Hi: The year which I bought the car is this year. In fact, it was
just one week ago. It has been driving great on the highway and
locally! (except for the said shake at idle). The gas mileage seems
good. I went so far 160 miles on a half tank. I will calc. the
mileage after I have to fill up again.

I had a tune up done at a none-honda shop. They were the ones who put
in new MDG (sp?) plugs. They did mention something similar to what
you said: ie it may be the distributor cap, the wires and such. They
also, however, said that it could be that the engine's compression is
not equal (ie four cylinder may have discrepency in the compressions).
They suggested that I could take it to a shop which does measurement
of compressions to get it measured. If the cylinders measure out
equally strong, then the next step is to change the wires and
distributor cap. However, if the compressions do not measure out
equally, then there is no need to go further because the only way to
fix the compression is replacing the engine

The above info was what I got from the shop. If anyone can verify the
info or add new insights, please chime in :-).

By the way, the shop did do a timing (spark/distributor timing) as
part of the tune up, therefore, I think the timing is okay.

Now on to the subject of the timing belt itself: It is interesting
that you say non-honda shops can do it for substantially less than
$600. Now, you did mention that the oil pan was dented. Did that
affect the way the car ran? Did you have to get a new pan or it was
more/less cosmetic? If it is only cosmetic, then it is not a big
deal. This 91 Accord of mine has back end damage (which does not
affect the way the car runs, but did reduce the price). I was
actually looking for a car with some dents so as to get a bargain. It
worked out perfectly that the back end damage (some bumper crack and
the trunk is misshapened--but no leaks in the trunk) does not affect
the performance of the car but did lower the price of the car ;-)

:-)


And to Chris: Wow! Four cars by age 23. That is cool. You must have
started driving at an early age. I see that you are married as well!
Congrat!. I didn't get married until I was twenty-seven :-). I am in
a very happy marriage where my wife has unconditional love for me and
accepts me as I am, which has been very helpful to my self-esteem and
to my healing of my child-hood hurts. I have been married five years
now ;-) Life is grand!


"Caliban" <caliban03nospam@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<ldNsb.11420$6c3.10903@newsread1.news.pas.ear thlink.net>...
> "HondaAccordManEX" <saylo1234@yahoo.com> wrote
> snip
> > I love this 1991 Accord EX. It is the first car with a
> > sun-roof/moon roof that I have ever owned. I love it. I bought the
> > car for $900. It has 123,000 miles. For a Honda Accord, that should
> > be nothing in terms of miles.
>
> Re your car's age:
> Yes, pretty much. I factor in how much the Honda has been driven under Northern
> U.S./Canada driving conditions, where the weather is harsher and the buildup of
> rust etc. may take a greater toll. I say this as a former Northern U.S. driver,
> now living where it's much warmer and sunnier, and observing the rust on my car
> vs. others' cars. As well as what others have said here at the newsgroup on the
> subject.
>
> I'd be curious about what year you bought the 1991 Accord and how many miles it
> had at purchase.
>
> (I am a 1991 Honda Civic owner. I purchased the car new. 148,000 miles. Planning
> to take it over 200,000 miles, at least.)
>
> Re the 'Shake':
> I doubt the timing belt has anything to do with the shake when at a stoplight.
> But I am not the expert on symptoms like this. FWIW: I'd suspect at first blush
> a misfire of some kind. That is, incorrect timing or a cylinder not firing at
> all. You said you had new plugs put in. How about new wires, new distributor cap
> and new distributor rotor? If you're a little ambitious, you can do these
> yourself. Probably make sure at least the wires are OEM (that is, Honda) parts.
> I estimate a shop will charge you $150 or so for parts and labor. I'd want to
> check the timing, too. (But that's unrelated to the timing belt needing
> replacement in my view.) I am doubtful the cause of this 'shake' will require a
> whole new engine
>
> Do you monitor your gas mileage? Does it seem like it's been bad lately?
>
> Re the timing belt:
> As you seem to know, if your timing belt fails while driving, it may very well
> do serious damage to your engine. Do you really want to risk the engine being
> destroyed (or at least needing a repair over $1000) on a car that is capable of
> years (and maybe 100,000 miles or more) more service?
>
> As we seem to agree, 123,000 miles is young for a Honda Accord, assuming, as I
> say above, adverse weather driving hasn't causing it to rust out everywhere. If
> I owned this car, I would definitely put a new timing belt and water pump in.
> While doing so, see if the shop will give an opinion on your car 'shake at
> stoplights' problem.
>
> $600 for the new timing belt and water pump replacement? That a dealer price?
> Seems not unreasonable. But there can be a lot of variation. I have had mine
> replaced for around $250, but this was several years ago and *not* at a dealer.
> Plus, mine's a Civic, not an Accord.
>
> I'll add that some shop that put in a new timing belt dented my oil pan. I now
> understand this is a common problem with non-dealer shops that do Honda timing
> belts. I'm inclined to spring for the dealer doing it next time.
>
> Updates are welcome. :-)
>
> Good luck.
>
> [snip for conciseness]