The dealer sounds shady. Perhaps you have a head gasket problem now. Why
would it EVER take FOUR DAYS to get back to you? These are simple tests.
Severe overheating can warp the head and/or damage the head gasket. My '88
Accord has been overheated twice though, once because the press-fit pulley
mounting fell off an American made water pump I installed and once because
the radiator fan went. These things happened years ago. It has 224,000 mi.
on it and no head gasket problems, ever. I wouldn't expect overheating once
to cause such a problem, unless maybe it was done for a long period of time.
She didn't leave the car running when she pulled over did she? Why did it
overheat at that time anyway? Whatever the case, experience tells me not to
deal with people that takes days to get back to you. Your regular competent
mechanic can find a head gasket problem. Have him test it.

Aron


"WORSS" <wrector@nospam.nycap.rr.com> wrote in message
news:CTZPb.66665$Su5.63333@twister.nyroc.rr.com...
> Okay....need some real Honda experts to work on this one!
>
> During a severe cold spell here in upstate NY (-20) our Honda would not
> start. It would turn over, but just wouldn't catch.
>
> Last Sunday, during a warm spell (yes it broke 32), I was finally able to
> get the car started, but it took me a long, long time. When it finally
> started, the car seemed to run very poorly. Thinking that this was
related
> to trying to start it so many times, I took it for a test drive. It
> continued to run poorly, particularly at idle. After it warmed up, the
> Check Engine light came on.
>
> I took the car home and jumped the blue connector to get the engine
> code......code 43. This is an oxygen sensor problem and the manual says
> that it is the oxygen sensor if the car runs well and a fuel delivery
> problem if the car runs poorly. Therefore, seems to be a fuel delivery
> issue.
>
> At this point, I drive the car 3 miles to the nearest Honda dealership and
> call them. After 4 days, I get a call that I have big problems. They
tell
> me that two cylinders show poor compression and that they found "gasoline
> fumes" (I think this is what the said) in my antifreeze. They want over
> $600 to replace the head gasket plus more money for anything they find
wrong
> when they get in there (warped head, cracked head, etc.).
>
> So, I call my normal Honda mechanic (I did not take the car there because
he
> is farther away and I was not too keen on driving the car). He tells me
> that in his opinion it is more likely a fuel problem. His hypothosis is
> that I have a bad distributor cap that is causing a spark problem and
> therefore there is excess fuel in the two cylinders that tested poorly.
He
> says they would show low compression if flooded with fuel. He also went
on
> to tell me that the people at the dealership are very young and
> inexperienced. I can support this because when I called the dealership
> about the engine code 43 the person told me that he was not familiar with
> the check engine lights!
>
> One other symptom I failed to mention is that the car pings during
> acceleration. What do you think? Does this sound like a head gasket
issue.
> I will tell you that my daughter reported that the car overheated during
the
> holidays. However, she is very observant and pulled over and turned the
car
> off until it cooled down.
>
> Any other theories?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill
>
>