[Chip]

Update:

Come to find out, it hasn’t had a timing belt in over 60,000 miles and the previous owner didn’t know if it had been done prior to that.

Obviously, I went ahead and tore the engine apart to replace the timing belt. Upon removing the timing belt cover, I noted none of the pulleys were where they should have been – they were all off.

For example, the cam pulley’s “UP” was pointed down….

After removing the timing belt, I adjusted all the pulleys to point where they needed to point. I replaced the crankshaft front oil seal and put the new water pump in.
Of note: I went with the Gates kit instead of Honda genuine, based on some research indicating Gates is actually the company who manufactures the belts for Honda. The water pump from Gates was a little heavier than the one from Honda and the fins for the pump were made from cast aluminum as opposed to galvanized steel.

While I had it torn apart, I figured I’d check the camshaft seal – after removing the rocker arm assembly, I took the bolts out and…you guessed it, the dern thing’s ends fell off.

I re-assembled the rocker arm assembly and put the bolts back in to make sure it didn’t happen again. I carefully lifted the cam shaft and removed the old seal – the inside ring had crumbled – I’d say it’s due for replacement. 🙂

So I put the new seal on, carefully placed the cam shaft back down, making sure the key was pointing up, and proceeded to attempt to install the rocker arm assembly.

This is where I am – I can’t seem to get the rocker arm assembly to lay flat on all bolt holes – the right side slips into the receiving holes just fine but the far left side – the sleeves for the bolts don’t seem to want to slip into the head and I am unable to get the bolts to begin threading. I really hope I’m wrong, but it looks like the assembly may have gotten torqued and warped during the disassembly.

Anyone have any suggestions? If it did get warped, is there any way to get it back into shape?

Could this minute difference simply be due to the way the assembly was re-assembled after the ends fell off?

I sure could use some help.

(If you’re wondering, for some reason I’m not getting email notification whenever someone responds to the thread, so if I don’t reply right away, it’s probably because I haven’t checked back yet).

Thanks for all the suggestions and input thus far!

[Chip]

Answer – no.

[Chip]

So I was reading the ETCG post about Honda Idle issues and just realized something:
When I cleaned out the Fast Idle Valve (disassembled, cleaned thoroughly), I don’t think I backed off the tightness of the plastic adjustment ring.
His post said not to tighten it all the way as it would cause issues at startup; could this keep the motor from starting altogether?

[Chip]

Start with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lift with your legs, not your back. Grasp the fron.. nevermind, you were talking about using a jack.

But seriously though, the owner’s manual would definitely have points laid out – look under “changing the tire”

Or heck, check out the spare tire area – sometimes there’s a plastic instruction card tethered to the jack.

[Chip]

Update:
new Honda OEM distributor cap
new Honda OEM rotor
NGK Plug wires
Honda OEM Coil (TC 18A instead of TC 19A – hope that doesn’t make a difference)
Cleaned Idle Air Control valve
Check Fuel Injector resistor – good
Removed and cleaned fuel injectors/fuel rail

I have not checked the crank sensor or the ECM.

I’m really beginning to think the timing belt is to blame – perhaps somewhere in the poor performance and stalling, it slipped a tooth?
Is there ANYTHING else I can check before I tear apart the motor for the timing belt replacement?

– Frustrated

[Chip]

Compression test yielded good results (within spec) for both wet & dry

When I had the valve cover off, I quickly looked over the top portion of the timing belt and it seemed to look okay – no typical signs of wear (cracking, fraying, etc….), but I didn’t crank it over at all.

[Chip]

[quote=”barneyb” post=132500]The first thing I would do is check for any codes but mostly just to see if the computer is working.

Then, since the battery may be discharged, since you have been trying to start the engine I’d put the battery on a charger. I’ve encountered cases where the engine would crank fine but not start simply because the battery voltage was too low. I recommend pulling the battery completely out of the car – less chance or blue smoke errors that way.

While the battery is charging I’d go over all the vacuum hose connections making sure none is dangling.

With an VOM set to ohms and the beeper on, if you have that option, check all of the fuses.

Replace the battery.

Next I’d check for spark. If spark is present then you know the crank sensor is working, a bad crank sensor is a common cause of no start.

With the filler cap off and the signal wire off the starter, have someone turn the key to start while you listen for the fuel pump. It should run for about two seconds and then stop. With the signal wire on and the engine cranking the fuel pump should stay on but I am not sure you will be able to hear this.

Pull a spark plug and smell for fuel.

Check for codes again and report back on how things went.[/quote]

1. I have not checked codes yet – will do that but I don’t think it’s throwing any.
2. The battery is brand new (gold)…as of 2 days ago and every time I’ve cranked it, I’ve been using jumper cables to my working vehicle to ensure I don’t run the new battery down.
3. The only vacuum line I’ve noticed that was not connected was the line running to the EGR – it was disconnected and plugged with a small piece of wooden dowel. Apparently there was an issue with the EGR in the past and that’s how a “friend” remedied the situation.
4. All leads have spark – coil and each plug wire (all are new, albeit Beck/Arnley) (I’ve got Honda OEM parts on their way). However, I noticed the sparks were closer to an orange color with spits of white…instead of the desired bright blue.
5. Fuel pump works fine – I checked fuel pressure and was getting 55psi at crank
6. Pulled the plugs – all smell of fuel and actually had powdery black residue on the tips (these are all brand-new NGK plugs) – cleaned them off last night and re-installed
7. One thing of note: I couldn’t even get the car to start using starting fluid, so it must have something to do with spark – just don’t know what yet….either spark or intake.

Also of note: the throttle body and the fast idle valve were taken off (FI valve was disassembled) and cleaned. The throttle was reinstalled with a new gasket.

Here is a video I took of the crank no start – this is with starting fluid in the intake:

[Chip]

Compression test went well – dry & wet. I therefore have not conducted a leakdown test.

[Chip]

About 190k

What sort of thing would cause this?

[Chip]

ETCG explains vtec:

[Chip]

what barney said – but then again, it’s less than $2 usually and generally easy to replace (unless you’re on a 1990 Chevy Lumina, in which case, it’s underneath the intake manifold), so why not…wouldn’t hurt anything…

[Chip]

I didn’t mean to mislead – it was intended to be read chronologically. oops 🙂

The history was – after the valve cover gasket job, I was able to get the car running but ever since then, it’s not been able to start.

The last time it was running, it would idle fine but then after it warmed up, it would bog down & die when put into gear. The last time I ran it, it stalled under those conditions and I haven’t been able to get it started since.

So…now I’m stuck with a crank no start Accord.

[Chip]

If it were me, I’d try using a tool that leverages force against the opposing arms in order to press the piston inward. Sometimes, those pistons can require a little encouragement…

[Chip]

Caution! Smacking the end of your axle with a hammer is definitely effective but please – take it from me….I’ve learned my lesson (twice) – do NOT smack the end of the axle without a nut or something protecting the threads – you will most certainly screw up the threads on your axle and be forced to either re-thread them, or replace the whole axle.

Seriously, take the time to do it right – you’ll be glad you did.

[Chip]

I had an Infiniti with those type of calipers once. I found it extremely difficult to compress the piston when I was using this poor excuse for a tool – it was a cube-shaped tool in which you insert your ratchet. I took it back and used a different style compressor tool and it worked beautifully.

So, that might be your issue.

Do you have the fluid reservoir cap loosened?

Other than that, you could have a faulty caliper, although that’s not very common…I think? 🙂

Best of luck – keep us posted on the outcome.

[Author]

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