Questions regarding my 97 Accord Ex:

1. I live in the East Bay Area, California. Without taking my car to the dealership for it's 60k tune up, what other places can I go to get it done cheaper with good result?

2. Recently, there is a very strange noise coming from under the hood. The noise only occurs when I am coming to a stop or accelerating slowly. It is coming from the front, near the fender. It sound almost like there is something stuck to the fan, but I have examined the fan and I didnt see anything out of place. However, this noise only started when a car backed into me with the speed of ~20mph few days ago. There are no visible exterior damages to both of our cars.

3. My car is leaking some kind of oil. Not in any large amount, just about few drops. I checked my engine oil and it is between the gauge. The brake fluid is at the normal level too. Who can I go to get all of these problems taking care of?

I want to thank everyone for their feedbacks in advance. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to reply. Cheers~

 

you need to flash the coolant every 30k, fuel filter at 60k..air filter, oil change, atf oil every 30k, and those spark plugs ..what else..That's all i can remember top of my head

about the oil leaks.. drive the car for a while, jack the car up and put it on jack stand, clean all the old oil grease and let the car sit for overnight, if the car's leaking oil it should have some on the floor next day, look up and see where's the oil coming from, if you not sure, snap a picture.

 

hey! welcome.

i too live in the East Bay. i take my car to walnut creek hond. i know, you wanted a place that's not a dealer, but they do good work. ask for pierre, anthony or eddie. no one else touches my car there. and they do good work. but you can do almost everything yourself too.

as for the noise, have a tech go for a ride with you. they may be able to figure it out straight away.

 

if the cars under warrantee knowck yourself out. Of get some aerosolve spray degreaser. If your a grease monkey like me you can jack up the car and spray under it while the car is on and not in motion and spray the oil thats under the car. Still let the car idle and run for a second then after stuff is dried up under there take the car around the block and then inspect. Should help.

 

what kind of sound is the fan making? Is it a real loud buzzing sound? one time i bottomed out in this big *** ditch goin to a bonfire and it pushed my fan in far enough that the fins slap the motor mount whenever they start spinning. Your car getting backed into might have had the same effect.

 

I from the East Bay too, where exactly are u located in the east bay. Ya Honda does do good work, but it depends which one u take it to. If u do take it to Honda they will charge u much more than a local shop. Personally, I would take it to Honda, I don't trust these local shops.

 

i dont trust other shops either but hey if you rather hang on the evil honda mans bedrest hey. but i rather take it to someone who knows what they are doing. Take it to some other local shops see their customers cars and ask them can they fix it. If the shop looks run down I wouldnt do it. ask around girl also then if you rather take it to honda$ 50.00 and they atleast want to get you at 5 hours tops . When me and my boy went there they were like okay it should take an hour on his car as soon as he was next no-one was in front of him or behind him in line the maintenance guy asked him kindly for the keys parked it in the garage popped the hood after it was left there for the first hour and went on a break talkin to his boys whiloe her car was on the clock. Just beware Id help you if you in Newyork.

 

daymn turn out there is alota people from east bay, cali hahaha

 

this might be it... it is an annoying loud buzzing/slapping noise ...

 

I'm from Fremont. I made an appointment with AutoWest Honda in the Automall yesterday. But I cancelled the appt, since I want to hear you guys' suggestions and opinions before I go anywhere.


I have always had my car changed and tuned at a Honda dealership.

 

san jose right here.....but i usually just do everything myself. dealerships charge way too much for labor.

 

I would love to do everything myself. I love my car.


Only if I know how...

 

dude, dsounds like the car is dying, time to part it out, i want the center console and the stock wheels...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kevinmademedoit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


Only if I know how... </TD></TR></TABLE>
This is why you are here. All of these wonderful and nice people are here to help you and so far they are doing a wonderful job.
If you read some of the posts, they have already told how to do things for yourself.

 

you might wanna check the alt. belt. mine was doing that same kinda noise, and that was the problem

 

if you're down in fremont, then i recommend chuc and william down at tech 3 in san jose. those guys rock and they can find whatever it is wrong. just beware because they like to sell you parts!!

 

If you have it, check your ABS pump. Mine use to make that noise while accelerating and slowing down. To test it, unplug the ABS pump under the hood, go for spin around the block. If the noise stops, you know that's it.

 

Thank you for the advice.

Few more questions. Where is teh ABS pump and how do i unplug it?

The noise does not happen everytime I accelerate or deccelerate. Its really sporadic.

 

So, your from Fremont eh. So am i. I would recommend Autowest Honda. I take my car there all the time. But I haven't really had any major work done my car there. U might also want to check out Motorsport Techniques in Hayward, give them a call. They work on a lot of Honda there.

 

Wow, no really! Thanks for pointing that out to me, Kevin. Because for a minute there I was really retarded.


And as for all the people who took their time to make a post. BIG to you all. Keep up the good work!

 

does it click when you turn? maybe your joints got smashed when you got hit:


could be those:

cv joints/ axels stuff

 

No, it doesnt make a clicking noise when I turn.