Actually, it's my girlfriends car, but i will be doing most of the maintenance on it. She wanted something with 4 doors and decent on gas, so we got her a 94 Accord EX with 175,000 miles. I'm an American made, v8, rear wheel drive kind of guy, and know nothing about imports, so I have a few questions.

How hard are these cars to work on?

What are some of the problem areas of these cars?

What exactly is VTEC, what does it do and how does it work?

How much more life can I expect out of the car?

I will probably be posting here somewhat regularly, as I know that these internet forums are great for help with diagnosing problems, nobody knows more about these cars then the people who own and work on them themselves.

 

I'm accustomed to working on imports, so I think they're not bad. I've never owned a Detroit V-8 so not sure about the comparison.

Automatic or manual trans?
Automatic ATF - use Honda fluid
Power steering - use Honda fluid
other stuff is normal.

VTEC is "V"alve "T"iming & lift "E"lectronic "C"ontrol.
www dot howstuffworks dot com has the story.
There's an extra cam and funny little latches on the rocker-tappets that engage & disengage that extra cam.

In DOHC engines (Prelude & Integra) VTEC means screaming high-RPM power.
In SOHC Accord engines, not so much. It's set up for MPG not power.

The car's already 17-years old. How much more life COMPLETELY depends on how well the previous owners took care of it. We've got some guys pushing close to 300k miles. But anyone can screw up a car by not changing oil or letting it rust or any number of things. There's nothing really magic about Accords, just a bunch of guys here who like to keep them running forever.

 

Thanks for the reply

It's an automatic. And I'm not sure how well the car was maintained, we got it at a used car dealership, and you never know what you're getting, but they said they had replaced the transmission with one out of a car that had 90,000 miles on it. It seems to shift fine and the car seems to run good. I know Honda has a reputation for making good cars that seem to run forever if well maintained, and i'm going to do everything possible to get as much as we can out of the car.

That VTEC sounds pretty complicated, it sounds like it may make any valvetrain work that may need to be done complicated. But i'll look into that more later.

My main concern right now is checking for any problem areas with these cars and how much they will cost to be fixed, such as how long the timing belt is good for and the price of repair etc.

 

Welcome, I consider them fairly easy to work on, as they dont have all the computers controlling everything like the new cars do. The one thing that is usually difficult to do is take the crank shaft pulley off, without an impact gun its near impossible, and sometimes even with one its difficult.

Some of the common problems with the 94-97 Accord:
quarter panel rust
Slow windows
glove box light staying on
Odometer/speedometer breaking

As far as the timing belt, i'm not positive what the honda recommend mileage is, but I'd say every 100,000 miles. So if you don't have any record of it being done, I would do it ASAP.

 

Thanks for the reply. As far as the rust goes, this is a southern car, there's no rust anywhere. The windows all work and go up and down at the same speed. We haven't had the car long enough to even notice the glove box lights, guess we will know if the battery goes dead lol. The odometer and speedometer are working fine.

The timing belt is what scares me. As I said we bought the car at a used car dealership so we don't know exactly how it's been taken care of or what has been done. Don't know how long they last in Hondas but i know once it goes it can be very costly to repair. With the car having 175,000k on it I'm hoping it has already been replaced. I don't know if these are "zero tolerance" motors or not, but if they are I'll be screwed, because I know if this car just dies on my g/f she will try to restart it, and then i'll be having to buy new valves, and the whole VTEC thing makes it seem like it would be very complicated to fix myself or very costly to pay someone to fix.

 

Without any information, I'd replace the timing belt now. Every 100k miles or 7 years. If it's never been replaced, it probably would not have lasted this long. So let's just assume you're due for the next one.

It's an interference engine, so if the timing belt breaks the pistons can hit the valves. Ugly stuff, but you can probably find a replacement head. Better yet, change the belt before it breaks. I bet there's a thread about that in the DIY section.

Also look in the DIY section for links to download shop manuals. They look to me like British versions based on engine size & steering wheel location. But they look like the REAL shop manual (from www dot helminc dot com)

Go to www dot ahm-ownerlink dot com
(actual working links to non-sponsors are against the rules here)
That's Honda's owner-link site. Sign up with your car's VIN and I think you can see an on-line version of the owner's manual. Check out the maintenance schedule & get that stuff up-to-date.

Hondas seem to get along best on NGK spark plugs.
Factory plug wires seem to last forever, so consider the dealer for them, even tho it's $$$.

Honda wants you to check automatic transmission fluid level with the engine all warmed up but TURNED OFF. That's different than most other car companies where you check it while the engine is idling.

I guess I'm just randomly thinking of stuff that a Detroit-car-owner would not automatically know.

 

The maintenance schedule should be in the owner's manual. I think the TB is 90K or 7 years. So you will be due at 180K miles.

You may be able to find out the vehicle's service records by registering the car through Honda's Owner Link. CarFax reports have service records. You may call your local dealership to get service information as well.

 

get the timing belt/water pump replaced. also, i have tom say that the auto trans baxa or b4xa had major overheating problems. that is the biggest culprit for trans failures. if you dont plan on doing a manual conversion, i reccomend changing the fluid with honda fluid only. cant tell you how many baxa transmissions ive seen in the shop for shifting issues because of wrong fluid.
i think pretty much any honda engine is interference. so timing belt!!!
other than that, typical valve cover gasket leaking, and distributor seal leaks.

on sohc vtec engines, the valve timing is only affected on the intake valves, due to lack of room because of the spark plug tubes. the design opens the second intake valve differently than the primary.
dohc vtec opperates differently, changing exhaust timing as well as intake timing.
ivtec is really crazy because this is only done on the v6, and only on the rear head. this enables "variable displacement", cutting 3 cylinders in cruise mode for fuel efficiency. thats the gist anyway.
keep that car!!! its a gem

 

Change the oil every 5k miles and tranny fluid 20k miles. Flush the power steering fluid regularly as well as brake fluid. They run great.