In reply to John Welsh :
Hmm, good thought on a replacement fob. The install look like some time and care was spent on it.
It also has aftermarket seat heaters installed, no evidence of the install yet but they work. So overall I'm not terribly concerned about it all.
New head? Should have a black valve cover.
The battery is not tied down but came with most of the tie down parts in the trunk. Battery is dated 12/23 so that's good.
It had a squealing belt on startup, worse with the AC on.
All the alternator screws were loose and there was a witness mark where the tensioner used to be. So I put it back there and tightened it, should be fixed.
After opening the heater valve manually, I have some warm air. Switches to cold with the temp knob so I know the blend door is working.
It will get a new thermostat when I change the heater valve.
Both radiator hoses are about the same temp but the small tube that goes from the thermostat housing to the throttle body feels hotter. Maybe because it's metal instead of rubber but it tells me that one side of the thermostat ma be hotter than the other.
It warms up quick and the gauge is steady in the middle but the gauge sender is on the cold side of the thermostat.
We had a 2001 EX 5 speed MT of that same body style - man, I loved that car. It was good to us for all of the 225k miles that we had it. Sold it in 2009 to get a new EX, also with a 5 speed MT. Also a great car for us, but always felt a bit more ponderous than the 2001 did.
I'll vouch for the earlier post about replacing the thermostat if heat output is low. Will also chime in to spend the extra few $'s on a OEM Honda one based on past experiences trying to use a lower cost but recognizable name aftermarket T-state on our current Civic. That experience didn't go supremely well until I eventually bought the OEM part.
Heater as still not working.
Replaced the thermostat
Flushed the heater core, it was plugged.
Replaced the heater valve, old one had a loose arm and non functional.
Next I plan to verify heater door function, vents go from cold to warm so it is at least partially working. I have verified that the actuator moves, maybe not all the way. Possible broken door or faulty actuator.
No pics, I'll look into that.
After driving this for a couple weeks my boy tells me he thinks it needs an oil change. Why would he say that?
Well the check engine light came on followed my the oil can symbol. Sure enough it was out of oil.
I poured sea foam down the plug holes, added some mystery oil to the sump and replaced the stuck PCV valve.
Stuck oil rings, it did sit for a while, PCV issue causing it to eat that much oil or a much worse scenario. The number 2 plug had some deposits on it, and a paint pen marking on the valve cover that read 113.5 X. Compression reading?
This car came with a new head on it, PO replaced the radiator due to overheating. The thermostat and heater core had some white gunk in them. Lets see, maybe it overheated, blew a head gasket, had sealer added, that failed, received a new head. Now it still overheats so they dump it. PO buys it adds a new radiator, finds out that the brake lines are rusty and dumps it.
This is where I come in....
Maybe this needs to get moved into the project car section, this was not supposed to be a project.
No pics yet, still have to figure this out.
Cabin filters were full of leaves. Also noticed while pulling the actuator that it simultaneously operates the heater valve and diverter door. It may just be a cable adjustment. Diverter door appears to work correctly.
The valve should open and close with the blend door, by recollection.
If it had been overheated, the rings have probably lost tension and it may forever burn oil. This us an opportunity for education, IE "check the oil more often and the car will take care of you".
At a loss here. All mechanical parts work, new and old thermostat open at 180 and are mostly closed at 175. I double checked the heater core for flow, full garden hose flow both ways with my submersible pump.
Temp gauge comes up in a reason amount of time. I did open the bleeder twice with good flow and no bubbles.
Water pump?!!!
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Yes, the passenger side actuator opens the valve and blend door at the same time. I removed it in full open and full closed to verify both door and valve are all the way open or closed.
Next I'll run my pump through the heater lines on the motor side to verify flow.
Radiator cap on, thermostat installed then flush both ways and see what happens. Could be a blockage in that circuit.
Next step complete.
Flushed the heater circuit engine side with a garden hose hooked up the the heater core hoses. Then disconnected the hose and put my heater hose extensions in a large bucket of water. Running the car initially showed very little flow, I gave it some rpm and flow improved after some bubbles came out. At this point idle produced good flow also. I took one hose out of the bucket briefly and flow went back to a dribble and did not recover.
Water pump works well even at idle as long as there is no air in the system.
While all the components were out for a flush I gave the core a reverse flush with garden hose pressure, likely more than my small pump gave it. More small chunks came out.
So I have good flow everywhere and a verified thermostat.
I will now run it until fully hot with the front end raised, rev the piss out of it, open the bleeder repeatedly, clearly this is an air bubble in the system.
If you don't have one, get a coolant fill funnel. It screws on to where the radiator cap would go. This has the twofold benefits of raising the highest point in the cooling system, and after air bubbles come out the system will refill. It's also quite satisfying to see the cursed air bubbles come up through the funnel. HA TAKE THAT, AIR. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE.
Some cars are just a pain for air pockets. I had a 3.6l Wrangler that had an air pocket in the heater core despite me using an airlift to fill the cooling system (there shouldn't be any air in there if you pull it down to a hard vacuum before introducing coolant), and having pinched off the hoses to the oil cooler before I changed it. The vehicle had good heat but the concern was a sloshing sound in the dashboard when you revved the engine a certain way.
It's been a hot minute since I even ever saw an F22/F23 Accord so I don't know its coolant routing off the top of my head, but on that 3.6 the heater core return went to the coolant inlet at the bottom of the engine. Any air that left the heater core would go right back into the engine for another chance at entering the heater core. What I ended up doing, besides a lot of cursing, involved raising the front of the vehicle as high as I dared, revving it at about 3000 until the thermostat opened, the let it idle so the air could maybe go to the top of the engine and out instead of getting forced through the heater core. Then revved at 3000 again for a while, repeating this cycle for what felt like forever.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
I have a funnel that fits perfectly in the radiator so I can watch the bubbles. Once warm, I had to take it for a drive, and revving it some bubbles came out but also occasionally a cloud of what I assume is leftover head gasket sealer.
So I have determined that all components in the heater system are working properly. Heat is better now but not as hot as I feel it should be and takes a bit of time and driving to get the weak temp out of the vents. This round of flushing with the hose did produce more crud out of the heater core, so next step is rinse and repeat with the radiator flush in the heater core. I'm going to flush the heater core for an hour or so then filter the flush bucket liquid and put it in the radiator and flush the whole system. Once the whole system is flushed I'll blast the heater core with the hose again.
I'm getting good flow through the core but that doesn't mean all the holes and passages are clear so I'll keep going, it is getting better each time. If the car was build around the heater core I would just replace it.
Today's reverse heater core flush produced a bit more scale in the bucket.
Followed this with an Ironite Thoroflush treatment. Followed this with another reverse core flush. This time more big chunks came out. Yay me I'm on the right track.
The result! Goes down to about 120 at idle, one more flush and I think it will be as good as it can get.
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