Hey all.

I bought a 94 accord ex wagon 5 speed vtec car a couple weeks ago. for $900. Rare car. With only 106k** on the odometer. Starts right up and seems to run fine. Under body rust is minimal for being a WI car.

Just drive it home from Wisconsin to Indiana. Runs and drives.

However, I need some advice on this car. I would really appreciate it. It seems the gentleman I bought the car from was a little bit of a bastard.
-Odometer stopped working the way home
-Gas gauge was broken, almost ran out of gas. Put in a full tank, and it starts leaking gasoline. Up were the fuel pump is. think its probably the fuel pump tank gasket. Leaking stopped when gas tank fill cap was removed.

Now for the big problem that has me wondering what im going to do. There is oil in the anitfreeze.(yes, im a moron for not checking more carefully) It doesn't seem to be a huge amount, it seems fresh(dark not milkshake, not mixed well) again the car seems to run and drive fine. I haven't driven it enough to get a pulse on the oil burn rate. The temp gauge on the cluster is broken. He told me the car had the thermostat changed, so its possible this car was overheating.

I bought the car thinking it was mechanically good, only needed cosmetic stuff and A windshield. Now it seems like it's gonna need serious work to get it going the way i want.

So could you all give your two cents on these questions?
- Is this car worth restoring? should I race it?
-is headgasket common to go on this engine? F22b1
- Is cracked head or engine common on these engines?
- How difficult is the head gasket change on these?

thanks all. I was looking forward to bringing this car back into running order, for its unicorn status. Now I am a little concerned that this will turn into a never ending project.

 

All older cars are money pits. Odometer not working is a common problem with this generation. If you dont have a CEL then its likely the VSS is in good order (Also you can tell your speed) Typically what happens is the odometer either gets gummed up or the Maintanence reminder hangs it up. My 94 had a defective VSS and neither speedo nor odo worked. My 95 has a problem where for some reason after about 100 or 200 miles the maintanence reminder jams up both the trip and fixed odometer. Suggest snapping the reset a few times on the trip odometer (it may be jammed there) or hitting the maintanence reminder a few times with a key trying to get it to free up.

You most likely have a failing head gasket, again not uncommon, though the milage on the car could be anything since replacing the cluster takes only an hour at worst if you know what you're doing. Suggest a compression check and a leak down test to determine where the fault lies.

Temp sensor not working is usually a broken connector on the harness or a snapped sensor itself. Have you tried testing it by grounding the sensor/applying voltage? ( I dont remember what type of gauge this is as it could be either, I would suggest teh FSM for this)

Best thing for a car of this age is just basic maintanence, its not a race car and its weight and handling really dont lend itself to that purpose. Its a people carrier. F22B1 engines are a dime a dozen and if you didnt feel the hassle of the F22B1, the F23A1 drops right in with some minimal modifications.

Lastly I would get a Car Fax or some other free check on the car and see if it really is a 5-speed or was something else and someones already played "Swap"

 

Thanks angry smile.

Most of the stuff with the car i was ok fixing. Not too expensive, and I've looked up solutions. The temp gauge needle is physically broken off. However, Head gasket is a different story. I am pretty busy right now and don't have garage space to work on that. So I would probably have a mechanic do it.

I would be happy if I could get the car up and running good for around 3k. so it still might be under that budget.

I thought this car was a little bit special and worth saving. I am not too sure about that though..

 

Apparently the 94 is the year to get a 5speed as option for the ex. So it might be a true unicorn. And as I said before the cluster comes out easy. Replacing the temp gauge is a matter of removing the cluster, a handful of screws and like 3 screws for the gauge itself.

 

Probably should post pics so we know if its worth saving

 

Best pic I have right now. car needs some work. I planned on painting it. underside is pretty clean.

 

worth saving.

 

Could be cool. I see it.