JV87

Hi guys,

I'm a brand new Prelude owner. I bought my first car 3 weeks ago (1990 Prelude - 2.1L, 5 speed) but the #2 cylinder has just crapped out on me. My mechanic is saying it's going to cost roughly $1600 to get it fixed, but I was hoping that someone might have another suggestion. I was thinking that I might attempt to fix it myself after the Olympics here in Vancouver as I'll have loads of free time, but I'm really at a loss of what to do.

I paid $2100 for it and it's got 226,300 kms.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

Josh

G_Loc

$1,600 to fix what exactly? What's the car doing?

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petern101

So basically you bought a car that was about to go.

With the age / mileage, were you expecting something more?

I would just swap another motor (of the same kind). Make sure the motor you put in is good and you should be set.

How exactly did cylinder #2 crap out?

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pIERCE

There are a number of things that could be wrong to cause a general "cylinder 2" issue. As G said, we need to know the EXACT issue that occurred. If you can tell us that, we can give you a relative estimate on repairs or whether you can do it yourself.

bouckarooo

for around 1100 canadein you can get a h22 from jdm source.....the pay like 500 or so for install(or do it for free yourself) and you are set to go with a low mileage engine that is in good shape. if you want to get an lsd trand then it is another 1000 or so, but you dont need it if you just want to fix/replace the broken engine.

JV87

Wow, I definitely wasn't expecting this many responses so soon! Happy to know that you guys are looking to help out!

As for the problem, basically the car began stuttering at lower rpms on Monday night, so after getting a spark plug and some wires replaced the next morning, the guys at the shop determined that the cylinder is still not getting any compression. So a whole bunch of things could be out of line still - a blown valve, seal, piston, etc. The guys at the shop outsource this kind of work and said they'd be able to charge $1600 to get the car fixed, but I'm a little hesitant as I'm realistically unable to afford that right now.

I was wondering if this has happened to any of you guys before. And whether or not, you might be able to suggest any alternatives - besides replacing the entire engine (unfortunately, I can't afford that right now).

I'm mechanically inclined, but have never attempted something like this. Could this be done in my backyard?

Thanks for the quick responses. You guys are awesome.

pIERCE

Well, we need to get one thing strait here before you can do any price assessing: What exactly is wrong.

The simply fact that they put a price-tag on something they didn't pinpoint is the first clue on steering away from them. It sounds like they did a compression check, correct?
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Here, in your situation, you have a great tool at your disposal that may actually pinpoint what exactly is causing that cylinder to not produce power. You need to perform a "leakdown test". This artificially puts pressure in the cylinder and can detect whether the loss in compression(if there is any) is coming from a valve, the head gasket, or the compression ring(it cannot detect faulty oil-control rings, but that's not the issue at hand).

They are no harder/expensive than a compression test, and if you could find someone you know with an "at home" leakdown tester, and the proper knowledge on how to use it and understand the symptoms, than you can save some money. If not, have one done at a shop.


After that has been done, you should have a pretty good idea what is causing the compression loss. However, I have to ask.....Are you completely sure that they found a lack/loss of compression, or are you assuming that's what they found? Because if you are not losing compression, than that is not your issue, and that renders a leakdown test pointless.

Good luck.