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(1.8L L4 engine, 120K original miles)
About three months ago, my 1984 Honda Accord was stolen from in front of where I work. Walked out to the parking lot after my shift and it was gone. Filed a police report and everything, looked for the car myself for a while, but nothing. Five days later, police call me and tell me they found my car abandoned in the middle of an intersection a few miles away. Got there and all the doors were open, radio was gone, engine was still warm, ignition was on (but engine off). I never found out if the perp(s) were caught but I talked with the police for a while, filed some paperwork, tried to get the car started but it would only crank, not starting. Half of the engine bay was wet with coolant, found the upper radiator hose had a huge gash in it. Radiator itself was almost empty, reservoir was empty as well. So from this, I assume the thieves were joyriding the car for a while, radiator hose blew, engine began to overheat but they kept driving it until it died (bad sign) then fled the scene. Since I was obviously not present when all of this was happening, I have no idea how the car was running leading up to it dying – if there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust, poor engine running, odd noises, were they redlining it, status of temp gauge, etc. Not a clue.
Anyway, towed it home where the car has been sitting ever since. After cleaning out the inside of the car (trash and food everywhere), I drained the cooling system (what little coolant remained looked normal) and drained the oil. Oil surprisingly looked fine, although noticeably darker than before. Smells burnt. But no metal shavings or signs of coolant contamination. Removed upper timing cover to check the timing belt, it was fine, nice and tight. Removed valve cover, nothing looks out of the ordinary. I verified that the engine was getting spark and fuel. Fuses are all OK. Spark plugs looked like this (1-4 from right to left):
Notice the discoloration on the plug shells and insulators from what I assume was excessive heat. They did not look like that before. Otherwise, the electrodes looked normal (#3 is black since it always ran a bit richer for some reason). They were about a year old.
Anyway, the cranking sound is different than normal – feels and sounds like there is low compression (but not NO compression – I know the difference on this car). Sometimes during cranking, you can feel a slight vibration as if the engine just barely has sufficient compression and tries to start, but not quite. I would think that if the head gasket had blown from overheating, there would be contamination between oil and coolant, but there are no signs of this in my case? About all I can think of doing now is a compression test, which I plan on doing either tomorrow or later this week. I know my engine is probably toast, but what could I be looking at here? Burnt valves or some other valve-related damage? Cracked head? Something else entirely?
I know I’ll most likely have to, but I’d hate to send this car off to the salvage yard without ruling out every possible alternative first (I don’t have the money nor the know-how to swap the engine).
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Hmm. Well if it’s getting fuel and spark I would think it would start, or at least make an attempt. If the engine cranks then it’s not seized so that’s a plus, im not sure what internal engine component they could’ve broke that would allow the engine to crank but not fire any of the cylinders. The result of driving an overheating engine until it dies is usually a seized engine, possibly a broken rod, however if a rod was broken you would probably hear it as you cranked the engine over if it didn’t manage to punch it’s way through the block when it broke.
Assuming the no start and the fact you have have an exploded radiator line and a dead car in the middle of the road are not related ( which is hard for me to do). My first thought would be the ignition switch. How did the thieves steal the car? I assume they didn’t have your keys? If not then they probably just hammered a screwdriver into the ignition and turned it over, probably not all that hard to do on an 84 accord. If so they could’ve damaged the ignition switch, I believe that could cause a no start condition where you still get fuel and spark. I had a ignition switch break on my 94 prelude, it would sound like it was trying to start but never would. I also had issues with my dash lights sometimes not coming on at all, but the car would still crank.
Number two cylinder looks like it’s burning oil. Number four might be a bit lean. But I see nothing of serious concern from how those plugs look.
Head gaskets don’t always mix fuel with oil.
The gasket can blow so that the only symptom is compression loss.Compression test done. Zero in all four cylinders. Had a helper crank while I took off the oil filler cap and watched the cam & rocker arms do their thing as usual. I ran out of time today but I suppose I could remove the valve cover again, crank it, and watch/record all of the valve action (I can upload a video here)?
I should mention that among the many components that coolant appeared to have splashed onto, the starter was one of them. It was drenched in coolant when police and I found the car. Starter seems to be working fine though…
There are several possibilities:
1) The timing belt could have jumped a few teeth.
Determination made by removing timing belt cover and seeing if all the timing marks line up.
Unfortunately, in an interference engine, which I believe yours is, the valves and pistons can clash—bending valves and damaging pistons.
2)The head gasket could have blown out in a few places (or head cracked).
3)Your compression gauge may be faulty and shows zero instead of the actual readings.
4) Extended cranking washed down the cylinder walls but you’d expect fuel drenched plugs.
Use clear flood mode as explained in ETCG link below.See details for all in this link:
https://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-no-start-problems/no-compression
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