1986 Honda Accord LXI, FI 2.0

Have the link? Honda engines are indeed pretty widely
available. Never seen one this cheap, though. Find a
reputable seller and even if it costs closer to $600 for the
engine, and this is the way I would go. If one set of rings
stuck, seems to me the others, and other parts, may show
problems.

The internet will turn up many sellers of used Honda
engines. Honda-tech.com is a very good resource for swapping
engines, both where to buy and how to do it.

 

Don't try to rebuild an engine yourself. Waste of money, as it will fail
REALLY fast.

You can read Elle's message, and then check your local Yellow Pages for
a local wreckers, or a used Japanese engine vendor. The JDM F22B DOHC L4
is a popular swap, and may fit in this car.

You'd think, but with a very few exceptions (Nissan 240-Z, Toyota MR-2),
I think Japanese cars will be disdained on this side of the Pacific for
the foreseeable future, which is really too bad.

That's the way to think of it.

This is a very good idea. But I think you've just got a dead cylinder...

BAD BAD BAD idea!!!! BAD. Very bad. Don't do this. You will waste your
time and money. An engine needs to come right out for a rebuild that
will last more than 200 miles. This is not a 1929 Ford.

Blah. Forget that. Find a local source, where you can at least go there
and beat somebody up if something goes wrong.

Call your local wrecking yard. Or check here: www.car-part.com

Wreckers have perfectly good engines they end up only selling to
garages, because people like you don't know they exist.

If the body is sound, there's no reason not to have some fun with it.

Happy Farmer's Wash Day.

 

Complements of the season (after the lawyers have
finished)

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comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement
of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole
discretion of the wisher.)

Erik

 

GD man that was awesome. I have to applaud your ability to include
everyone and everything. Merry everything without obligation to
anything to you as well. Peace!!!!

My son and I are now playing with the engine. After all we are just
morons knocking around. It's not as if I resurrected a dead 1997
Jaguar XJ6 and made it click on all cylinders.

I have tried various of the suggestions and intend next to remove the
head if this doesnt work. I will also drop the pan, do new rings and
and pistons and make the engine what I want it to be. I may be an
absolute moron for trying but I don't care. I will count it tuition
towards my son's learning how to work on a motor vehicle. I only have
300 in in the vehicle to begin with and a little play money to make it
into something. I think I probably won't screw a ring/piston job up
too bad.

Peace!
Jack

 

Here is the link for the engines on eBay. I believe they answered the
phone "Beaver". The have a computer operated voice mail and seem to
be quite professional. Though the young man that I spoke to said he
didn't have any idea about swaps for these "older" engines.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200040405826&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123

When I inquired they sent me an 800 number to call.

Peace!
Jack

 

Ok, at this point we have tried the laquer thinner approach as well as
the Stabil. It got to a point where nothing would run down over the
piston anymore. I watched it for about three hours as it sat there
and initially it just piled up on top of the cylinder head and sort of
leaked away over time until at some point it stopped and wouldn't leak
anymore. To this humble observer, I would wonder if that doesn't mean
that something came loose and made a tighter seal in the cylinder?

I did fire it up and let it run some last night and it seems to run a
little smoother, but I will have to go back over to the shop with the
compression tester to see if that is any better for real. I can tell
you that it blasted the remains of the solvents out of the spark plug
hole with a GREAT DEAL of force before I replaced the plug. Before it
didn't spit anything anywhere. The one curious thing was that there
seemed to be no smoke coming from the exhaust from any of the solvents
I used. That may be because they were consumed in combustion more
efficiently than oil would be. I have seen the results of putting oil
on top of the cylinder to build up compression and I know that
generates quite a lot of smoke.

I could tell that the top of the piston was badly covered with
carbon. Not clean at all.

To finish the night I drained off about a pint of oil and filled the
case back up with sea-foam and ran it until it reached operating
temperature for about 30min. After that I drained it off, filled it
with 5w30 and 20oz of Rislone ring sealant. I know, additives are
usually junk, but I thought what the heck. Rislone is supposed to be
a good brand. At that point I came in and went to bed. I'll go back
out in a few and see how far it has come.

Unfortunately in Western Kentucky there are not and Junk Yards or
Wreckers that handle these types of engines on any kind of regular
basis. I don't know that anything will be obtainable within a 200mi
radius. Nashville quite probably has something, but as I said, I
won't be taking care of it this winter.

Thanks again
Jack

 

Do they still practice Farmer's Wash Day, or Salt Water day as some
call it? There was a wonderful article in the August 9th, 1896
edition of the New York Times about the many types of people that
descended upon Manasqua for the holiday, August 8th.

May it be well, but not so good as to spoil what you have!
Jack

 

Here is the link for the engines on eBay. I believe they
answered the
phone "Beaver". The have a computer operated voice mail and
seem to
be quite professional. Though the young man that I spoke to
said he
didn't have any idea about swaps for these "older" engines.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200040405826&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123
-------------


Interesting. Are you close enough to this ebay seller to
actually pick up the engine? Three things I would do

1. Ask if they have any documentation for the mileage on
their engines.
2. Ask at honda-tech.com (a) if anyone knows this seller;
and (b) other sellers people can recommend. Registration is
free. Honda-tech.com is overwhelmingly teens and
20-somethings that are serious hobbyists particularly in the
area of engine swaps.
3. Search the net for other Accord engine sellers. E.g. a
search I just did turned up
http://www.actionsalvage.com/Engine/used-engine-honda.asp#Honda_Accord_Used_Engine

I echo Tegger's caveats about buying a used engine.

 

Ok, at this point we have tried the laquer thinner approach as well as
the Stabil. It got to a point where nothing would run down over the
piston anymore. I watched it for about three hours as it sat there
and initially it just piled up on top of the cylinder head and sort of
leaked away over time until at some point it stopped and wouldn't leak
anymore. To this humble observer, I would wonder if that doesn't mean
that something came loose and made a tighter seal in the cylinder?

I did fire it up and let it run some last night and it seems to run a
little smoother, but I will have to go back over to the shop with the
compression tester to see if that is any better for real. I can tell
you that it blasted the remains of the solvents out of the spark plug
hole with a GREAT DEAL of force before I replaced the plug. Before it
didn't spit anything anywhere. The one curious thing was that there
seemed to be no smoke coming from the exhaust from any of the solvents
I used. That may be because they were consumed in combustion more
efficiently than oil would be. I have seen the results of putting oil
on top of the cylinder to build up compression and I know that
generates quite a lot of smoke.

I could tell that the top of the piston was badly covered with
carbon. Not clean at all.

To finish the night I drained off about a pint of oil and filled the
case back up with sea-foam and ran it until it reached operating
temperature for about 30min. After that I drained it off, filled it
with 5w30 and 20oz of Rislone ring sealant. I know, additives are
usually junk, but I thought what the heck. Rislone is supposed to be
a good brand. At that point I came in and went to bed. I'll go back
out in a few and see how far it has come.

Unfortunately in Western Kentucky there are not and Junk Yards or
Wreckers that handle these types of engines on any kind of regular
basis. I don't know that anything will be obtainable within a 200mi
radius. Nashville quite probably has something, but as I said, I
won't be taking care of it this winter.

Thanks again
Jack

======================================================

I admit - I'm geeking out over this whole thing. It is an area I've
sometimes wondered about (oil abuse probably leading to a dead cylinder) and
using a host of mud-wrestling things to bring it back. So far it sounds
promising, and I am really rooting for you.

I agree about the additives - they always seem like a shot in the dark, but
in this case you are trying to fix a specific problem. I imagine if this
works you will be changing out the Risloned oil after you feel it has done
all the voodoo it can.

There's no school like old school!

Mike

 

Michael,

I will be changing out the oil again soon if it does work. I am not
fond of most additives. I do like Lucas, but it is 100% petroleum, so
I feel like it is less dangerous. It has also helped me a lot with
older engines. I appreciate the encouragement. Ive got a few other
tricks up my sleeve yet. As I said, there was so much carbon atop
that first piston, I can't imagine this will go away quickly. I am
going to do some experiments with some other solvents on the carbon
from the piston (OUTSIDE THE ENGINE) and see if there is any residual
pitting in the metal or anything that would cause the solvent to be
more harm than good. I have a woodshop, so there are quite a few
things out there that I am familiar with. I wondered briefly about
turpentine and will investigate that further. It dissolves gum
mastic, shellac and some types of varnish. Plain old paint remover is
pretty effective too, but I am afraid of possible pitting effects.
Similarly one might think of Easy Off as an option because of the way
it removes carbon in an oven, but it can have a nasty effect on some
metals. Soooo, that might be the last resort before the new engine.

Have you rebuilt any engines Michael? Or reringed any pistons?

 

Only once,on a 1970 Volvo. The engine had suffered a lot of detonation so
the rebuild was actually slightly more expensive than a short block would
have been - I think it cost me about $50 more than the short block by the
time I was done, and I didn't even change the oil pump. :-( Every
cylinder had at least one broken compression ring (from the detonation, I'm
sure) and there was a channel torched in one cylinder where the ring was
broken. I had to have the block bored and had to buy new pistons and rings.
Fitting the rings was a minor experience but nothing special. Each ring had
to be test fitted, checked for width of the gap, and the end filed until the
gap was as specified. It was more tedious than adventurous.

I share TeGGer's concern about trying to rebuild a modern engine. The B18 I
was working on was straight bored; I understand more recent engines are
bored with a dummy head fitted so the distortion produced when the head is
torqued down is taken into account in the boring and even the honing. In any
case, older engines were pretty used up at 200K miles while newer ones make
300K or more if reasonably cared for. There are probably more reasons than I
know.

Mike

 

My concern was trying to hone the bores in-situ, which is what I gathered
the OP wanted to do.

Apparently that's not as necessary with Honda's open-deck blocks.

 

I actually read an article earlier about people using Easy Off on
aluminium heads to clean the carbon deposits. Maybe that wasn't so
crazy after all. Obviously it would mean an oil change and I would
probably have to rinse out the cylinder with gasoline because water
would cause it's own problems. Again, maybe that will be a last
resort.

I watched the valves come down today for a while as my son bumped the
ignition with the coil and injector disengaged. From what little I
could see through the hole it certainly didn't look like the intake
valves were even as they came down. One was above the other. Is that
the way it is supposed to be? Is there a way of adjusting that
without taking the head off? Pictures would be good here if you have
any.

Peace!
Jack

 

I am in far Western Kentucky and they are in South Carolina. I
wouldnt mind the drive this summer, but right now it is a little far
and a little cold. They guarantee them and do keep records of mileage
and VIN numbers. Sounded like a reputable place known for Honda
parts. Believe it or not, eBay has an honest soul or two.

Peace!
Jack

 

I am in far Western Kentucky and they are in South Carolina.
I
wouldnt mind the drive this summer, but right now it is a
little far
and a little cold. They guarantee them and do keep records
of mileage
and VIN numbers. Sounded like a reputable place known for
Honda
parts. Believe it or not, eBay has an honest soul or two.
----

I am still curious about why their engines are so
inexpensive compared to all else I have seen so far on the
net. I buy from Ebay often and have had maybe one sour
transaction out of a few dozen to date.

I too am following your engine cleaning efforts, though.
Good luck.

 

Could be shear volume, the economy and the fact that they require you
to come and get it. I will inquire further at Honda-Tech. I joined
yesterday.

Thanks.
Jack

BTW what is OP??

 

Okay, here's another crazy one. My dad tells me that in carburetor
engines they would use a little water when the butterfly was open and
the engine was warmed up to clean carbon out of the engine. It would
not go into the oil at all, it would simply clean the carbon out of
the combustion chamber. Worked like a charm he said.

The FI system is pretty much closed during combustion except through
the air intake. Has anyone ever heard of or tried that?? BTW my dad
is only 69, and still in charge of his faculties, so I know he's not
too old to know what he is talking about. AAMOF, I don't know many
people that are too old to know what they are talking about.

Peace!
Jack

 

OP is "original poster," meaning the person (= poster) who
originated the thread.

Clarification: I meant that I too generally trust Ebay,
especially after checking the seller's reliability rating
and reports.

You certainly may be right about why the engines are so
cheap with this SC dealer. Maybe too these engines are not
in high demand?

I was curious to see whether the ebay seller you linked
before sold other engines. I did not see any Civic engines
for sale at all. I could be wrong, but it seems he has
exactly one Accord engine for your year. Then my concern
would be if it fails you get to haul it back for a refund,
according to the seller's statement on engine sales.

Still, it may be a good gamble. Has the seller said how many
miles are on this engine?

Good to hear you are trying honda-tech. It may shed more
light on options for used engines.

 

Correction: I saw none for 88-2000 Civics. He does have a
couple of 2001-05 Civic engines right now.

 

Thanks for defining OP. I wondered what it meant.

When I talked to the South Carolina Honda Place on the phone it
sounded like he could sell them all day and I could get whatever I
wanted. The one I called him about had 98,000 on it. There was also
one on the site you sent me to that had 100,000 for 455 dollars. It
may seem like quite a range, but they are both in what I would call
the "cheap" category for an engine. However, I saw a 1997 AJ16 for a
Jaguar XJ6 on ebay for $189 from a seller with 50,000 feedback. That
engine usually runs for 4000 from a Jag wrecker. The reason for the
low price was that nobody is in the market for a jag anything these
days. For those of us who do our own work on them, it is a boon. For
those with parts to sell, they just want to move them. Does that make
as much sense to you as it does to me???

Peace!
Jack