Overheated 1988 Honda Accord

[Corey]

Hey Folks,

Girlfriend was driving my 1988 Honda Accord (Carbed, Automatic) down the freeway, something punctured the radiator and it blew all the coolant out. The car began to overheat, but wasn’t able to be pulled over because it was driving inside an extensive 1-lane construction zone with no pull-offs.

She said that it was struggling to run and there was no power before it finally stopped running as she found a spot to pull over. I picked her up, tried to start the vehicle, and it makes a sound like it’s turning, but there’s no compression.

I’m about to tear the head off to see exactly what was damaged. I’m looking for ideas on what it might be, how they’re dealt with or fixed, (as cheaply as possible, as I just got laid off 🙁 ) as well as tips and info for removing and reinstalling the head properly.

Thanks in advance!

Topic

[Corey]

Note: The engine doesn’t appear to be seized. The starter runs, and it sounds like the engine turns. I haven’t been able to check it by hand yet.

[Matthew]

my suggestion is you first see if the engine even rotates. It the engine does rotate you can just add tap water into it and see it it starts being that it just leaks out try keeping a constant flow going (ie. Garden hose turned on and placed into the radiator fill hole.) 1st is to see if you can even get it started again. It could be the block got so hot things got “welded” together. If that is the case then it probably cheapest to get a used block at a bone yard (or a complete engine) depending on how much work you want to do. for a ’88 a engine should only cost a few 100. The question at hand is it being a ’88 even WORTH fixing?

[Erin]

A few hundred bucks is pretty serious money if one just got laid off.

Anyways, The funnest part of the job is going to be messing with the timing belt. Educate yourself on that part of it before tearing into it.

It is hard to say what damage was done but here is some hope –
I used to have this Ford Contour (4 cylinder engine) that had a blown head gasket when i bought it and I tried to drive it home like that (15’ish mile trip). Temp gauge wasn’t working and there was black junk in the coolant. Engine was smoking. It overheated and just died. Did not restart but turned over.
Towed it home, it sat for a couple days, and it re-started. Replaced head gasket and drove it around for a few months just fine

Point is, replacing the head gasket may help. I would pretty much bet the head gasket is toast but yeah putting water in (when the engine is cold) and testing things is the first step

[Corey]

I can say with 100% certainty that the engine turns. It even tries to start, but isn’t quite able to catch. I’ve began to tear into the engine to remove the head and take a look at things. Will update when I have more.

Thanks for the tip on the Timing belt. Based on what I know of how an engine works, I figured the timing belt was something I really need to make sure I got right.

[Author]

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