97 Accord Tuneup?

Would like to put new pvc valve, distributor cap, plug wires, plugs, oxygen
sensors on 97 Accord 2.2 SOHC 16 valve. Of all I have been reading, it looks
as though the OEM parts are the way to go. Any thoughts? Anything special to
look for in changing above? Did I miss anything? Weekend mechanic only

 

How many miles on the car? Don't forget to buy the dist. rotor and replace
while you are also changing the dist. cap.

Nick

 

Do you have a reason for doing the oxygen sensors? They are
not routine maintenance, and they are not cheap for this
car.

I'd change the air filter and fuel filter. I don't care if
those are OEM or not on my car.

Consider changing the distributor rotor, too. Use an OEM
one. (Plugs should be per the owner's manual's specs.
Ignition wires and cap should be OEM.)

Get a timing light and check the ignition timing.

How old is the coolant?

Put a bottle of Chevron Techron fuel injector yada cleaner
in the fuel tank when it's near empty. Fill tank. Try to
schedule an oil change a couple weeks later. Wal-Mart and
Autozone carry this product for around $7 a bottle.

Got a manual? Your library may have one for your Accord. Or
buy a Chilton's for it on Ebay (though that may take a
month) or at some place like Autozone. Or piece together the
steps using the free online manuals and parts drawing sites
for Accords close to the 1997 at
http://home.earthlink.net/~honda.lioness/id9.html .

Anything in particular lead to your decision to do a full
tune-up?

How many miles on your car?

 

Miles: 111,000
Coolant: 1 year old
Reason: milage going down a few miles per gallon. around 28-30 highway
No reason for oxy sensor, just looking for a way to get a PM done and
increase milage a little.

 

I'd skip the oxygen sensors then, and see if you get some
improvement.

Check your tires' air pressure, too. Maybe just thoroughly
purge the cooling system of air and make sure it's at the
correct level.

 

Re. O2 sensors: if you decide to replace an O2 sensor make sure you
replace all the O2 sensors on your car at the same time. I've had good
results with Denso O2 sensors in both Honda (190K miles) and Toyota
(170K miles) products. These are available with OEM connectors at about
half the price of what looks to be the exact same parts in a Honda or
Toyota parts box. New O2 sensors improved the mpg in both the cars I've
put them in.

As others have suggested, to increase mpg start with the basics; air
filter, distributor cap, rotor, new spark plugs (standard NGKs, nothing
fancy) and check for tire pressure. At 8-9 years your ignition wires
are getting a little old and replacement isn't a bad idea if you intend
to keep the car. Your O2 sensors are probably OK for another 50K miles.
Doesn't this engine require periodic valve adjustments? The timing
should have been set when the timing belt was replaced at 90K miles but
checking is a good idea.

 

I've been running Hondas for over twenty years and I've had absolutely zero
problems with aftermarket parts. You DON'T need to use Honda's cap, rotor and
ignition wires. And don't fool around with anything but Honda's ATF....trust
me. I agree with the NGK plugs and Chevron fuel system cleaner though.

 

Trust me and many others here. We have much more anecdotal
data than many mechanics or any one amateur.

Just the other day we had another report of poor aftermarket
ignition part performance: An aftermarket distributor rotor
was made of such cheap material that it broke after less
than a year. The owner compared the old with the new OEM.
Big difference.

Use only OEM ignition parts (cap, rotor, wires, ignition
coil, igniter, distributor housing).

 

Unless you know the other O2s are operating as well as the new sensor,
how can you predict how the on board computer will interpret the
different inputs from the new vs old O2 sensors? (Use of a scan tool
can eliminate this uncertainly, of course.) Is there a doubt about
sensor performance degradation over time?

excerpted from
http://www.autotap.com/articles/Understanding_Oxygen_Sensors.html

You can read the O2 sensor's output with a scan tool or digital
voltmeter, but the transitions are hard to see because the numbers jump
around so much. Here's where a PC based scantool such as AutoTap really
shines. You can use the graphing features to watch the transitions of
the O2 sensors voltage. The software will display the sensor's voltage
output as a wavy line that shows both it's amplitude (minimum and
maximum voltage) as well as its frequency (transition rate from rich to
lean).

A good O2 sensor should produce an oscillating waveform at idle that
makes voltage transitions from near minimum (0.1 v) to near maximum
(0.9v). Making the fuel mixture artificially rich by feeding propane
into the intake manifold should cause the sensor to respond almost
immediately (within 100 milliseconds) and go to maximum (0.9v) output.
Creating a lean mixture by opening a vacuum line should cause the
sensor's output to drop to its minimum (0.1v) value. If the sensor
doesn't flip-flop back and forth quickly enough, it may indicate a need
for replacement.

If the O2 sensor circuit opens, shorts or goes out of range, it may set
a fault code and illuminate the Check Engine or Malfunction Indicator
Lamp. If additional diagnosis reveals the sensor is defective,
replacement is required. But many O2 sensors that are badly degraded
continue to work well enough not to set a fault code-but not well
enough to prevent an increase in emissions and fuel consumption. The
absence of a fault code or warning lamp, therefore, does not mean the
O2 sensor is functioning properly.

end excerpt