Hi,

I own a Accord 1996 EX 2.2L 4 cylinders for 3 years and so far the repair I made on it are by a personal mechanics who charge 30$/hour:
- Front brake pad + disc
- front ball joints
- Brake master cylinder


BUT I just discovered other repairs for my Accord 1996 (240,000 KM) need to be done

Repair 1 (urgent): oil leak in the spark plug , 3 of 4 of my spark plug had oil leak
in them, and 2 of them is pretty bad, the plug is almost swimming in the oil , estimated repair by my mechanics : labor : 30$, parts: 30$ = TOTAL 60$


Repair 2 : brake line are rusted but not leaking. This is a coming repair to be done since it is a important one to do since security is involved.
I dont have the price, but from search on the net, between 400-600$


So my questions are :

Q1 - Keep my car and repair the 2 problems and hope no other main issues with pop up ??

Q2 - Sell this car and buy a new used one ??

Q3 - How hard and difficult to change the 3 set of gasket (spark plug tube seals, lower O-ring , and cylinder head cover ) for someone who never worked on an engine ???

Q4 - How difficult is it it change the brake line as a DIY project ?

Thanks for your input !

 

I believe the spark plug leaks are something any DIY can do,...if this is an EX engine. The LX, DX engine has an another set of orings under the camshaft rocker arm assys. Accessing requires removal of the rocker arm assy and camshaft, not terribly difficult, but not trivial depending on your experience level. If you do have the LX, DX engine, be sure this is addressed if repaired by others.

Brake lines look to be a challenge. I did one brake line on a truck and had to settle for partial replacement (spliced in a new section where rusted badly) and left difficult section near master cylinder and wheel cylinder as is. Bending and installing brake line to fit will be a significant challenge IMO, and best left to someone w/ experience.

good luck

 

Search on the net would be price using $90/hr mechanics; your sweetheart labor rate
of $30/hr would make it a no brainer to do it, imo.


On the oil in the spark plug tubes; that's common enough.
When it happened to my '93 Accord I kept driving it until I had the $ available, and
the engine never missed a beat despite the oil bath inside the tube.
So you could wait until it becomes a driveability issue, starts to miss, while you fix the brake lines ... $.02

 

On my 1995 Accord I cut out the bad sections which ran before the front and rear subframes and double flared the ends after putting on flare nuts and used steel brake lines from the local parts store to replace the bad sections which were over 10 feet. I did mine in under four hours and about $40 in parts. It wasn't in anyway as nice as replacing the whole line bundle but it may get you a few more years out of your Accord. Without my inspecting the condition of your car I can't advise you on selling it.

 

Indeed the o-ring under the rockerarm and spark plug gasket, I am not too worry for that, I could try to do it myself since I begin to like to play in the engine !!!


But my concern is the brake lines and the future. 400-600$ is a lot of money and more important for me, what is the next thing to repair !

What are the possible repair that need to be done after 240,000km ?? Timing belt done at 215000km.

 

Things wear out but these cars are mechanically extremely sound. However brake line corrosion suggests exposure to road salt which causes body damage and exhaust system corrosion. These are possible problems in near future.

The cheapest car to own is almost always the one you already have even considering some seemingly expensive repairs. People constantly delude themselves into the belief that repair costs are unacceptable and a monthly car payment is cheaper! Why? Because they want a new car. Who doesn't, but that new car smell is mighty expensive.

good luck

 

Does your mechanic think your brake lines will start leaking soon? I ask because most '96 Accords have brake lines that are rusted but not leaking. Your Accord has a dual diagonal brake system, so if one line fails you'll still have braking on two wheels, one front and one rear.

 

I am totally agree with you that the cheapest car is the one we own ! and true that monthly payment for a new car is still way more than the repair. But putting so much money in an old car for 2 or 3 more years seems a waste.

What i am worry is something big is coming like transmission change which is expensive I think.

And yes, here in canada, we have salt so corrosion is a concern but I am doing the rust proofing so the car is in good shape , only 2 small spot of rust

thanks texas for your input

 

Well he didnt said it will leaking SOON, but he said it is rusted.
I can see some white stuff on the lines and the paint if pealing off on the rusted section obviously.

Thanks for your diagram !

 

Texas, I called 2 dealerships and they both said I need the 2 sets of seals for the spark plugs.

I looked into the spark tube, I can see the top seals but it is not obvious to see if I have the under-rockerarm-tube-seals ??

just to remind, I have a acccord 1996 EX 4 cylinders NON-vtec