Honda Accord 93 LX 4door sedan 4-Automatic
130,000 miles

Problem
When I start the engine, the engine has this loud beating sound. The car shakes more than usual. My motor mount is damaged and that usually causes only the steering to shake. However this is not a motor mount problem. My entire vehicle shakes even on park. On reverse the beating noise gets louder, on N it calms a bit, and D4 to D1 the beating gets louder and the shaking increases. When I test drove it tonight, i noticed that I needed to be on about 3rd gear for the beating and shaking to almost disappear, but its still there. However, I was at 3rd gear, my car couldnt go more than 20-30mph. My motor is working extra extra hard just for 20mph and nothing more.
Car doesnt overheat:
There is oil leaking from the timing belt area. Also my oil was extremely low before this happened. Burning smell is extremely strong too.
Check engine light is not on.

I read online that it can be an EFG valve problem, but my neighbor who is a mechanic said its not.
He said either its my transmission or motor but said he has a strong feeling my motor is pooping out. Heisn't entirely sure himself.
Other:
Radiator fluid is fine
Transmission fluid level is slightly high.

What do you guys think it is? I'll try to bring it in to a shop tomorrow but im so busy this week or if I can do it myself, i rather choose that option. I love learning how to fix cars. I suck at it but I'm learning.

 

Oh I forgot to say, it doesn't overheat. It overheated2 months ago due to a radiator hose leak but never again did it happen even though i drive for long hours.

 

Not knowing which engine you have and if it has a balancer setup internal to the engine, the oil could have softened the small timing belt for the balancer and now it has broken and causing your engine to shake violently. If so the oil seal for the balancer shaft could have pooped out (partially), there was a TSB to install a holder for the seal to keep it from popping out, this could be your leak, either way, if this engine is not toast, you are going to need the full works on a timing belt / water pump job.

Are you saying that a rod is not knocking or already broken, I dont think valves out of adjustment would be felt so strongly.

 

What is this rod that you mentioned? If its the motor mount, then yeah they were cracked ages ago and it never bothered me. About the timing belt and balancer, how do I test to see if it is damaged? I dont think the belt itself is broken, but this balancer part you mentioned, might be damaged.

 

First of all, your check engine light is on. Go to this link (http://www.dhost.info/accordinfo/howto/cel.html) and follow that procedure. Your check engine light should blink and give you the error codes. I do not think that you have to look at the ECU to count the codes, but other members should correct me if I am wrong.

How quickly are you losing oil?

There four oil seals (oil pump, cam shaft, balance shaft, and crankshaft) that can leak oil. If these get on your timing belt, it can drastically reduce the belt life and cause major engine damage the timing belt snaps. A timing belt job is not the type of job that you want to try on your first DIY attempt. A busted balance shaft belt will cause your engine to shake.

Under that timing belt cover are two belts that work off of the crankshaft. The balancer belt turns the balance shaft to basically prevent the engine from shaking. The timing belt turns the cam shaft to open and close the valves for each cylinder at the proper time. These are interference engines, so the valves must be shut, or the piston will smash into the valves. If the timing belt breaks, you will have engine/cylinder head damage.

 

Severe vibration is usually result of engine missing. Start by removing and replacing spark plugs w/ new correctly gapped plugs. Look for an oil-fouled spark plug. This could indicate a leaking oil seal, or oil passing the piston rings.

Oil leak underneath timing belt could be camshaft seal, balance shaft seal, crankshaft seal, and should be repaired when timing belts are done.

good luck

 

This seems pretty severe for the CEL to not be on. Does it light up when you first tur the key to on? Maybe the bulb is dead or has been disabled.

 

First of all i want to say thank you for all your reponse! I greatly appreciate. Also thanks for that link PAHonda.

I took my car into a shop just today but the mechanic won't be able to give me a diagnostic until tomorrow and depending on the problem, it may take some time to get results.

Sometimes I do get a D4 blinking and from that link that PAHonda provided, it states that it is a Trans Problem. At the same time I also do get a CEL on. Normally, I turn the key to OFF and then try again. Sometimes D4 will blink with CEL on... other times, D4 doesnt blink and CEL is OFF, however my engine wouldn't start either way. I have to keep on trying and give a little gas for the car to start.

How fast is my oil leaking?
I would say pretty fast. My parking spot is all greased over.

Spark Plug
I checked my spark plugs and they were dry. I wiped them just to remove any possible grease or particles and it was clean.

I'll try to get as much results from the mechanic. I'm sure he won't tell me much on what he did or what was wrong, but whatever he tells me I'll make sure you post it up here for future reference.

I think its my Trans or that timing belt area that is causing the problem. By the way, if my timing belt broke, my car shouldnt be able to move correct?

 

Your are right about the timing belt. If it was broken the car wouldn't start.

If your D4 light and CEL came on at the same time, there is a good chance that your VSS might be shot. Does your cruise control work?

Shorting that service connector would pinpoint the faulty sensor(s).

As for oil loss, severe oil loss would be all of your oil immediately (balance shaft seal popped out). Slower leaks would be a quart or two over 100 miles.

 

Update

I spoke to my mech. He said I need to clean my fuel injectors, change spark plugs because oil got into them.

I checked my spark plugs though and they were completely dry...

Anyway he said it will cost 150 bucks to clean my injectors and change the spark plug seals and spark plugs. Is that a good deal? Is it easy to clean the fuel injectors? If it is and I don't need special equipment, I rather do it myself. I can do the spark plug and the spark plug seals.

Also, I was thinking about changing my Timing Belt and fixing the oil leak coming from that area. The mechanic said that it will cost $300.00 to change the belt and fix 2 seals... Which seals, I don't know. Is that a good price? My neighbor who works for a honda dealer said 300 and less is a good deal, anything more isn't. But my uncle who isn't a mech or anything screamed at me and said "Hell no!" *Confused I am*

Summary
150 for Fuel Injectors and Sparkplugs
another 300 for timing belt and 2 seals.

Thanks everyone =). you've all been great help.