Tomorrow I enter the Honda Fraternity!

Tomorrow afternoon I will purchase my first Honda. It's a 1986 Accord DX
sedan. Here's what I know...

* Car has the 12-valve four-cylinder engine with PGM-FI.
* Compression between 160 and 165 on all four cylinders.
* Car does not smoke.
* Car drives well in all five forward gears and reverse. No clutch
problems are apparent. It stops in a nice straight line with no
throbbing or pulsing on the pedal.
* Car has a new battery.
* All the glass is sound.
* Car has power moonroof, power windows and AC. Of the three, only the
left-rear window doesn't work.
* The outside door handle on the driver's door isn't working. The
previous owner attached a cable to the inside handle and used that to
open the door. Since I will just use the car to get to work, until I can
fix the outside handle I intend to lock the door and crawl in from the
passenger side.
* Someone pulled the hood-release lever off the dash. I popped it back
in. One job down.
* There's a fairly decent-sized dent (about shopping cart height) on the
front left quarter panel. I wonder how that got in there?
* The paint looks...well, like the paint on a 17-year-old car that's
spent its entire life in the Carolinas.
* All four tires are bald to the point of being illegal. One of my
buddies is a dirt track racer and has loaned me his transporter for the
afternoon.

Plan of action after the car's home:

Change all the fluids. Honda antifreeze, naturally, after a good
flushing. Synthetic oil in the crankcase and synthetic hypoid oil in the
transmission--I like Castrol's synthetic hypoid and probably will go
with Mobil 1 in the engine. Change the brake fluid to Castrol GT/LMA and
change the power steering fluid if I can figure out how.

Change all the belts and hoses including the timing belt. Install a new
thermostat while I'm there--great time to do it.

Change the tires, else I can't register the car.

Fix the door handle!

Leave the AC the hell alone until March or April. It works well now, so
having a routine system check pulled on it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Work out the shopping cart dent, find the missing pieces of trim (it's
missing a Honda nameplate and a little dinky moulding off the right
side) in a junkyard, put a little rubber rejuvenator on the seals, and
have the car repainted.

Fill the very empty car-stereo hole with something decent.

RIght now I drive a VW Bug. It will be so nice to be warm in the winter.

--jmowreader

 

I would not put in Synthetic oil in the crankcase and synthetic hypoid oil
in the

oil.......... and may leak, but thats me.

Good Luck
Tom

 

Sounds good. Be sure to test that thermostate BEFORE you install it. You
don't want to have to do that job twice if you can help it.

Paul

: Tomorrow afternoon I will purchase my first Honda. It's a 1986 Accord DX
: sedan. Here's what I know...
:
: * Car has the 12-valve four-cylinder engine with PGM-FI.
: * Compression between 160 and 165 on all four cylinders.
: * Car does not smoke.
: * Car drives well in all five forward gears and reverse. No clutch
: problems are apparent. It stops in a nice straight line with no
: throbbing or pulsing on the pedal.
: * Car has a new battery.
: * All the glass is sound.
: * Car has power moonroof, power windows and AC. Of the three, only the
: left-rear window doesn't work.
: * The outside door handle on the driver's door isn't working. The
: previous owner attached a cable to the inside handle and used that to
: open the door. Since I will just use the car to get to work, until I can
: fix the outside handle I intend to lock the door and crawl in from the
: passenger side.
: * Someone pulled the hood-release lever off the dash. I popped it back
: in. One job down.
: * There's a fairly decent-sized dent (about shopping cart height) on the
: front left quarter panel. I wonder how that got in there?
: * The paint looks...well, like the paint on a 17-year-old car that's
: spent its entire life in the Carolinas.
: * All four tires are bald to the point of being illegal. One of my
: buddies is a dirt track racer and has loaned me his transporter for the
: afternoon.
:
: Plan of action after the car's home:
:
: Change all the fluids. Honda antifreeze, naturally, after a good
: flushing. Synthetic oil in the crankcase and synthetic hypoid oil in the
: transmission--I like Castrol's synthetic hypoid and probably will go
: with Mobil 1 in the engine. Change the brake fluid to Castrol GT/LMA and
: change the power steering fluid if I can figure out how.
:
: Change all the belts and hoses including the timing belt. Install a new
: thermostat while I'm there--great time to do it.
:
: Change the tires, else I can't register the car.
:
: Fix the door handle!
:
: Leave the AC the hell alone until March or April. It works well now, so
: having a routine system check pulled on it wouldn't be a bad idea.
:
: Work out the shopping cart dent, find the missing pieces of trim (it's
: missing a Honda nameplate and a little dinky moulding off the right
: side) in a junkyard, put a little rubber rejuvenator on the seals, and
: have the car repainted.
:
: Fill the very empty car-stereo hole with something decent.
:
: RIght now I drive a VW Bug. It will be so nice to be warm in the winter.
:
: --jmowreader

 

Sounds like you have an LXi. The DX accord does not have PGM-FI, sunroof,
or power widows.

 

This all sounds like a good idea.....except the hypoid oin in the
trans. Honda uses standard engine oil in its manual trans so I would
use an extra couple of quarts of the Mobil 1 if you must. Altho it
will work just fine with standard 10/30 motor oil. DO NOT I REPEAT
DO NOT USE 90 OR 80/90 WEIGHT!!!!! Please check the owners manual!

 

Do not use Mobil 1 in a Honda manual trans either. The synchronizers will
not work right if you do (its too slippery). Use the recommended trans
fluid.

 

You received some excellent advice from other intelligent posters. I can
only add that you should buy transmission fluid and any other fluids you
need except for engine oil from the parts desk at any Honda dealership. In
most cases, you won't have to pay much more than you would pay at most
other places.
Welcome to the fraternity of us proud Honda owners. My first Honda was a
50cc Honda Motorbike. I now own a 1999 Honda Accord EX and love it.

 

|Tomorrow afternoon I will purchase my first Honda. It's a 1986 Accord DX
|sedan. Here's what I know...
|
|Plan of action after the car's home:
|
|Change all the fluids. Honda antifreeze, naturally, after a good
|flushing. Synthetic oil in the crankcase and synthetic hypoid oil in the
|transmission--I like Castrol's synthetic hypoid and probably will go
|with Mobil 1 in the engine.

You don't want hypoid oil. There are no hypoid gears in that assembly. Hypoid
gears are a RWD thing, mostly. If you want the best find some Redline MTL,
otherwise use a good motor oil, but not synthetic motor oil.

|Change all the belts and hoses including the timing belt.

Have your ever changed a timing belt?
If not, get some help from someone who has been there. this is not one to make a
mistake on.

Good luck
Rex in Fort Worth

 

You have my respect for your intentions, sounds like you respect a car
even when others would dismiss it as a piece of crap. I am the same
way. I know a good car when I see one, high miles, dirt, a few dents
means nothing to me.

Good luck with your Honda and welcome. The other respondents had
excellent advice.

 

Thanks. Good call. Probably just go to the Honda dealer and get what
they have.

Yeah, in a Geo. Went okay, but took a while.

 

Right you are. It is an LXi.

And is it just me, or is the trunk on this thing big enough to stow a
body in? I do know that Ondura roofing panels (six foot long) fit in
there if you fold down the back seat.