Hello all,

I am new to the forum and could really use your help. Here is the story:

1995 Honda Accord LX 4cyl non-vtech automatic 198,000 miles

Approx 2 months ago I was driving on the highway when I saw my engine over-heat. I pulled over as quickly as possible and found there was no fluid whatsoever in the reservoir (and I'm assuming the radiator itself). There were no obvious broken hoses, no explosions, and no dripping or pools of fluid when I filled it back up. I replaced the radiator and the cap and refilled it with new fluid, drove it about 20 miles and the heater hose from the engine to the radiator burst. This time there was fluid everywhere and a puddle would form when new coolant was put in, naturally. I replaced that hose. It drove great for about 3 days, better in fact, because I noticed my shifting was smoother. After ~200 highway miles the shifting got so smooth the gears didn't engage anymore, yipee, I found this out when I slowed down due to traffic and then couldn't get going again. The mechanic told me it was a burst transmission seal and I had lost fluild (although on the side of the highway I checked my trans fluid and it read full??) he fixed it and the trans has run fine ever since. About 2 weeks after the trans incident I was driving along and felt/heard an explosion under the hood with lots of steam coming from the hood, burst upper radiator hose, awesome. I replaced that hose. During the time of the hoses failing the car was exposed to overheating but only for very brief periods of time, say until I could pull over. About the time all these troubles were starting I noticed the car would run rough occasionally on start up. However, now it has turned into a fairly frequent occurrence. The car will come on and vibrate pretty bad, jumping around between 0-1000rpm as if it is about to die, and then after ~10 seconds it runs perfectly normal. It happens consistently after I have driven the car for an extended period of time, Ill turn it off and wait 5 minutes and then upon trying to start again it has this terrible idle. I should also note that I have a hole in my mid-pipe that has recently developed. Here is what I have done to try and fix it but the problem is still here. I could really use some advice/direction before I spend anymore money. Thank you!!

1.) Seafoam: Ran Seafoam through the vacuum line to see if it was an easy fix....unfortunately not. Checked vacuum lines afterwards, all is correct.

2.) Checked spark plugs: they were covered in oil so I replaced the valve gasket and spark plug grommets. (Afterwards I found out I forgot to replace the lower o-ring seals, I had only replaced the upper grommets ) I cleaned and sanded the spark plugs. I didn't replace them because 2 years ago all the spark plugs and wires were replaced.

3.) Cleaned the air filter, throttle body, and Idle Air Control Valve: cleaned with throttle cleaner, the IACV was very dirty, it was entirely covered with black soot. I also inspected the idle cable and all is well.

...Still has the idle problem...

Things I haven't done but I'm considering:
1.) Cleaning the ERG - although no check engine light has ever come on
2.) Combustion Test for broken head gasket - note there is no smoke coming from the canister of the exhaust (I do have a hole in the mid-pipe). I took the radiator cap off and ran the car to watch for bubbles, there was not frequent bubbling but there was a single bubble approx every 10 seconds until the car warmed up (~5min) and then it overflowed. The bubbles did release gas/vapor but nothing that smelled like exhaust.
3.) Replacing spark plugs/wires.
4.) Replace ignition coil

Questions:
1.) How to fix idle problem
2.) I could see how the overheating caused the seals in the valve and the transmission to fail due to high temperature fluid but is the idle problem connected to the car overheating?
3.) Why would I get a trans fluid reading of full when I apparently lost it?


Thanks in advance for the advice - I'm not sure what to do next!

 

I'd start with a compression test and a leak down test. Sorry, I read this as a bad head gasket....someone might pick up on something I did not and give further advise.

 

I hate to agree with someone who has given you bad news, but I think I would agree with poorman212. I just recently went through this. I purchases a '97 Accord and shortly thereafter, it would start up rough and then run fine after about 5 seconds or if you gave it a little gas. I chased down all the usual suspects for cold starting and rough idle: IAC, FITV, cleaned injectors, etc.

Then, on July 23 (a Monday, of course), the car wouldn't start. It felt like it wanted to start, but just wouldn't quite get lit. I started troubleshooting per the factory manual. After spending a couple hours doing that, I'd had enough and checked the plugs. The number 2 plug had water on it and when I rotated the engine so that the piston came up to the top, I looked inside the cylinder with a flashlight and noticed a nice shiny surface inside. Bumped the car and saw a little wave ripple across. To verify that it was water, I rolled up a paper towel so it was nice and skinny and stuck it into the cylinder. Pulled it out and gave it the sniff test. Not gas and not thick enough to be oil. Tried to light it and it wouldn't burn.

I then got my shop vac and duct taped a small diameter hose on the end. Stuck it down inside the cylinder and vacuumed out the water. Put the plug back in and it started (rough, of course). It cleared up after a few seconds and ran fine. I pulled the radiator cap and saw the occasional bubble. As the engine warmed up, it burped out a lot of fluid.

Water in the hole + bubbles in the radiator = sure sign of bad head/gasket.

It seems to me that aluminum cylinder heads and blocks don't get along well with overheating. They warp.

In answer to your questions:
1. Fix the idle problems by fixing the coolant leak into your cylinder.
2. Rough idle is caused by water in the cylinder. When you turn off the engine, the cooling system is under pressure and water gets in the cylinder.
3. I suspect that all the fluid couldn't be pumped out because the pump had air in it and there wasn't enough fluid in the tranny to prime the pump. When you turned the engine off, fluid drained back down into the pan. Just a guess.

Anyway, get a second or third opinion. Don't just trust me because I could be some schmoe trying to be an armchair mechanic. A lot of shops (probably not the dealer) won't charge you to give you bad news of this magnitude. My local shop didn't on my last head gasket (I brought the mechanic a 12-pack for his trouble). It's an easy diagnosis. A sniff of the radiator opening or measuring the cooling system pressure rise rate from cold will confirm the problem.

By the way, my Accord had nearly the same mileage (194k) when this started happening.

 

Thanks for the responses, it's a shame because I had the head gasket replaced two years ago. I'm hoping to get a chemical test done this week, I'll keep you guys posted.