My girlfriend has a 89 Honda Accord
carburated model. On new years eve her
sister was driving it home and it over
heated and died. I met her down the road
and noticed that the water pump went out.
I towed it down the road to her house and
parked it. I the replaced the water pump
and I drove it for a couple of hours and it
drove just fine. The next day it was having
trouble starting up and when it did start it
would drive for about 3 miles and the die.
We would have to let it sit for about 30mins
before it was able to start again. I have
been looking on the net for ideas but there
are so many so I thought I would give this a
try and help would be great
1989 Honda Accord LX

 

welcome to HAF..
when it shuts off, does it die like you turned the key off or does it sputter to a stop?? Is there any check engine light on?
When it dies , you need to check to see if it is getting spark. If it is, check for fuel. My first GUESS would be a weak coil, but it could also be something else. Good luck.

 

My girlfriend told me it sputters before it dies after about 3 miles and sometimes it doesn't want to start unless it sits for a while

 

And I don't think any check engine light comes on

 

sounds like fuel related, when was last time fuel filter was changed? need to check as i stated above when it acts up..report back ,,good luck,,

 

[QUOTE=woody31;355366]sounds like fuel related, when was last time fuel filter was changed? need to check as i stated above when it acts up..report back ,,good luck,,[/QUOTE

Will do

 

so i started it up tonight and it ran for about 25 mins and then died so i pulled one of the plugs and checked for spark and there was spark so all good on that end. i also pulled the covers off the fuel pump hatch in the trunk and turned the key and i could also heard the fuel pump kick on so thats good as well. i started it back up after that and it ran just fine i had it running for about 45 mins and it did not die at all. i did here a weird rattle noise coming from somewhere near the timing belt almost sounded like something was bouncing around in the timing cover but it went away after about 10 mins. i turned the car on and then off about 5 times and it started up with no isues so i went on a drive for about 15 miles and the car did not die. i wounder if this is just an issue when the car is cold. its weird only died on me once the whole time

 

It could be related to thermo valve A or a vacuum leak. The other thing on the carb models that we encountered a lot of was a gasket failure between the carb and intake body. One way to diagnose a back gasket is to get it running and let it warm up so that the metal expands and spray around the gaskets with a throttle cleaner. If you hear a change in the engine idle you can hone in on the leak. Same goes for the vacuum lines, but I always mist water on them to find the culprit. I owned an 86 and an 89 and have worked on many others, and all I can tell you is they can be complicated to diagnose with all the vacuum lines, thermo valves and the notorious "magic box" where all the vacuum lines run into against the fire wall. Take your time and you will figure it out. Be sure that the head gasket was not damaged. Awesome generation with the carbs, amazing fuel efficiency to boot. I used to average 40+ mpg on mine, both were manuals...

 

My brother had a late 80's Accord that would do similar stunt; run for a while and then die. It was finally traced to fuel pump inlet screen. It would clear when cut off, then pick up trash till fuel starvation occured. New fuel pump/inlet screen fixed problem.

Suggest checking carb view window? to see if fuel level is low/zero when engine stoppage occurs.

good luck

 

So I'm still trying to figure this out we tested the fuel pump and it's good we changed out the coil. We started it up and it died again and we checked the spark and there was none. I replaced the cap and I take the car run better but it still died. So I guess the only thing left is to replace the rotor.