Questions about Steering, Oil, Door Locks, and Transmission
Greetings, all,
Wow, you all sure have a great place here. Just browsing around for a few minutes I found tons of useful stuff. However, I couldn't find a specific answer to some of my questions (or I don't know how to use the search function well enough), so I was hoping you could help out.
Back in July I purchased a 1997 Honda Prelude (base, 5spd) with 160k miles on it. One owner, completely stock as far as I know, and run pretty hard.
The first thing is that here recently I've been having some interesting times with the steering. When I accelerate, it will pull slightly to the left, and when I let off, it will pull to the right. I've checked around on the forums, but found nothing quite like my issue. I purchased all new tires since I got the car and had it aligned back in August, and I don't think I've knocked it out of alignment. Any ideas?
The next issue is the infamous oil burning which I seem to hear quite a bit about. The car seems to burn a quart every 500 or so miles. As far as I can tell there are no major leaks on the outside of the engine. I also have no interest in trying to rebuild the engine at the moment, but do you have any suggestions about things to check? Oh, the PCV valve always seems to have oil on it. Does that make much of a difference? Oh, and the original owner ran it on 87 octane fuel for the duration of time she owned it.
Since the cold snap shifting into first has been rather sticky, especially in the early morning cold. Downshifting to first while still rolling is nearly impossible, but it seems to be a lot smoother when stopped. Time to change the tranny fluid?
And my final question, since I'm being so nosy. After I get in and start driving down the road, the doors will randomly make noise and most of the time lock. I don't have the wireless entry and as far as I know the electrical system is stock. Again, any thoughts would be appreciated.
1.)About the burning oil mine does this too, i will be looking into this problem to find out exactly what it is on my next oil change! Possibly piston rings.
2.)Running the 87 should not have hurt it as long as she was not beating on it.
3.)The doors locking sounds like maybe something aftermarket? all i know is i don't have it on my lude, it was however on my old neon.
4.)You should not be down shifting to first, just down shift through second then into neutral. Unless you are trying to take off.
Check radius rod bushings for the hard pull when accelerating, as for the oil, why does everyone instantly think rings? It takes quite a bit of abuse to wear out the rings, check your valve stem seals, if they are bad it'll pull oil into the combustion chamber and burn it. Tranny, change the fluid and use Honda MTF, I had 10w-30 and was getting near grinding shifts when the engine was cold in this weather but since I switched, smooth as butter.
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New Formula Red 93 BB2: JDM OBD1 H22a/T2W4 Accord Euro R transmission
The first thing is that here recently I've been having some interesting times with the steering. When I accelerate, it will pull slightly to the left, and when I let off, it will pull to the right. I've checked around on the forums, but found nothing quite like my issue. I purchased all new tires since I got the car and had it aligned back in August, and I don't think I've knocked it out of alignment. Any ideas?
This could be your CV joints going bad. They are a wear item. That would cause funny steering under load. Most Prelude owners I know who keep their cars past 100k miles replace the CV joints at some point. I would check them for any play.
Quote:
The next issue is the infamous oil burning which I seem to hear quite a bit about. The car seems to burn a quart every 500 or so miles. As far as I can tell there are no major leaks on the outside of the engine. I also have no interest in trying to rebuild the engine at the moment, but do you have any suggestions about things to check? Oh, the PCV valve always seems to have oil on it. Does that make much of a difference? Oh, and the original owner ran it on 87 octane fuel for the duration of time she owned it.
1. Oil burning is a *****. Not many solutions. You might try this stuff called "Restore" at an auto parts store. It's a hack which makes the piston rings seal better against the bore.
2. PCV valves need replacing every 30k miles. Just replace it.
3. The previous owner is an idiot. You may try running an engine cleaner to clean up some of the crap that builds up after using 87.
Quote:
Since the cold snap shifting into first has been rather sticky, especially in the early morning cold. Downshifting to first while still rolling is nearly impossible, but it seems to be a lot smoother when stopped. Time to change the tranny fluid?
Tranny fluid should be done every 30k miles. 1st is always difficult no matter what.
Quote:
And my final question, since I'm being so nosy. After I get in and start driving down the road, the doors will randomly make noise and most of the time lock. I don't have the wireless entry and as far as I know the electrical system is stock. Again, any thoughts would be appreciated.
Could be a crappy electrical install. Those cause all kinds of bad things to happen if the wiring is ghetto hacked.
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I am not an active moderator on this site anymore. Please contact Phryxis or liquidxnitez for help with your issues.
I know you didn't ask, but did you verify the previous owner did the timing belt around 100K?
its a very important job for these cars.
Sometimes my door locks like to lock and unlock a few times when I start the car. I have an aftermarket remote lock thing from circuit city so I always assume that's the prob. Maybe your alarm/door lock thing is going bad? assuming you have one.
My 97 locks do the same they try to unlock them selves every once an awhile even when the car is off. I though it because my driver door lock is bad it wont lock even with the key from outside. The key turns but nothing happens. It also has never had any kind of alarm system. I would like to hear if you find a resolution to that problem.
The next issue is the infamous oil burning which I seem to hear quite a bit about. The car seems to burn a quart every 500 or so miles. As far as I can tell there are no major leaks on the outside of the engine. I also have no interest in trying to rebuild the engine at the moment, but do you have any suggestions about things to check? Oh, the PCV valve always seems to have oil on it. Does that make much of a difference? Oh, and the original owner ran it on 87 octane fuel for the duration of time she owned it.
Because the H22 has FRM (fiber reinforced metal) cylinder liners which absorb oil naturally, you will burn some oil (even with low mileage on the block). Also the PVC system is poorer then most other motors, and the engine builds a lot of crankcase pressure (even at idle). Because of this oil vapors are sucked into the intake manifold via the PVC line AND the valve cover vent to the air intake. I have installed oil catch cans on both of these lines (which does not stop the oil loss, but keeps it from getting sucked into the intake manifold and burned). And if I keep my RPMs below 4000 (which is very hard to do when I get VTEC pangs), very little oil loss occurs between oil changes.
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Last edited by TheJGB-2KTypeSH; 01-13-2010 at 08:46 PM.
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