 random misfire. It only misfired when I first got it started.

I will check out the fan relays tomorrow, I know the AC Efan was coming on because I tested that a while back.

I think a bad fuse or solenoid for the efan is the overheating issue. I am concerned about the 1399 misfire, could that be caused by the overheating?

Will check oil level and sludgyness tomorrow, will check efan tomorrow, I burped out alot of coolant from the overflow when I got home will do a compression test again tomorrow.

Interested in any ideas.

Oh and did about 6 runs through the gears at full throttle, transmission shifts smoothly and no VTEC codes felt like the VTEC was kicking in too. So cleaning the solenoid appears to have fixed the VTEC issue.

 

just read the threads about jumping the fans via the sensors using a paperclip.... soon this car will have more paper clips than anything else LOL. Will try in the AM

dash lights worked great!

Do 2000's have a fan timer?

 

Never reallly even thought that that thing could get so dirty as to prevent it from working properly.

Unless it's labeled something other than "fan timer" it doesn't appear to have one. I'm not familiar with 6th gens too much so I'm not sure what takes the place of it.

See what happens with the new compression test regarding the misfire.