Hi guys,

I am new here, I was given a 1988 Honda Accord DX for free with the condition that I accept that it would crank, but not start.
basically a fixer upper...

Well upon having it towed home I went thru the check list; It's getting spark, fuel, wires are new and connected correctly.

Now when I checked out the spark plugs, #1, #3, and # 4 were so bad that the little contacts on the part where the gap
is set were so badly damaged (bent and smashed) #2 was perfectly fine.

The plugs were NGK brand.
What would would have caused them to get so badly damaged?

So I went ahead and replaced them with a new NGK plugs set, and after a few tries it started...

Idle is bad and I noticed that the vaccum advance that is attached to the distributor is broken off.
Do I need to buy a new distributor? or do they sell the vaccum advance part by itself?

Also idle is low and wanders, I think the previous owner did not install the # 4 plug correcly becasue it does not screw in correctly, is there a way to fix the threading?

Also how do i set timing on this? do i need to plug the vaccum advance hose connectors?

 

Well I would double check the old spark plugs and make sure they are the same size as the new ones... if that's the case then the guy was probably just an idiot... if not and they are longer i'd take a flashlight and try to get a look at the top of the pistons to make sure they are ok.... As far as the distributor goes, no idea. The threading issue. ouch. that's a nasty little issue, what you can do thought is inspect the threads first and see if it really was cross threaded or if there's metal filings/dirt/grit in their. Dirt and grit VERY carefully clean it out, metal filings I'd get a small extendable magnet and try to get them out. Crossthreading: Tap and die set and something sticky to grab the filings, just take a tap that is the same size as the existings threads and coat it with something sticky (oil is what I used...) and thread it in slowly just a few threads at a time, back it out, clean it and re-coat it, then repeat until you're done. I've had to do it before and it worked for me but the big thing is slowly and carefully, plus make sure you match the thread/hole sizes or you're going to run into some nasty issues...

 

it sounds like you have some serious problems with your new car....the biggest one i can see now is the stripped spark plug. that itself can make the engine run very badly or not at all, and in all reality....the head needs to come off to fix that problem.