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I decided to bite the bullet and just have it towed to the shop since it needed an inspection anyway. But mostly because I don’t have the knowledge or tools to perform a fuel pressure test or any of the other steps you mentioned. The shop just called me and said they think it’s a fuel pump, but that the car won’t pass inspection as is anyway and needs a lot of money put into it to do so (wheel bearing, rear brakes, exhaust eating fuel tank, balding rear tires, frame rotting out). They’ve recommended I scrap the car and get a new one. So that’s probably what I’m going to do. Thanks for your help anyway Tdub and ToyotaKarl. Wish this had been a better outcome.
I checked for spark this morning before dawn. Had to set up a camera since I couldn’t get someone to help and you do see spark on video. I can link it if that’s helpful.
Just tried starter fluid. Seemed like it wanted to start but didn’t. Was accompanied by a few pops from the exhaust system but otherwise nothing changed. Engine didn’t sound like it was cranking any faster. Will try and get a friend over here today or tomorrow to check for spark then report back.
I have not replaced the broken bleeder. I couldn’t get it out. I was thinking of drilling it out and thought it might be simple enough to do so, but after watching some videos I decided it would be easier to just buy a new caliper. I haven’t purchased a new one yet but am planning to. I was just wondering if there was something else I could try before I took that step. Feels like a waste to replace the whole caliper because of a broken bleeder.
Edit: Ordered a new caliper. Just gonna replace it to simplify things.
Edit: New caliper came in. Just replaced it and the brake pedal works again. Feels a little softer than I feel it should be but at least it works.
Forgot all about this thread. Sorry everybody. 😳 So here’s the update on my 93 Accord: Never did figure out the oil problem with it, despite my efforts. I put in a leak detection dye but couldn’t see anything even with the special glasses on (I must be blind). Ultimately I ended up selling the car for $400 and buying a new one for $1,000 because I invested about $1,300 (including tools) into it and only fixed half of the problems (got the car for free so kind of evens out). Bought a 2003 Ford Focus SOHC with 157,000 miles at the beginning of November which is an interesting car to say the least. It’s 1,200lbs lighter than my Honda so it doesn’t handle as well in snow and it has a manual transmission, which I’ve never driven before. Sold the Honda 1 month after I bought the Ford with 227,000 miles on it and discovered the high pressure fuel line had rotted out and broke after the new owner had already signed the bill of sale and was coming to get it. I felt bad about it so I helped get it fixed. 🙂 I know who has the vehicle and it MIGHT circle around in the future to a friend of mine. If it does and my friend ever figures out the issue then I’ll provide an update. Until then, thank you everyone for your help! I’m sorry I couldn’t bring finality to this thread and must leave everybody hanging. 🙁
Checked on the car a couple hours ago. Still leaks oil but doesn’t seem to be as much, so I think the valve cover gasket was PART of the problem. Or maybe I didn’t put it on right once again. But don’t think that’s the case. The area around the broken bolt didn’t leak either. Took the car for a spin and everything seemed ok. But once I got home my oil light flashed for a split second. Checked the oil and still at the max level, so don’t know what that was about. Gonna try not to drive it too much until I get the bolt replaced cuz I don’t feel comfortable or safe driving it like this.
Went out and messed with the valve cover again. Was mostly trying to clean the engine and had to take it off to get around it so I decided to take a look at it. One spot looked a bit pinched so I took the gasket out again. But while doing that I noticed (for the first time) that the gasket actually has nubs on it! So the sealant was unnecessary to hold it in place after all. I removed the old sealant all around the gasket, placed it in ONLY the corners then reinstalled it.
Now the bad news. While reassembling the valve cover and tightening everything up, I snapped one of the bolts (not surprising; anytime I touch this car I break something). Thinking quickly I applied the sealant all around where the now useless grommet went, and stuck two (2) washers on in its place, pretty much coating them in sealant. I waited for them to harden then put on a new nut. Fortunately it left enough thread for the nut to catch, but not enough to do any real tightening. Will try starting the car in a few hours when I KNOW everything has dried up and is ok, then will report back. In the meantime I’m looking to see if it’s possible to replace the broken bolt.
Oh. I’m sorry. I just automatically assumed you had seen the video. 🙂 I did clean everything at the time I did the repair. I even went back and did it a second time thinking I did it wrong the first. It’s possible I did it wrong again. I did wait for the sealant to harden slightly. The only thing I did different from what you said is that I used the sealant on more than just the corners. Without it in other spots there was no way the gasket was going to stay in. In fact the old one fell right out as soon as I took the valve cover off. How it stayed in place is beyond me. It would be helpful if I could recall if the oil spots around the valve cover were there before I did the repair. In the morning I’ll dump in the dye and use the UV light to try and find the leaks. I know I should have done this earlier but I’ve had too many other things going on all at once.
[quote=”BubbaGarage” post=170348]Trying to recall from memory you are to only use sealant at certain location of valve cover gasket……..so I guess the question is where did you put sealant?[/quote]
My intention was to use it only on the 4 corners where ETCG indicated. But I also HAD to use it as an adhesive to keep the gasket in the grooves of the valve cover, otherwise I would have had the exact problem that Eric had at the end of his “Spark Plug Well Oil Leak Fix, Honda Accord – EricTheCarGuy” video where the gasket kept falling out. In fact I just watched the end of it again and he does say “I’m gonna get some gasket sealant and put this one in” and you see the sealant he used. That’s how I did it.
[quote=”Gazza” post=170298]I tend not to use those stop leak remedies. Eric did and episode on them to.[/quote]
Ya I watched that video, which made perfect sense to me. And it’s the reason why I hesitate to use a stop leak product, despite so many people saying how great it is. Didn’t work on my steering rack a year ago so I already have a somewhat negative opinion of that stuff.
[quote=”Evil-i” post=170299]On something this old, you bite the bullet and swallow repair and maintenance costs, or you go shopping for something in better shape.
Don’t use leak stoppers. Get the repair done properly[/quote]
I do agree that it is better to replace bad parts instead of using a “fix” for them. I guess I’m just looking at the possibility of it being something extensive that I can’t and don’t want to mess with. With the car being so old there are a lot of parts on it that are near impossible to get off.
[quote=”BubbaGarage” post=170332]Did you use RTV when replacing valve cover gasket? Did you torque bolts on valve cover?[/quote]
Not RTV but I did use a gasket sealant that I got from the autoparts store on the valve cover gasket. The gasket wouldn’t stay in otherwise. Here’s a pic of the stuff I used:
And yes I torqued everything down. Pretty much did everything that ETCG did in his video.
UPDATE: I have yet to fix the leaking oil issue (or do the timing belt). Fortunately I live close enough to work that I can walk there in about 3 minutes, so needless to say I don’t drive much at all (about 2,200 miles a year) and haven’t lost much oil. However, I do have a leak detection dye that I was planning on using to identify the location of the leak. But recently I’ve been thinking of just doing an oil change and adding in some oil stop leak. I know it’s a controversial subject as to how beneficial it is to use stuff like that but I’m just trying to get the car to last a couple more years and make it worth the $1,200+ that I’ve put into it in less than 2 years time. Should I use the dye first so that at least I KNOW where the problem is, then use the stop leak, or just forego the dye altogether? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Just wanted to give an update: I ended up doing this repair after all. The rack was covered under warranty so I decided to take advantage of that and replace it. Wasn’t any more fun the second time around. Seems to be holding steady with no leaks so far but will be keeping an eye on my fluid levels either way. Thanks everyone for your input! 🙂 It’s very disconcerting to think that sometimes new parts can be bad right out of the gate and lead repairs to be failures before you’ve even begun them (shudders).
[quote=”Timothy S” post=164590]How is the oil pan gasket? It certainly looks like the oil draining down the sides is either the valve cover gasket, the head gasket or the oil pan. But it’s not a bad idea to do the cam and crank seals along with the timing belt.[/quote]
Shouldn’t be the valve cover gasket. As I said I recently replaced it (4 months ago) and bought the parts directly from the Honda dealership; so it’s not aftermarket. Could check again tho. Don’t know how good any of the other seals on this car are. Got the car a year and a half ago but am certain that none of them have ever been replaced (personally knew the previous owner and he wasn’t mechanically inclined). Only recently started learning how to fix my car so don’t know a lot yet. But bought some engine degreaser to clean the oil off the engine block and other areas and will try to better pinpoint a location.
After doing some research it COULD be the head gasket. My car has nearly overheated a couple of times (almost red-lining) but usually it stays at about the half mark. Maybe during one of those times it warped the head gasket? Don’t have the ability to perform a leak down test. Will start with the degreaser method and go from there.
Also, if I should sound like I know what I’m doing, rest assured I don’t. I’m looking stuff up as I go along. :silly:
[quote=”creativepotato” post=164601]Lookin good under there for a 93.[/quote]
Thanks! :cheer: Currently living in New York and the car came up from Rhode Island at the end of 2003. RI doesn’t use salt like NY does so there was pretty much no issue with rust. But the previous owner was retired so he didn’t drive much even after moving up here.
Even IF the crank seal isn’t leaking it’s probably still a good idea to replace it while I’m in there so that I won’t have to do it in the near future. Although this seal may or may not be bad, I don’t think it would cause all the oil spots in the pic. The big puddle is the obvious one but the tiny ones all across the cardboard are also oil drips that only occur when the engine is running. When I got my brakes looked at a couple months ago, the guy noticed the oil leak and said it was probably from my valve cover gasket (VCG for short), but by then I had already replaced that so it shouldn’t have been leaking. It’s also dripping down my oil pan, which is the left side of the car. But what could be causing it to leak on the right side and in the middle as well? My reason for removing the VCG at the time was due to oil in my spark plug wells, and I used ETCG’s video “Spark Plug Well Oil Leak Fix, Honda Accord – EricTheCarGuy” to do it (great video BTW). Is it possible that I didn’t put something back right when I did it? I do appear to have oil spots around the VCG that could indicate this, but can’t remember if they were there prior to the install. I’ll post pics either way.
Yellow is where my belt is. Red is where the drip hits before hitting the ground.
Oil drips in red.
Please feel free to ask questions.
Wow… A response from EricTheCarGuy himself! I feel so honored right now! 🙂
I was able to get the slide pins out of my old caliper but I had to take off the bracket assembly as well in order to do it by spraying some PB Blaster down into the opening and spinning the pins around with a pair of vice grips while pulling on it. I recently bought an impact but have yet to learn how to use it so no help there. But when I factored in the cost of a caliper reman vs the issues the old one had (torn bushings, missing shims, broken bleeder valve, potential for piston failure) I felt it would be a better option to just replace the whole thing at once for a few $$$ more. Faster, easier, and less headaches involved, because honestly, by the end of this project I was tired of doing it and just wanted it done; I’ve got a plethora of other problems to attend to on this car, can’t be spending all my time fixing just the brakes. And the sponginess is gone too!
P.S. Love the forum and the videos!
“Stay Dirty!”
