Honda Car Forum

Where to begin? I have a 92 accord LX. Recently it was overheating
because of a cracked radiator. I replaced the radiator, but afterwards
it was losing coolant and burning lots of white smoke. I figured it was
leaking into the engine (blown head gasket maybe) I didn't want to go
through the trouble of taking everything appart and the mechanics
charge an arm and a leg to do this, so I put in this product (Bar's
leak) that's supposed to "seal" blown head gaskets. After I put it in
the engine just locked up when I tried to start it. I thought I
completely messed it up and let it sit for a day os ro. After a day It
started, and it looks like it actually sealed it some, because now I'm
not losing much coolant and it is not smoking much (it is still doing
it a little though). Problem is that wen I drove the car seems to lose
power after I stop and try to start up again (i.e. if I stop at a
traffic light, starting back up it has no power and it takes is a while
to get up to 35 + miles per hour). It is also very rough at iddle
speed.

Yesterday I drove it to get some pizza and when I came out and tried to
start it, it would not. It would turn (chugga, chugga, chugga...), but
wouldn't start. Then it just did click, click, click...and it started
to smoke from the connection to the starter (the solenoid I believe).
The large gauge wire that connect from the battery to the starter (or
solenoid not sure) was burning down. Now it won't even click. So I
figured I probably have a blown starter or solenoid. Tried to remove
it...but the darn bolt won't come off no matter how much I tried...and
this was just the one that's accessible from the front of the car. I
didn't even try to remove the bolt that's on the backside of the
starter (Why must honda make everything so difficult is beyond me???)

I removed the distributor to try to get more leverage on this starter
bolt and still nothing.

I have no idea what to do next. How do I remove the damm starter? What
to do about the lack of power? Should I ven attempt to change the head
gasket?

This is an old car with 245,000 miles on it and it has been very
reliable until now. I don't want to spend a ton of money on it, but I
also don't want to "sell" it for a couple of hundred bucks to some
junkyard. Some ideas would be greatly appreciated.

TOP POST

The lack of power could have been water still going into the
cylinder(s) negating the gas combustion power. Depending how long the
engine has overheated, the bearings could be stiff explaining the
strain on the starter and lack of power.
Have you tried a socket with a breaker bar in getting the starter off?

If you decide to part with the car, generally speaking, the best
leverage would be to use it as a trade-in, in case you decide to
purchase a newer car from a.... ahem.... dealer.


Duarte wrote:
> Where to begin? I have a 92 accord LX. Recently it was overheating
> because of a cracked radiator. I replaced the radiator, but afterwards
> it was losing coolant and burning lots of white smoke. I figured it was
> leaking into the engine (blown head gasket maybe) I didn't want to go
> through the trouble of taking everything appart and the mechanics
> charge an arm and a leg to do this, so I put in this product (Bar's
> leak) that's supposed to "seal" blown head gaskets. After I put it in
> the engine just locked up when I tried to start it. I thought I
> completely messed it up and let it sit for a day os ro. After a day It
> started, and it looks like it actually sealed it some, because now I'm
> not losing much coolant and it is not smoking much (it is still doing
> it a little though). Problem is that wen I drove the car seems to lose
> power after I stop and try to start up again (i.e. if I stop at a
> traffic light, starting back up it has no power and it takes is a while
> to get up to 35 + miles per hour). It is also very rough at iddle
> speed.
>
> Yesterday I drove it to get some pizza and when I came out and tried to
> start it, it would not. It would turn (chugga, chugga, chugga...), but
> wouldn't start. Then it just did click, click, click...and it started
> to smoke from the connection to the starter (the solenoid I believe).
> The large gauge wire that connect from the battery to the starter (or
> solenoid not sure) was burning down. Now it won't even click. So I
> figured I probably have a blown starter or solenoid. Tried to remove
> it...but the darn bolt won't come off no matter how much I tried...and
> this was just the one that's accessible from the front of the car. I
> didn't even try to remove the bolt that's on the backside of the
> starter (Why must honda make everything so difficult is beyond me???)
>
> I removed the distributor to try to get more leverage on this starter
> bolt and still nothing.
>
> I have no idea what to do next. How do I remove the damm starter? What
> to do about the lack of power? Should I ven attempt to change the head
> gasket?
>
> This is an old car with 245,000 miles on it and it has been very
> reliable until now. I don't want to spend a ton of money on it, but I
> also don't want to "sell" it for a couple of hundred bucks to some
> junkyard. Some ideas would be greatly appreciated.

"Duarte" <suarezn518@yahoo.com> wrote

> Where to begin? I have a 92 accord LX. Recently it was overheating
> because of a cracked radiator. I replaced the radiator, but afterwards
> it was losing coolant and burning lots of white smoke. I figured it was
> leaking into the engine (blown head gasket maybe) I didn't want to go
> through the trouble of taking everything appart and the mechanics
> charge an arm and a leg to do this, so I put in this product (Bar's
> leak) that's supposed to "seal" blown head gaskets. After I put it in
> the engine just locked up when I tried to start it. I thought I
> completely messed it up and let it sit for a day os ro. After a day It
> started, and it looks like it actually sealed it some, because now I'm
> not losing much coolant and it is not smoking much (it is still doing
> it a little though). Problem is that wen I drove the car seems to lose
> power after I stop and try to start up again (i.e. if I stop at a
> traffic light, starting back up it has no power and it takes is a while
> to get up to 35 + miles per hour). It is also very rough at iddle speed.

You'd probably seized the pistons from the Bar's Leak for good. A
good reason to avoid these products since the product is now all over the
system. The product probably slowed down your car as well.

> I removed the distributor to try to get more leverage on this starter
> bolt and still nothing.

The key is to remove the harder inside bolt first. Removing the easy one
makes the other one tighter.

> I have no idea what to do next. How do I remove the damm starter? What
> to do about the lack of power?

You need an extension with a sizeable tool for the job and a cheater
bar. A fence post will do.

>Should I ven attempt to change the head gasket?

I 'donno, it could be a useless attempt.

> This is an old car with 245,000 miles on it and it has been very
> reliable until now. I don't want to spend a ton of money on it, but I
> also don't want to "sell" it for a couple of hundred bucks to some
> junkyard. Some ideas would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Yesterday I drove it to get some pizza and when I came out and tried to
> start it, it would not. It would turn (chugga, chugga, chugga...), but
> wouldn't start. Then it just did click, click, click...and it started
> to smoke from the connection to the starter (the solenoid I believe).
> The large gauge wire that connect from the battery to the starter (or
> solenoid not sure) was burning down. Now it won't even click. So I
> figured I probably have a blown starter or solenoid. Tried to remove
> it...but the darn bolt won't come off no matter how much I tried...and
> this was just the one that's accessible from the front of the car. I
> didn't even try to remove the bolt that's on the backside of the
> starter (Why must honda make everything so difficult is beyond me???)

I feel for you. I was a Honda fan up until the Engineers went south after the
founder of Honda died in 1992. I don't respect their engineering ever since.