Well I do believe I have pulled my Accord over for the very last time. Let me recap all the bullshit I've been through with it.

- 130,000 miles - Bought car for $5500 with no immediate problems other than the ABS light coming on 30 seconds after driving (still havn't figured this one out at almost 180k and the brakes work fine).

- 145,000 miles - Noticed slugishness occasionally when driving. Didn't happen enough to concern me and was too random to pinpoint the problem anyway

- 150,000 miles - Began hearing a very faint ticking sound when accelerating out of the first couple of gears (automatic transmission). At some point the ticking became noticeable at idle, too. Switched to synthetic oil.

- 160,000 miles - Ticking has progressively gotten louder, still not at all noticeable unless you're really concentrating on it. During an oil change my mechanic put non-synthetic oil back in. This is when my car really started acting up.

- 170,000 miles - Sluggishness more annoying now in 4th gear (still not sure if this is related to the ticking). The ticking is even louder at idle. Everyone tells me this is normal for a Honda engine, but it still worried me. Did a valve adjustment and it didn't help. also began noticing fuel injector/throttle body tapping and whistling at this point.

- 175,000 miles - Everything is worse - Now I hear the ticking when idling and accelerating PLUS a grinding/knocking/stretching noise at the end of every gear. I do another valve adjustment to be sure. Switched back to synthetic and higher octane fuel.


At this point the car RAN a lot better... mostly just because I was running synthetic again. The noises were all still there but the ticking quieted down a lot for about 200 miles. Then it came back after driving the car around for a good bit in our first 80+ degree weather of the year.

I put in some oil treatment (thick stuff that worked very well for me when I first noticed the ticking at 150k-160k.)

later that day, when i got the car home i popped the hood and realized this ticking/knocking noise is coming from the bottom of the engine. now it's louder than ever and sounds terrible, especially under ANY acceleration but also during idle. the last time i checked the car was still very much driveable, though...

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anyhow, i'm under the assumption i have spun a bearing.

whether it's a rod bearing or a main bearing i do not know but from what i've read they both suck.

i have very limited money, no transportation and a limited amount of tools.

my question is - what the hell am i going to do?

should I bother trying to work on this F22B1, with almost 180,000 miles, a possibly spun bearing, noisy throttle body/fuel injectors, and belts whirrrrring ready to be changed @ 180k?

if not, my only other options are to part out every single piece of this car and try to make as much money back as possible for some sort of transportation... or swap in another used f22b1.

i'm leaning towards the swap. i've really enjoyed the power, speed, and reliability this engine has given me these 50k miles (engine has yet to stall or not start up on me)

but how hard can it be to swap one identical engine with another?


thanks for reading and please guys... give me your opinions... i'm beginning to believe i'm shit out of luck.

 

If you can find one with low miles a swap is fairly easy.
Is your ck engine light on?
It sounds like you have a tranny problem too.
Have you talked too a good mechanic?

Don't use oil treatments or higher octane fuel. They are both a waste of money.
Search this site to see why.

 

Well if you like the car aside from it's current engine/tranny, I would get a swap. Maybe an H22. You'll have to spend a few thousand, but it'll give your car another 200K miles of use as long as you get a good swap.

 

notoriousB has done a swap on his 6th gen accord 3 times this year.(boost related issues) he was able to get an engine for 300-500 range, and he swears by the helms manual. it took him the whole weekend to do the swap himself. He said he couldn't do it without airtools, and an engine hoist is a must.

 

My car has only thrown a CEL once the entire time I've had it when I ran it real hard on the highway once. That was many, many miles ago.

Yeah, I've suspected tranny problems for a while now (auto's suck -- if the swap is easy enough I might just do a auto-manual swap while i'm at it!)

I have TALKED to a few "mechanics" but havn't had any check out my engine. Most of them want to charge $$$ and like I said I'm running short on it. everything i've learned has come from hundreds of hours of searching this forum and many others.

Yes, but if I had a few thousand I would just get a new car. Looks like I'm stuck with the SOHC VTEC for now. But it's ok, I love it.

Thx for the info. That will be my first step -- finding the tools. Looks like my best bet would be to rent them from someone (engine cranes go for $300+). Any ideas who I should ask first, and how much I should expect them to charge me?

 

well my buddy rented the engine hoist for the first swap and paid something like $75. he ended up buying one for the second swap on ebay. if you can, have a buddy help you out because there are times that you will need an extra hand. also its best to get the engine out by lifting the car and pulling out then engine, then taking the engine out from the top.

 

well an extra hand will always be available during the swap. i've been looking through my manual at the engine installation/removal section and it doesnt look too complicated. this is my first vehicle ever (i'm only 19 years old) and before it i had very little mechanical experience. i learned on my own how to change my oil, fix flats, installed my exhaust & intake and eventually got the balls to open her up and tackle a valve clearance adjustment.

now as I sit here comparing the Engine Installation/Removal section with the Crank/rod replacement section, swapping her out doesn't seem too bad at all. i've become more and more interested in mechanics and how engines work rather than the cars themselves. this seems to me a great way to get a clear understanding of what goes on in there. after all i've always got you guys to turn to if i get stumped somewhere.

think i can handle it?

 

from what I was told, the swap is not that tough its just labor intensive. you might have trouble with the axle nuts and some other nuts and bolts, but with air tools it should go buy pretty quickly. good luck with the swap, post up some pics if you end up doing it.

 

the ABS light thing was from a faulty abs contoller in 94 and 95 accords. it was a partial recall, meaning the dealer covered half the charges but it still worked out to being around $600, so my parents decided not to get it done. the car still brakes fine but the abs no longer functions.

the swap should not be dificult if you are putting in the same engine. it's when you change it and the wiring harness and engine mounts don't match up when things become difficult. but now they sell mount and harness adapters.

where are you located?

 

i would go with the engine swap too...it sounds like the wrist pins are getting loose...don't drive it!!! and if you cant afford and engine hoist, you "can" go through the bottom (you've got to take out the axles anyway), the front end is surprisingly light with a few friends! *note* F22A4's are a dime a dozen