I have to do a major tuneup on a '90 LS, and wondering if there are any items to look out for besides the normal list from the Acura manual or from Haynes. The car has only been driven about a thousand miles in 15 years, and it stood for the last 4-5 (only started up now and then).
The engine runs a bit rich atm, but that is with old vacuum lines, so it does not really mean much either way. Idle is ok. 2-3000 rpm also ok. Distributor cap looks clean, and I can’t tell if it is original or replaced, not really sure what kind of wear signs to look for there. Upper radiator hose looks to be oem, no idea if that was ever replaced.
general tune up as I do it… chek your plugs, wires, cap & rotor contacts, inspect all vacuum lines & hoses, check for oil leaks, Change oil, and lastly if there is valve chatter do a valve job & call it a day.
on your car having sat so long I’d definitely pay close attention to the vacuum lines. If you haven’t changed the cap& rotor, I’d do it, new plugs & check timing… you can advance or retard it by loosening your distributor to try and adjust for it running rich if the vacuum lines are all ok. When/if changing the mechanical timing be sure you jumper the ECU then reset and let car run @ idle for 10-20 minutes to do an idle relearn…
New plugs put in after I ran the engine a few times, and b/f I actually drove it any distance this week. Old ones show signs of car running rich b/f it was parked. Wires are old but contacts are clean as glass under the boots, and test at around 7, 9, 11 and 13K ohms, from shortest (#4) to longest (#1), so I am not replacing those right now. Cap and rotor look clean, but having no experience w. this car, not sure I can tell if worn or not. May have been replaced at 60K miles, but that was 16 years ago… (!)
Vacuum lines are intact but old and dried out, planning to do those soon. I am a bit worried about missing a line, and the evap canister lines, those look like trouble too. The main radiator hoses seem ok, probably replaced at 60K miles, I am hoping to take a close look when I flush the old coolant. I have not looked at the heater hoses yet… so much to do here!
No oil leaks so far, or any other fluids, but any hard line with an old o-ring is a leak waiting to happen at this point (sigh).
[QUOTE=djzachtyler;2277576]… & check timing… you can advance or retard it by loosening your distributor to try and adjust for it running rich if the vacuum lines are all ok. When/if changing the mechanical timing be sure you jumper the ECU then reset and let car run @ idle for 10-20 minutes to do an idle relearn…[/QUOTE]Hoping to do that this weekend after I put in the new timing belt. At least I know how to do that bit… (chuckle).
I know about the connector jumper.
Not sure how you reset the ECU on this car? My daily has OBD2, so you can do a rest from the OBD2 tester. I am guessing the ECU will reset itself if you disconnect the battery, or not?
best way I have found is to pop the negative cable off the car LOL… there is also a fuse for it in the box under the hood, but negative cable left off for a few minutes works every time fuse doesn’t work as well & wouldn’t clear old codes on my car. That goes for any car with a computer pretty much FYI
Look under your hood like thee bottom of the hood… there should be a large label with the vacuum diagram… if you get lost just follow that.
to check cap and rotor, in the cap there are 4 points that correspond with each plugwire… look at the flat surface… if they are white and crusty clean off the crust… if there are deep grooves getting worn in the crusty area it is time to change the cap. make sure the point at the top center is still intact with the spring this is what connects to your ignition coil. Rotor is a brass contact. Most times you can take the flat edge of a flathead screwdriver and clean any carbon buildup/corrosion off it in 1 gentle swipe top get a nice clean brass surface then reuse it. For some odd reason local part stores have caps a plenty… rotors are harder to find unless you pull one from an Accel ODB1 kit and sell the rest of it to a civic owner lol.
Thanks. I replaced the hood with one from a car with AT, but I do have both the Haynes and the Acura manuals, and I think the diagram is in one of those. I have done the vacuum lines on other cars by just cutting them to the length of the old one and replacing them one at a time, so if I find them all, that is what I am going to do.
Cap looked clean, by your definition, but, I will clean it anyway, and thanks very much for the info…
Also found the Cap and rotor kit online for $26, so I may order that anyway.
Had some time at lunch, and found a leak under the crank pulley…
I guess the front seal did not like being woken up after sitting for five years. Arghhh!
(maybe I’ll save that for my next thread)
yea that is the big issues with cars that sit… seals tend to go bad… like everywhere LOL
it sounds like you are on the right track tho man… don’t give up hope… once you get it running good and start adding upgrades to intake and exhaust you will smile a little more each dayy at the progress you made, and start to find what a joy these little 4 bangers are to drive around town.
Believe me I had my moments where I wished I had never bought the car. The more I dug in the more I found I had bought a polished turd… after a little elbow grease and TLC I found it wasn’t so much a turd, but a gem covered in shit hahaha…
At least yours was polished… (chuckle)! I decided to save this car b/c it had low mileage (69K), and the interior was mint. Polished it was… NOT! A few mice lost their home when I knocked some of the dirt off the suspension, LOL.
yea mine is opposite… high mileage engine, higher mileage chassis… interior was nice… had custom upholsered seats… but the lst owner parted all the stuff out and put a stock motor in and trashed the interior.
sad part is that many of the others I have looked at since buying mine are going for more $$$ and in far worse shape. I grew up in Norther Illinois, so when you say 69k that = 150k on a cali car just for all the damn salt they toss on the tri state tollway hahaha…
Yeah, honestly I would have been better off to buy a rust free shell anywhere in the SW, and move the engine and interior into it… especially since I had to buy a few body parts from Oklahoma. I took this on as a kind of personal challenge, mainly to see if I could bring this car back to life, and that part is pretty much done. Now I am getting around to what everyone has to do on any older car.
