Strange ongoing humming tone from 94 Accord

It's assembled in USA, but I'm not sure how much it would make a
difference in a bad horn. What is the condition of your 94, Rudy? What
do you think the next thing will be that requires replacement?

 

Mine was assembled in Japan and it is still running almost like new but
I took it to every scheduled maintenance even after the warranty was
over. I could have bought a new car for the cost Honda dealers charged
for those maintenance trips to them. Several parts have been replaced
since, such as the radiator and master break cylinder but that's to be
expected. The engine and the body are in excellent condition though. No
rusting that I could see, either.
I was just amazed that two guys would ever meet -- even through the
Internet -- who have the same model year car with the same milage,
especially after I thought my milage was probably above average for
that particular model year.

Rudy

 

Yeah, quite amazing indeed. I just got back (1 hour ago) from a 600
mile weekend trip from Boston to Philadelphia, with not a single
problem. The weird horn noise went away by itself - I suspect there may
have been water touching some sort of electrical contact. I did,
however, get sideswiped by a semi-truck, making the drivers side look
absolutely horrendous. Broke off the mirror, as well.

So much for my previously BEAUTIFUL rich turquoise Accord. Fortunately
nobody was hurt, and it still drives marvelously.

 

Bummer. Hope you got his license & c., and will get it repaired on his
bill. (and that the repair isn't more than the book value of your car.
:-(( )

 

Sorry for your misfortune. I guess I've been lucky so far though I
know that what happened to you could happen to anybody being at the
wrong place at the wrong time.
Looks like even our car's color is the same. Mine is called
"malachite green" and its paint code is BG-31P. Is yours the same?

Rudy

 

Good point about book value. I spend probably more on maintenance
in a year than its book value, I'm afraid. But then I hate to make new
car payments, too, and as long as this one keeps running lik a new car,
to me it's worth more than its book value.

Rudy

 

Malachite Green - That would be the one -- I've been trying to find the
name of that color everywhere. It truly does drive like a new car
though, besides the 1800 rpm buzz (haven't bothered to spring for the
buzz kit fix yet) and a hood latch that doesn't want to close fully.
I'm still puzzled by Tegger's response saying it must have been poorly
maintained. Obviously not the case - the mechanicals look/feel great.

Also, do you know of a good all-around resource for Honda Accord
information? I find the Temple of Vtec site to be poorly organized, and
full of off topic posts, or people who want to slap tasteless
modifications to their Hondas. Is there a good Accord-only website that
might also have FAQs and generation-specific categories? The Nissan
Maxima and Mazda Miata both have excellent websites, but I suppose they
are less common than the Accord. Maybe even somewhere I can view scans
of the 94's sales brochure!

My next venture is to find a driver side mirror and try replacing it
myself, so I can pass the Mass. safety inspection.

Pravin

 

Even my rusting hulk of an old Pontiac was worth more to me than its
book value--which was about zero. [That car was a tank--complete with
steel bumpers that proved an excellent defense against being hit from
behind by some puny Honda-type with a plastic bumper! I do miss those
bumpers...]

Unfortunately, the insurance companies (are allowed to) see things
differently. They don't take into account that the car gets one from
point A to point B and runs great. The law ought to be changed to
account for such less-easily defined values.

 

I only know the name because about 10 years ago I bought from Honda the
matching touch-up paint with the same paint code as is indicated on the
car body at the driver side door opening. BG-31P. That touch-up bottle
also named the color as malachite green.

By the way, my car's trim is also not the usual chrome but gold,
including the tail pipe extension. That gold trim looks much better
with that body color than chrome. I also have a spoiler over the trunk
that makes the car look extra slick.

Hm, nothing like that with my car. I have a minor annoyance though with
the power lock that rattles a lot after I lock the car: it keeps trying
to re-lock as if I kept pressing the lock button on my remote even
though it is locked already. I've read somewhere that this is a common
problem and can be fixed by grounding a certain wire behind the door
panel but I would not open the panel just to fix it. Do you experience
the same problem, too?

Well, Tegger seems to know a lot about Hondas. I guess he must be a
machanic or something close to it.

I don't have one but this NG and alt.autos.honda are pretty good
resource, plus Tegger's Web site.

You might find it at a good junk yard cheaply. That's how I found a
replacement radio after the LED went dead on the original one.

Rudy

 

Well, do remember that your power lock mechanisms will burn out much
faster by leaving that unfixed. Then you could have to open ALL the door
panels instead of just the driver's...

 

You might be right though I think it should have done that already in
all this years. In any case, I've found the Web page that describes the
symptom and the fix:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQA/is_11_79/ai_67316330

Rudy

 

Guess Honda makes good shit!

 

Beats making bad shit. ;-)
In any case, I re-read the text on that Web page I pointed out earlier
and then I checked my copy of the official Honda Service Manual of that
model and was surprised to see that there was no BLU/WHT wire there
behind the door panel at all. Then I was also confused by the seemingly
conflicting solution of the problem. First the author suggested that
the solution was the grounding of that BLU/WHT wire:

"I asked him to ground that BLU/WHT wire. The locks stayed in the lock
position and stopped trying to re-lock themselves. The control unit
needed to see that lock switch input wire from the driver's door lock
actuator go to ground and when it didn't see it, the control unit kept
trying to lock the doors. When the lock input wire was grounded, the
control unit was happy and the locks stayed locked."

Then he ends up by another, more expensive solution: "The technician
solved the problem by replacing the door lock actuator."

So what am I missing here?

Rudy

 

Sorry, Rudy, I can't be sure. My own understanding from a quick read of
that post is that a ground on that wire is normally a momentary
situation that tells the actuator that the door is locked, so that it
stops trying to lock the door. Permanently grounding that wire may
therefore prevent the actuator from functioning properly under normal
conditions--it might never try to lock even when unlocked because it
thinks it's already locked due to the ground.

Since I don't have any experience with this issue, I hope someone else
will respond.

 

I want to thank you for this entry. The noise my Infiniti was making
that eminated from the gas tank area appears to be what you offered up
in this thread.
When the noise occured at shut down, I opened the gas cap, heard a lot
of pressure release and the noise stopped.

Thank again for your input. It helped me figure out a noise that was
bugging the crap outta me!

 

That's all right. I'll talk about to my mechanic at my next
scheduled maint. visit. In the meantime I wish I could figure out how to
secure the left roof top rubber trim so the automatic car wash machine
does not tear it down every time I visit there. If anybody has any
ideas, let me know.

Rudy

 

Glad it helped.

Another for the FAQ, Tegger?

 

Thanks for the post guys I have the same problem on my 94 Accord. I
purchased a door lock control modual from my local junk yard. It did seem
to improbe the problem. However didn't fix it. The post with the blu/wht
wire was ok. Still need to focus on the wiring what ever color that is
connected on the drivers side door lock. I have connected and disconnected
the wires. I am going to follow the wires. Tomorrow. I'll look at any wires
in the driver door that are near the key lock. Thanks for the post. I'll
add more to it and will be as spacific as possible. Oh the Dealer wanted
$70 for new, $25 for junk yard modual??? csrbob