First drive - Honda Prelude Forum

miles.lowry · 03-15-2011, 12:28 PM

I recently purchased a '89 2.0 DOHC Si (2 wheel steering), it is all set up for a salvage title. We knew that the head gasket was blown so we trailered it to the house. I got the entire engine resealed, drained and filled the radiator, and a bunch of other minor maintenance issues cleared up. I took it down to get it inspected, FAILED, not by much though; he said that there is probably coolant residue in the exhaust system. I found a long empty stretch of road and took it for a drive to blow out the exhaust. One of the first things that I noticed was that the temp gauge was acting kind of weird, instead of getting hotter it began getting cooler all the way down to pegging out at the bottom, when I stopped and ran at idle for a few min it would raise back up to normal

. I also noticed that it rattles at highway speeds, smooth as silk at 80 and above. When I reached the end of the road (about 30 miles) I stopped at the stop sign, so did the engine (the engine light did come on for a min during the drive but went back out), when I tried to start it back up the starter solenoid was busted and the starter just spun. My BIL had to come tow me back

.

So the questions (you knew they were coming):

1. why did the engine die when I stopped?
2. When we tried to push start it why wouldn't it work (it's a manual)?
3. What's the deal with the temp gauge?

Colfax · 03-15-2011, 01:33 PM

Congrats on the lude. You'll likely learn to both love and hate this car if you do your own work on it.

The first thing you need to do (besides replacing the starter) is read the trouble code(s) to see why the light came on. It may or may not be related to why it's not running now, but it's a good starting point. I can post up a link if you're not sure how to do this.

You should have been able to bump start it if everything is alright on the car. But if that were the case it probably wouldn't have died on you. I would suspect that whatever caused it to die is also why it won't bump start now. Hopefully reading the trouble code will point you in the right direction.

The temp gauge uses a small thermo sensor located in the coolant neck (the one with the single wire). You could have a sensor going bad, a wire going bad, or your cooling system may be low on coolant. Did you bleed it properly when you refilled it? This is very important to do.

Get that starter replaced and read the trouble codes.

miles.lowry · 03-15-2011, 01:56 PM

Thanks for the reply. I will be replacing the starter hopefully this weekend, I haven't had time to read the codes (we are rebuilding my kitchen, bathroom and dining room at the same time) but I will during the starter replacement. We did bleed the coolant pretty well but I will double check (this is my first project car with a coolant system). When trying to push start it (it was actually a tow start) it lurched and stopped. The wiring on the whole thing is kind of suspect and I am going to rewire it one day, but I might just replace the sensor anyway.

miles.lowry · 04-26-2011, 02:23 PM

Well, turns out that one of my problems is that the bendix went bad in the starter, a friend is rebuilding it for me. also, the bracket that holds the thermo sensor wireing off of the exhaust mainfold is missing so the wireing was kinda crispy.

miles.lowry · 06-20-2011, 11:37 AM

I put the rebuilt starter on this weekend (I forgot to read the trouble codes

). When I tried to turn it over the starter turned the flywheel but the engine wouldn't catch, it didn't even sound like there was any resistance on the starter.

Colfax · 06-21-2011, 09:50 AM

Ok, this sounds a little more serious. The first thing you need to do is make sure your timing belt didn't break. Did you use a new timing belt when you replace the head gasket? An easy way to check the belt is to pull the distributor cap off. Then watch the rotor while someone cranks the engine over. If the belt is intact the rotor will spin while trying to start. If the rotor doesn't spin the belt broke. If that happened you will probably be looking at replacing bent valves unless you were extremely lucky.

If the rotor spins, then you'll want to make sure that the belt didn't slip. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. If the belt didn't slip you want to check compression. But first check and see if the timing belt is still working. The fact that you said it sounds like there is no resistance leads me to strongly believe the belt broke on you.

miles.lowry · 06-23-2011, 01:56 PM

Hey, thanks for your response. I am going to check the timing belt through the distributer tonight. A friend is coming over on Sat to check the compression, but I imagine that the timing belt is broken. Are the intake and exhaust valves the same size and shape? Autozone shows that they have the intake valves for $10 but that the exhaust valves are unavailable, the picture looks the same for both.

Colfax · 06-27-2011, 10:25 AM

No, the vavles are not the same size. Sometimes websites use generic pics for items. The valves pictured are probably not even for a 3rd gen engine.

Honda Parts at Honda Parts Now | Genuine OEM Honda Auto Parts shows them in stock. Here is a link for the valves...

Part Detail

miles.lowry · 06-28-2011, 11:51 AM

Loosk like the cam shaft is broken

. It would cost as much as I paid for the car to fix it

. I think I'm going to sell it rathere than parting it out; Any body want a donor car? I'm just going to take the money I get from it and work on my '74 Beetle.

Colfax · 06-29-2011, 12:05 PM

No, don't give up on it. All of your damage is in the cylinder head. The most you need to do is replace the head. You can find them at junkyards. I can get them for $27 from my local yard when they have 3rd gens. The trick is to find one that has been wrecked. That way you know it had a running engine in it.

miles.lowry · 06-30-2011, 08:19 AM

There is more influencing my decision than the mechanical issues, I have been told "it's me or the car" (not in so many words). I would really like to have finished it, and I would hate to see it got to a scrap yard. I have a friend that may be interested in purchasing it, so it may still have some life left to it.

Colfax · 07-01-2011, 12:19 PM

Lol, I hear you on that. My wife was not very understanding when I first starting bringing all these cars and parts home. But she has come around now that she sees how much they mean to me. It's just too bad because you aren't far from having a running 3rd gen if she would just let you work on it a little more. But good luck with whatever you guys decide to do.

miles.lowry · 07-01-2011, 12:31 PM

Yeah, She just knows that the Beetle will take very little and she dosen't know what the Prelude needs (I think she likes the Beetle better anyway). She already complains that we don't spend enough time together.

Colfax · 07-05-2011, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miles.lowry

(I think she likes the Beetle better anyway).

This alone is reason enough to leave her.
Just kidding.

You gotta do what you gotta do man. Cars come and go but good relationships are hard to come by. Good luck. And tell her I said she doesn't know how much better the lude is than an old beetle.