Folks, I could be more astute in knowing about my vehicle..but I don't so I figured some of you here will be able to help me. Thanks.

I've got a 92 Honda Accord. In the past few weeks I had noticed that the oil light would frantically blink and flicker when I came to a stop. However, when I accellerated the flickering would go off and everything seemed fine. Then I'd stop again and that frantic flickering of the oil indicator came about again. This time when I accellerated the oil indicator blinked regularly. I figured to myself, "well, just got the oil changed! i know i've got a minor leak..it can't be gone that fast!"

I was in for a big surprise when noticing how my tachometer was going out of whack. The needle would fluctuate and at one point in time stay set to zero for about half of a second and then fluctuate frantically again. My car decided to wave a red flag and shut off on me. I figured that it needed to cool down, it seemed to be overheating. I checked the oil on my dipstick and there was practically no oil left..maybe about half an inch on the dipstick or less.

I guess my own car put up a red flag when it shut off on me. I decided to let things cool down. Now when I start the car I hear a loud sound. Not only do I hear the sound, I can feel the sound as well. It sounds like something boiling...metal boiling. Or something metal that churns in a cylinder. I had oil put in the engine..however when I put the car in drive it's obvious that the clinking has taken place again..it's pretty loud.

Does anyone have an idea of what's going on? What should I do?

Also If I put the gear in D3 the D4 gears light up as well..it's as though there are dual gears being used and that's the first time I heard this sound..however it's become really loud now.

 

well the oil light is most likely low oil pressure, as you found out. I had a similar problem not too long ago and i brought my car to the dealer and said that whoever did the last oil change dint screw the drain plug in. So i chewd out my mechanic. If the sound of metal grinding is what you hear comming from the engine, i cant imagine that its a good thing. I would take it to a dealer or mechanic because the problem is only going to get worse

 

The balance shaft seal can pop out of the engine block on high mileage 1992 Accords.....This can cause a MAJOR OIL LEAK (2 to 3 quarts in a couple of cityblocks). If you just had your oil changed and the oil was at the correct level when you leftshop, there is not many ways you could loose that much oil other than the balance shaft seal failure. If this is the problem, the left side of the undercarriage will be wet with oil.....

The engine noise means it's probably too late....Anytime the oil light starts blinking on and off, you have no oil pressure. Oil lights can flicker for low oil pressure or a faulty oil pressure sending unit, but Honda incorporated a small micro-processor in the oil light circuit, that if oil pressure fails between key starts, the light will flash on and off.

You said it flashed on and off while driving, so depending on how long you drove the vehicle, you could easily have internal engine damage.

If an engine is required, geta long-block(block and cylinderhead) from a company that sells used Japanese car engines... The reason I recommend a cylinder head also is because low oil pressure normally wears on the camshaft journals more agressively than in the crankshaft area....Many Accords in Japan use a 2.0 liter in place of the U.S. 2.2 liter. If you go with this engine, it will work fine and will be the cheapest solution to major engine damage / required engine replacement.

Once fixed, check the ignitor in the distributor. In the 1992 Accord, the ignitor should be a brown chip (NEC brand) inside the distributor, which gives the tachometer reference and ignition ref. for the ignition coil (basically a transistorized set of points). That is probably what shut the car off becauseunlike Honda'ssmall engine line, there is nothingincorporated into the ignition system that would turn the engine off in the event of low or no oil pressure; to prevent damage.

I know this isn't good news but the infoshould help
Ed Brian
Accurate Automotive, Inc.
www.accuratecars.com

 

As stated above, the diagnosis is not good. It sounds to me like you developed a knock by driving the car with little oil in it. How long ago was the oil changed? The reason I ask is that sometimes oil change shops will screw up and put a double gasket on the oil filter, causing oil to leak out. Sometimes they will try to screw in the drain plug and cross thread it, causing oil to leak out. And sometimes they can simply forget to add oil back to the engine (the car would not make it far if this was the case.)
My suggestion to you is: take your car to a mechanic you trust, or to a Honda Certified shop/Honda dealer for a diagnosis. They need to look for evidence of large amounts of oil leaking from either the drain plug, or the filter area. If the oil change place screwed up the filter or the drain plug, there should be oil blown all down the underside of the car from oil leaking out while traveling down the road. It should be pretty obvious. If it looks like the oil leaked out of the drain plug or the filter, you could have a claim against the oil change place. They should not try adding oil or taking the plug or filter out - or even touching the plug or filter for that matter.
The only downside of taking it to get diagnosed is: the mechanic that looks at it does not need to touch anything. He would disturb any eveidence of a double gasket or a cross threaded drain plug. If you have physical damageinsurance coverage, you may want to call them and see if they could send an adjuster out to voice his opinion on what happened. You may also want to call that oil change place and tell them what happened. They should report it to their general liabiity insurance carrier immediately and the insurance carrier will send someone out to look at your car. If the evidence has been disturbed by someone, they may deny the claim though - just a warning.
Get back to me on how soon after the oil was changed that the problem happened and I may be able to give you better advice.

 

that really sucks man. to put it simply, you just put 100k on your car in a very short amount of time. sounds to me like the engine will either need a full rebuild or a new engine. i would go with the recommendation above on a new engine, but first do what LX5sp said.
that sucks, i feel your pain.