Hi everyone. I hope someone can help me with some problems a friend of mine is having with her 1993 Accord (182K miles).

About a month ago, the brake lights would not come on and the car would not shift out of park. The applicable fuse was blown and it worked fine after a replacement. However, the next day, the fuse kept blowing. We took it to the dealership and they did the following (they cut us a hell of a deal, otherwise I would have done most of this myself!):

- Fixed the direct cause (water condensation by the brake lights themselves that was shorting it out)
- Replaced the main relay (car wasn't starting on hot days)
- Replaced the igniter (stopped working when they were fixing it)

They told us the TCM was not working and the car would not shift into 4th gear. They wanted $775 to replace. We declined the repairs as manually shifting isn't horribly annoying. They said the D4 light was blinking. We never noticed this before taking it in and the trasmission shifted to all 4 gears after it was fixed, anyway.

The car has been working very well ever since the repairs. However, just tonight, the brake lights now will not shut off. I can't tell if these events are mutually exclusive or they are connected in some way. The brake light switch sounds like the most probable culprit, but I'm not sure. At least with dealership service exists the 1 year warranty. We will be taking it tomorrow morning, but I wanted to see if I can get any answers here.

A few other details worth mentioning are that the distributor was replaced not too long ago by an idiot machanic that thought it would fix the problems caused by the main relay ($200 well wasted) and that the car has an aftermarket alarm (not sure of the brand and it seems to be disconnected as it doesn't work).

The car has been in her possession for about2 years. She got it from a trusted friend that took good care of it, but she doesn't know what has/has not been replaced or serviced in the past. One thing I'm concerned about is the timing belt. They want $500 to replace it which is obviously unreasonable. I don't know much about the procedure. How much should it cost by a decent mechanic?

She needs this car for about 3 more years. Obviously the future can't be known, but does anyone think it's possible for it to last that long?

Thanks in advance for any help!

-Edit- The car vibrates a lot when in gear. I don't know if this is something to worry about.

Chris

 

If you unplug the brake switch (behind brake pedal), the lights should turn off. If you have a volt meter, there should be infinite resistance on the switch terminals when the brake pedal is released and some resistance when the brake pedal is pushed in. If there is always low resistance, then the brake switch is shot.

You might want to ask the previous owner if he/she had the car serviced at the dealership. I would call the dealership to find out if they have service records for that accord. If it was properly maintained, then the belt should have been changed every 90,000. That means at 180K, the belt needs changed.

The $500 is pretty reasonable if that price includes the water pump. The timing belt is a pain to replace on those accords. You can read all about posts throughout this forum. I don't have a crystal ball about how much longer the timing belt will last. You can take off the upper cover and look for damaged teeth. When I replaced mine at 180K, the belt looked in pretty good shape, BUT that belt could snap without any warning.

 

500 dollars for timing belt kit ( t-belt, balance belt, cam+ balance shaft,+ crank seals,bal shaft seal retainer, water pump, coolant, alt+ p/s belts and of course labor ), is way too cheap . unless JOE BLOW down the road is doing the job using inferior parts .. But whomever does it, make sure that they use Honda parts
have a shop that specializes on HONDAS or the dealer do the job , after all it will be good for at least 70-90k miles

as for the brake lite staying on, lok under the dash at the brake pedal if the brake switch plunger stopper is missing .. if it is there .. could be a stuck closed switch

 

As desert Honda stated $500.00 isn't unreasonable (perhaps even a little low...) However, whoever does it make certain that they do the seals and waterpump as well as the belts.

 

I've seen a lot of the problems you mentioned, and some of them may be related to common issues and are not to hard to fix. The belt replacement job seems to be on the low end, from my experience, It should always include a water pump replacement as well.

The common issues that I recognize in your post include the brake light switch which could be the switch under the dash, most likely a small plastic washer has broken and you would likely find the pieces on the floor. The condensation in the brake lights is due to work out gaskets. The main relay often causes starting and stalling issues, it can be replaced or repaired. The transmission computer causing shifting issues and a flashing D4 can be replaced or may be repaired under the right circumstances if you are handy with a soldering iron. If the ignitor goes bad, you'll just have to replace it.

 

immhayoung-might want to start your own thread....not sure what issues you are having? Sorry, I'm old and slow....