Alright, so I have been browsing all the accord forums for the last two years, have had everything pretty well figured out with all the information that has been posted out there. today I am looking for some second advice from all you amazing honda-tecs.

So my car was stolen this last summer and we got it back, but when the officer found it, it was turned on and sitting in overheat. It had lost all it's coolant and a small portion of oil(Always had the oil leak, have recently learned it was from a leaky distributor and loose oil sensor on the back of the motor). Not I have had the overheat issue for a while where if the car sits at idle(Park or stopped) it would overheat after about 5 minutes.

Didn't let the insurance company keep it, we bought it back from them after they totaled it(which im pretty pissed about, it could have been fixed.)

Anyways, I am in deep now, got the head off and timing off and now am curious on a few things.

1) When I was pulling the timing off, I didn't have a balance belt or front balance pulley. When I look at the plastic timing cover it looks like the front balance pulley could have potentially shot out of the vehicle through the cover with the belt. Or it was someone's crazy hack job. Anyways, how bad is this? This car has had bad shifting since we bought it. Like really rough forward backward movement. Even after a tranny swap.

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2) Now, what should I be looking for on my pistons to know whether they are good or not? They have a bit of build up on them, is it normal wear or not? Can I clean them?






All info helps! Thanks.

 

Not so crazy. Performance tuners take off the balance shafts belt to eke out a few more horsepower. I think the only downside is more engine vibration.
You can clean the tops with carb cleaner and a brass brush.

 

If there was a problem with the pistons, it would be with the rings. Take a close look at the cylinder walls for signs of damage/wear. Before moving the crank, I would probably pour a few caps of oil around the edge of the piston. This will lubricate the rings and help prevent damage when you turn the crank.

Did you ever do a compression test on your engine before you pulled the cylinder head?

 

If you have dark areas on the cylinder walls you may need to have the engine bored out and oversized pistons installed. I can't tell from your photos. If the cylinders are damaged you will have an oil burner. With all the issues you posted it may be better to buy a used engine considering how many miles these go unless overheated or run out of oil.

 

Thank you all for your replies! My delayed response comes from me working on a vacuum clog on my Passat, which doesn't make the motor run to well.

Anyways, never got around to checking the compression. It would have been a good idea, but sometimes I act before thinking and it gets the best of me. How big of a horsepower gain from removing the balance belt?

I would imagine that the motor was overheated for a long while, when I dropped the coolant I had maybe 3 cups of coolant left, and of course the reservoir was exploded. So I would like to think that every gasket in the car has been sabotaged, correct me if I am wrong.

How hard(from my position now) would it be to get the rings off? Can I leave the motor bolted in; just drop the pan, disconnect the rods and push the pistons out?

 

Yes you can push the pistons up from the bottom without removing the crank. Make sure that you lube the tops of the cylinder walls very well before pushing them up. Also use some old rubber tubing pushed over the studs on the connectoing rod. That way you will reduce the chances of them scratching the cylinder walls.

Then once you have them out you will want to clean the top sections of any carbon or rust build up so that when you go to put the new rings back in they will not get scratched or hung up.

While the pistons are out you may want to measure the cylinder bore for being out of round and for any excessive wear.

 

Awesome, thanks for the help and reassurance. I have the next few weeks to think about what I am going to completely do with it.

I am partially thinking about doing a complete swap and parting out what I have right now. Was definetly looking to go stick shift. and wouldn't mind a DOHC at all... not sure anyone would haha.

 

Also, am I able to buy a new pulley for the balance shaft? Have yet to locate one on the internet anywhere.

 

Well if you are not able to find something from a local junk yard. I have a couple sets of balance shaft drive gears available. I'd be willing to let one of them go for a few bucks.

PM me if you are interested!