Hey guys, new to the fourm. I just bought a 2002 Accord sedan MT with 293 000km (182k miles) as a daily driver. The car is very clean, the oil is clean, there is no rust or fluid leaks and it seems like a great buy so far. The car has the original engine and tranny, so I assume it's been looked after.

My question is, if I plan on keeping this car what should I look at doing in terms of maintenance? I think I'm going to put a timing belt and water pump in it when I get the funds as I'm not sure when it was done last. At this mileage, should I look at replacing the tensioner(s) too? Also, the engine seems to have a rattle in it when it warms up I assume this is the valves needing some adjustment, but from what I have read so far this seems like a fairly minor job. I plan to also put some new gear oil in the transmission. Should I think about flushing the brake and clutch fluid as well? Or is that going a little too far you think?

I am a mechanic and am able to do the work myself but have little expierence with Honda's so any other advice or suggestions on what I should do would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!

 

All the stuff you listed sounds reasonable to do, since you don't know the previous maintenance on the car.

The timing belt is due every 90k miles (verify interval by looking in the owners manual). You can call your honda dealer to see if they have a record of what service they have done on the car.

When doing the timing belt, you should also look at the seals (crankshaft, camshaft, and front balance shaft) for signs of leaking oil and change them. If your car doesn't have the front balance shaft retainer installed, you should install it.

I would replace the o-ring behind the rear balance shaft gear, because those can get brittle and cause an oil leak.

Use Honda MT fluid on the transmission. I would change out the coolant, oil, and filter.

 

I would do the brake/clutch fluid (that was one of your questions). You say you're a mechanic so you probably know how to bleed brakes.

Trick I've learned with Honda clutches... (if you pump the pedal to bleed)
Get some string around the clutch pedal. When bleeding there's no spring force to return the pedal back up. But control the pedal & don't let it SNAP quickly upwards - that seems to allow air into the system.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I havent done a timing belt in an engine with a balance assembly yet, but I assume it's driven by a belt too since its right there with the timing belt. If there is one, should I replace this belt as well? Also, for that o-ring behind the balance shaft gear that was mentioned, would that come in a kit with the crank and cam seals? If it does I'll probably do all those as well since they are fairly cheap. One more thing, is the valve cover gasket reusable in these engines or should I buy another one? Thanks guys!

 

The balance-shaft belt is outboard of the cam-timing belt. But all under the same covers.

That O-ring is #7 in the picture below. I don't know if it's in a "kit" but I suspect not.


I've found the VC gaskets are OK if they're fairly new. So if it's been replaced in the last few months, OK. Otherwise it'll probably be hardened by age & heat so it may not re-seal. I wouldn't re-use it on a customer car (returns & reputation...). But if you don't mind re-opening the valvecover after a couple weeks, the only consequence is a small amount of repeated work.

 

Doesn't seem too complex. Do you know if this is an interference engine? I called the dealer but they said they never put a timing belt or anything in the car so I assume it had to be done somewhere else, hopefully more than once. Perhaps instead of replacing it right away I'll pop off the upper cover and take a look at it. If it's in good shape I'll just leave it for now. Thanks alot for the diagrams!

One other thing I have noticed so far, sometimes when I switch gears it's reluctant to engage all the way. The shifter linkage bushings seem a bit loose, so I'm thinking this is the likely cause. Is it possible to bend synchros like this or would it be ok to drive it? It seems like I should know most of this stuff but the shop I work at seems to just get the minor work. Maybe I should consider switching, lol thanks again for the help.

 

You mention KM so you're not in USA... Still, ours are interference engines so I bet yours is too.

 

It's a cable shifter, so you might have some looseness in cable-attachments at either end?? I guess until you deal with that I'd be a bit slow & careful shifting. Don't know about bending synchros, but grinding won't be good for it.

If your clutch is dragging, maybe that's the reason for the synchros being difficult?

 

I havent been under the car yet, but the use of cables seems pretty cool as opposed to rods and rubber bushings. You could be right about the clutch dragging, and there's a 99% chance it's me not pushing the pedal down far enough. This is my first manual car I have owned, I have driven plenty in the past but not nearly enough to notice something like this. Thanks for all your input, I'll do an update when i get some work done.

This is my first Honda, I hope they are as good as everyone says!

 

Yeah, after dealing with the Rube Goldberg linkage in a couple VWs I'll say that I really like Honda shifters & manual transmissions.