Hello everybody. I look forward to getting to know some of you. At the moment we have 5 cars, 3 of which are Honda's, 2 Legends and one 1988 Honda Accord LX.

We are having a few troubles with the Accord at the moment and I thought that this would be the best place to come.
1) The air conditioning has stopped working. The compressor is still engaging, the fans come on inside and out but the air never gets cool.
2) Ever since we bought the car it has never idled right. We took it to the mechanic and he sent the carburettor away to be cleaned and fixed. Apparently there is something wrong or 'broken' with it which means that it will never idle or run properly unless it is fixed. Does anyone know anyhting about this? I don't know what could be broken which would make it idle fast or too slow and very rough.
It also has a falt spot when taking off.

All in all it is a great car but the motor runs like a POS.

Thanks for any replies. I look forward to your words of wisdom.

Regards,
Steve

 

the first part, have you recharged your a/c? that would be the main thing i can think of, after all, that cars 18 years old ^_^ and if you have recharged it, there could be a leak in one of the hoses. If there isnt... well..... the a/c could just be bad.

as for the carb..... no idea, dont know much about the idle control for them.

 

Recharging the A/C could help, but check this first, since it costs nothing. On my 96, I had the same problem. Compressor kicked in but air was never cold. Recharging it wouldn't work and the pressure inside the system seemed fine. Then, I found a valve near the fire wall (I think I got to it on the passenger side) that was inline with a coolant hose that controls the flow of coolant to the heater core. This valve had froze open, allowing coolant constanly into the heater and warming the air considerably, so I closed it and that fixed the problem right there. If you need the heat, you'll just have to either lube up the valve so it works again or replace it.

Hmmm rough idle with carbs. Do you remember if the mechanic mentioned what exactly is wrong? Really doesn't make sense that there is something permanetly broken and can't be fixed. There is probably something wrong or out of adjustment with the idle circuit on the carb. A decent mechanic or even a motorcycle mechanic who deals with carbs more often should be able to fix or clean it (or at the least point you in the right direction). The flat spot could be another gummed up jet or an accelerator pump/circuit. I don't know why the carb can't be fixed though, carbs are actually pretty easy to work on....

 

And it could be the choke too now that I think of it...

 

the first problem is most likely your charge. just get a can of r 134 and fill it up. if your car hasnt been converted over to r134 it couldnt possibly be any easier to do that. just buy the 5 dollar kit at k mart.... screw the **** on to your current low presure line and then hook up the can and fill it up.


with your carb....yea those old carbs just go out because of all those rubber seals, diaphrams, etc. maybe you even needed a new jet or maybe the tip of a mixture screw had been flattened out from turning it in too hard. maybe the rubber seal on the float needle was rotting out, maybe the main or secondary jet was clogged or even corroded. getting the carb rebuilt is just a good idea. as long as your car still has good compression your going to notice a ton of difference when you get it done.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I really appreciate it. I will have to look into recharging the system. I am still not sure what it is because it is not blowing hot air, only air the same temperature as out side. Also the compressor engages which is weird because if it was low on freon it would not engage. I will let you know what happens with it.

The carb I too am not sure about. The mechanic told me that they sent it away to be 'cleaned.' I asked him what was wrong with it and he simply replied that something was broken and could not be fixed unless it was replaced for a lot of $$$. Thanks a lot . If you listen to the motor at idle it runs good...good...good....bad....bad....good...good... .good and so on. It just sort of shakes, you can literally see the tacho needle move up and down with the motor.

I also go through about 5 litres of oil a month. It does not smoke it out the back and it doesn't leak onto the ground. I am not sure where it is going?

Thanks for the responses once again.

 

That's a lot of oil. Check to see if the oil filter is on tight for starters. If you're losting that much oil, there should be a noticeable leak somewhere. Just check anywhere you can. Check the pan bolts, distributer, etc. etc. Also look and see where there is a lot grime accumulated, and then clean it and see if it comes back. If the oil mess returns, that could be your leak. Are you sure it's not being burned? It may not be noticeable inside the car, but if someone drives behind you they can usually see/smell it.

did you try that coolant valve for the A/C?

 

Oh yeah, the carb is probably in need of a rebuild just from its age. That mechanic though sounds crafty if he can't give you a list of what's wrong. It may be cheaper to get some new/rebuilt ones at an auto parts store.

 

Personal opinion from being a repair guy... I did/do computer repair and if someone was like "I can't get on the internet" and I just said oh something is wrong with your computer a part is broken and sent it off someone (computer literate or not) is going to be pissed! It just doesn't sound right, why can't he identify the issue? I don't like the way it sounds... a rebuilt carb is probably about $100.00 I would guess.... So about 1.5 hours of labor from him.... how far into it are you now?

 

I went and checked the coolant valve that lets coolant circulate into the heater core. it opens and shuts as it should. I am going to say that isn't the issue. One day it was blowing cold air, now it doesn't get cold ever.

The mechanic was very unspecific. As you said telling someone that a part needs to be replaced with no firther description is not the best way to go. I might look into getting a second hand carburettor or somthing like that. Anybody know where I might get one in Australia?

The carburettor is back on the car, it is all running but he had the carburettor off a couple of months ago, that is when he told me that something was 'broken.' Since then the car has not stalled but it still runs like poo.