I have a 96 Accord LX with a shifter, and a while back, I installed white face guages in my car. Not having instructions, I took off the needles, making most of my guages not work.

My gas light was my signal to get more gas, but recently, it stopped working.

The accord would not start, and thinking that it was gas related, I got more gas for it.

Still, it wouldnt start.

Time to check the basics..

Got under the hood, and pulled the plug wire on the farthest righthand side of the head. The part that goes over the plug was saturated in oil. Same with the second. The third and fourth plug had oil, but not as much as the others.

What does this mean?

I have a service manual, and know my way around a toolbox, but am by no means a mechanic.

Any clues?

What do I need to do, what tools do I need, and how hard is this?

Im pretty broke right now, so the shop is almost not an option.

Cheers all!

 

if you do to our DIY section you'll find a post that says "oil in spark plug tubes"

It's unlikely that it's causing your no-start issue though.... Does the car turn over?

 

This means that you have to go to the DIY section and read how to fix the oil on the plugs problem. There is a writeup that tells you everything that you need to fix the leak problem. It also sounds like you need a new dash cluster and a signature with your car info.

 

thanks.. new to this and most forums....

Seriously, the first time since 1991 that a honda would not start for me...

Will check out the DIY part...

Cheers!

 

Yep, taking the needles off of the gauges was a big no no. May need to replace the cluster or there might be a way of fixing that but I haven't come across any.

With the starting problem, it sounds like the seals on the spark plug tubes are leaking. Replacing those seals is easy and requires a 10mm socket and the removal of the valve cover (there is a gasket around it so be gentle or just replace it). That may or may not fix the starting issue.

Also, I would replace the plugs with NGKs and check the quality of the spark by connecting the plugs to the wire and seeing if they can make a 3/8" gap to the engine block. A good spark will be blue, but a decent one is bright yellow/white.

 

There is a link in the diy section that I had sir_nasty post entitles "general maintenance." To add to deserthonda's write up, that link shows pictures of a guy changing the valve cover and spark plug tube seals. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll link it

I would strongly suggest investing in a set of sockets, one containingmetric and standard. I would also buy some cheap open end wrenches (in metric and standard too - can be had at auto parts stores for pretty cheap) Sears usually has good deals onsocket setsthis time of year. They should be entitled "mechanics tool set" or something like that.