So obvouisly im a gear head. And im picky when buying cars. We bought this car knowing it would need some tlc. But im basically posting this for maybe a little help and tips, i will eventualy start my own worklog on my car in a different section. I decided i would post all my problems at once rather than one at a time. I hope you guys can take the time and read this.

Background information: I bought this from a local honda tuner thats well know in west Michigan. In fact his older brother is a mechanic and they started a car club called HITM or (History In The Making) its for young kids mostly college kids with imports. But they accept anyone. Anyways he did all the work on the 1997 honda accord ex he sold me. He got new ball joints, tie rods, upper control arm and passenger axle, brake pads, rotors, brake calipers, timing belt, and water pump, oil changed every 3000 miles since he owned it, then an alignment after adding all the parts. My brother in law knows this guy's older brother and said he does a good job of taking care of his cars. But its not perfect by any means. Guess its what i get for such an old car.

Here's the bad: I'm just going to start listing off the mechanical things first, then the minor trim things.
1. Is when you turn the wheel all the way to the left till you cant turn it anymore. It makes a clunking noise
2. Is there is some kind of exhaust leak bc after getting out of the car once its been driven for a while i can smell exhaust/gas when i get out the driver door. I've looked but haven't been able to locate it and no check engine light.
3. Also the muffler sounds like a complete ricer like a can is rattling but i looked and everything seems to be attached. Maybe its just a cheap muffler?
3. Idk how loud the engine should be and sound but a noticeable knocking noise is present all the time. Side note, when i changed the spark plugs cylinder 2 & 3 had lots of oil in it. But i replaced the vc gasket and that seemed to help. Keep in mind this is my first honda.
4. The oil pan is leaking from the seal and i will replace that next oil change.
5. There seems to be something rattling once in a while underneath the car sounds like the trim is loose and is just rattling about. But it hasn't happened in a while though.
6. When i start up the car its idle (once warmed up) is 550 to 750 rpms. Is that normal? I did reset it to base idle but i may have done it wrong, not sure. The idle no longer fluctuates anymore it pretty much stays in from 1750 to 2000 on a cold start or so,ething like that i cant remember. I did fix two vacuum leaks and then reset the ecu.
7. Another some what big and annoying problem is on a cold start and driving it right after it was started the car kinda just like cuts out. Ill explain. So i pull out of the driveway and put it in drive then start driving. While I'm gaining speed the engine cuts out but the speed stays the same, also my foot is slowly moving closer to the floor and still nothing. If i am easy on the pedal and drive it around a bit this problem stops. But if i put my foot to the floor when this happens, the car just like kicks in all of a sudden and it starts working again. But its scary because it feels like vtec or even nos kicking in. This is my biggest problem and i've been using marvel mystery oil and fuel cleaner and been putting the recommended amount in after every fuel up. Still haven't replaced the fuel filter but thats on my list of things to do this saturday. Also when the engine is doing this the noise i hear from the muffler sounds like back fire like its spitting and sputtering. If i could maybe have a full list of possibilities or maybe even a link to another section of this site that talks about this problem that would be great.
8. So the brakes a very touchy. When pressing it down half way its very loose but the other half feels normal but at that time your basically slamming the brakes.
9. Defrost does not work very well, almost doesn't work at all.
10. The heater doesn't work that well, and i cant get the temp *** all the way on hot where its on hot only, like it should click into place or something.
11. A few of the ac and heater direction buttons don't stick into place. And some get stuck and you have to press another button to depress it.
12. Also all the windows roll up and down slowly and the two right side doors window seals are ****ed up which may be causing the slow window movement. At high way speeds if i roll down my window then roll it back up it pops out of the window seal.
13. The latch for the hood is a little weird. In order to latch the hood after lifting it up, i have to stick my finger into where it latches and press downwards on the little wire thing.
14. At high speeds or going over bumps, hills, or pot holes. The suspension is very weird maybe a honda thing idk. It rebounds quickly and to the left and right and i actually have to correct the car so it wont hit anyone. My mom described it as a big old fat Buick suspension which was normal for those cars but that was the late 60s early 70s and i think car companies would have addressed that especially honda. Keep in mind I'm also use to stiff ford suspension which does amazingly well at high speeds almost no sway or radical movement.
But other than that, thats pretty much it. There are a few other small things but either i know what to do or there such a small problem that its not even worth fixing. The radio/cd player gets jammed but its whatever and i will replace it later down the road when everything else is running smoothly. I hope this was okay to post more than one problem in one forum, if not. Next time ill split it up and post each problem one at a time.
I love links that lead me straight to the problem and how to trouble shoot and fix it. But right now I'm focused on a tune up and fixing the weird engine cutting out after a cold start.
I have already cleaned the IACV, throttle body, looked for and fixed two vacuum leaks and adjusted the base idle and did a proper oil change.
Side note. I am a self taught 17 year old that has learned from many other sites including youtube and teamzx2.com and have also learned from a few friends that work on cars and have takin tech school auto mechanic classes. Like my brother in law. I love working and learning about cars so please by all means inform me lol. Thanks for those that take the time to reas all this.

 

you need front end work and an alignment.

 

The common diy thread on top of the gen tech help forum has links to a few items that you will find helpful.

1. Get the 94 shop manual from online manuals link. It is almost identical to your 97.

2. There is a link on how to check for engine codes the OBD1 way. If you have an OBD2 scanner, then pull out the ash tray to connect it. Post any codes you find on here. You can check for codes the OBD1 or OBD2 way on your car.

3. Read link on cleaning the EGR port.

4. Read link on cleaning FITV.

5. There is a thread on how to set the base idle written by JimBlake. Get all the maintenance work finished, then set the base idle.

As for the maintenance, only use NGK ZFR5F-11 plugs when you do the tuneup. These are the V-power plugs that most parts stores carry. Use nothing else.

I would replace the distributor cap and distributor rotor with parts from the Honda dealership. If the OEM spark plug wires are on there, just inspect them, because they seem to last forever.

Do you how many miles or years since the timing belt was last changed?

Try shaking the key when the engine is running. Does this stall out the car?

You need to do some diagnostics of the suspension. I would put the front of the car on jackstands. Turn the steering wheel until it locks. The grab the front tire and push pull on the 3/9 o'clock position. Then 12/6 o'clock. There should be very little movement of the tire.

There is a good ericthecarguy video on youtube on checking for suspension noises. He also has a lot of videos for working on hondas that you can watch.

 

Thank very much. That was very helpful. I will get right on this after work.

 

Can you go back and clean up your post just a bit.....one issues runs into another. It is hard to pick out the problems.

For the brakes - have you bleed the system? Holding pressure on the pedal, like at a red light, does the pedal sink to the floor?

On the heat. Check the ****, often the shaft breaks. Next, in the manual, there is a procedure for adjusting the blend door.

I think I saw something about windows but we'll get to that later.

 

Yes i can but not tonoght. I worked all day on it and im poop. Just need to get some food and hit the hay. Thank you guys.

 

Sorry for the late response but i finally found time to fix this. Its not in any oder i just put numbers on the problems. And i also eliminated a couple that where fixed by a tune up.