A neighbor of mine gave me this car since he didn't want to pay to fix it. I enjoy tinkering with cars as a hobby, but I'm not at all familiar with Hondas. It's got about 155K on it and it runs and sounds good, but it had been overheating over the last few days and the top of the radiator blew off where the cap connects.

I picked a up a radiator from a pick and pull yard to see if I could get a sense of what might be required to fix it before spending a lot of money. Questions:

1. What kind of automatic transmission fluid does this year Honda require? I need to disconnect the tranmission cooler lines and may have to top off the transmission fluid once the changeout is complete.

2. In your experience, what are common causes for overheating on Accords? I was going to change out the radiator and thermostat, but it could also be the water pump. How common are headgasket failures on these cars?

I'm sure I'll have other questions as I start tinkering with the car.

 

Welcome new member!

I'd use a compression test, or leakdown test, to rule out headgasket. Not necessarily common, but a simple test can rule it out.

Use Honda brand ATF. Dexron can cause harsh shifting. But I'm no auto-tranny guru...
In later years, you check ATF level with the car fully warmed up & TURNED OFF. That's unlike most other carmakers & I assume that's the same for 1993.

Check the old radiator for buildup of crud inside the core. Similar level of crud & corrosion might be expected inside waterpump & water jackets.

But the first thing I'd suspect for overheating is a bad thermostat. Follow LOWER radiator hose back towards the firewall. It goes to the thermostat housing. Hondas DO NOT like any air bubbles in the cooling system. There should be a bleed valve in the thermostat housing - looks kinda like a brake bleeder.

In the thermostat housing is a fan switch, with a 2-wire plug. Jumper the wire with a paperclip. Key on, that should make both fans run.

See if your neighbor ever changed the timing belt. It's on an interval of 90k miles, so if it hasn't been done, it's way overdue. It's an interference engine, so the pistons can hit the valves when the belt fails.

 

Jim, thanks for the welcome and great advice. This is a pretty nice little car-just needs a little work to be roadworthy again, at least if the headgasket proves to be OK. Although I've been mostly a Toyota loyalist over the last 25 years or so, I know that Hondas in general and Accords specifically can run a long time if cared for, and at 150K, there's probably some good life left in this car.

The hoses were old and had weak spots in them when I squeezed them, which makes me wonder whether or not the car had regular cooling system maintenace. As mentioned in the previous message, it starts and sounds OK, but I noticed clicking while turning the wheels when I pulled it in the garage today to start working on it, which likely means warn CV axles as well. I'll have to ask if he has changed the timing belt recently, and the compression test is a good suggestion to rule out HG failure.

I did want to ask a couple of additional questions if I could. Most of my Toyota cars and trucks are early 90's vintage and I've been a real stickler for using the Toyota red coolant in these cars as well as factory t-stats. As a result, I've never had a coolant-related failure, and the waterpumps are original. I was going to pick up a t-stat from the Honda dealer tomorrow, but does Honda make a specially formulated coolant for the Accord of this vintage? It's got the Prestone green in it right now (at least what's left of it in the ruptured radiator). The old radiator had a metal neck that busted off, and it looks upon closer examination like electrolysis contributed to its failure.

Also, is there a block drain plug for the coolant?

Thanks again for the help!

 

With corrosion in the radiator, think about some kinda cleaner stuff, like Prestone Super-Flush. Especially if you see scale inside the thermostat housing.

Honda wants NO silicates, but that's probably customary across all Japanese cars. I've used G-5 coolant. Also used Prestone new stuff that's labeled ALL-brands (fine print says hybrid OAT).

Strange things can happen with mixing coolant, so I like to rinse out ALL the old stuff. Since you're gonna replace the thermostat, use a garden hose to flush thru the block. New radiator, right? Then drain/fill a couple times with distilled water. Then add non-diluted antifreeze 50% of the owners-manual volume. Some distilled water WILL still be in there. Then fill with distilled water & bleed out the air.

I've read that hybrid OAT antifreeze tolerates hard water much better than the older stuff. But I still use distilled water cause I'm a stubborn old guy.

My 98 had a block drain plug on the back face of the block, sorta near the oil filter. I think it took a 17mm socket & had a wide flange below the hex head. I don't know if that's the same across all years. Still, I had to drain/fill a few times before the color was gone.

If you're gonna change the timing belt soon, you can probably be less **** about coolant for now. Do all this stuff when you change the belt, because the waterpump is driven off the timing belt. Put in a new waterpump because it probably won't last ANOTHER 100k miles. Timing belt is a PITA so you don't want to remove it again in a few months to change a leaking waterpump.

Clicking axles does sound like CV joints. On Hondas it seems to be more economical to get a whole new/rebuilt axle. My older VWs & Saabs it was much more $$$ so it was worth it to rebuild the CV joints. YMMV...