In April '09 I bought my first car off of Craigslist, a 1987 Honda Accord LX. I was told that all that was wrong with it was the carberatour. So, I went to the local Pull-A-Part and bout a new one and installed it. She ran for about four days with these: Smoke from engine, smoke from tailpipe, and high idle RPM. After the 4th day, she would stall whenever I wouldn't have the gas pedal pressed. So at redlights, speedbumps, stop signs, and etc, she would cut off. I was then informed that I had an oil leak from my Valve Cover and Oil Pan Plug. With futher inspection I figured out more. :jawdrop: :headbash:

Problems of Concern:
1) If I start my car without pressing the gas, she comes on and turn immediatley off. Why?

2) If I start my car with my foot pressing the gas, she'll eventually turn off. Why?

3) My disrtibutor is leaking but there is no oil resedue on the rotor inside of the distributor cap. Would a bad distributor cause my car to cut off or is it related to something else?

4) There is a knocking in my valve cover, what is that?

I just honestly want knowledge, answers, and guidence! It's my first car and I don't wanna give up on it. I've always wanted a bad ass Honda anyway. If you guys need pictures or anything let me know! I NEED HELP ASAP! Thanks in advance.

Sweetie, you got swindled!

Does it stall out more when warm or cold (engine temp)?


Yes, a bad distributor will cause a car to stall & it will cause a no start.
So will a clogged exhaust, EGR, & any of several sensors.

You've got more than one issue with the poor thing.

The knock you hear under a valve cover would likely be the valves. You shouldn't be hearing those. Hopefully they are just out of adjustment. Another possibility is a broken one.

Is the smoke coming out the tailpipe light or dark? If it's light, you want to have someone crank the engine while you watch the overflow bucket for the radiator. If you see bubbling. You also have a bad head gasket. To double check, pull out the spark plugs with the engine off. Are they wet with anything?

Even oil leaking on the wrong parts will cause stalling. If oil is allowed on the plugs via the "o" seals they'll get fouled up.

If you plan to tackle this yourself, you need to get a good manual. NOT Chiltons. One that's actually for THAT year & model of Honda. You should be able to order one through HONDA.COM at the owner link.

For future reference, never buy a car that doesn't run right & they say "it's only the...." If it were "only" whatever, they'd had it fixed before putting it up for sale!

I would take it to a mechanic you trust. Take a deep breath relax an expect the worst but hope its a simple fix like fuel cleaner or new plugs which is a normal cheaper situation.

I owned a carbed 87 Accord for many years which were trouble free, but the carb eventually started giving problems due to dirt plugging up the very small idle passages and other things like leaking vacuum hoses which are too many to count. Getting a good used carb from a salvage yard is very unlikely as that is the most common failure item on those cars. I don't think you can buy a new or rebuilt carb anymore and even finding a rebuild kit or a mechanic who works on these carbs is probably going to be difficult.

You may want to start at the gas filler pipe to see if it has rusted thru behind the rear wheel letting water and dirt get into your tank (very common problem). If that is ok then clean any water or trash out of your gas tank. You can inspect the tank thru the fuel pump opening in the trunk. Once the tank is clean, replace both fuel filters. One by the rear wheel and the other under the hood by the brake booster. Once you have all that cleaned up then you can start working on the carb.

The oil leak on the distributor is an easy fix. Pull the distributor and replace the o-ring, but you obviously have bigger problems to worry about.

If you havn't already found it, the 3geez.com site has lots of help for these Accords.

Good Luck

I thank you guys for all your responses! I perfectly understand that I got swindled but, I'm ok with that. I want to make it work for me. I know it will be a frustrating process but I'm willing to take that challange. My brother has well knowledge about cars and he's definatley helping me but he's not expert so tht's why I'm trying to reach out to you guys as aids also. My brother also has a friend that is a mechanic. He came out to my car and did some looking for himself. After jacking up the front and going under the car, he told me that I had a rear main seal leak. I can't fix that myself because it order to reach it, I have to remove my transaxle (coming from Hanyes Manual) unless you guys would know otherwise?

The smoke coming from the car is a blue-ish color. Just recently my Coolant reserve top popped off and my coolant bubbled over! I was scared as hell, only because I had no idea what happened! After it stopped I looked around my engine and noticed that I had coolant running out the meeting of my cylinder head and engine block. So, yes, I do have a bad head gasket. I would like to try to fix it myself to save money but, it looks like I'ma just have to pay for it.

I changed the O-Ring on my distributor already and she still seems to be leaking. After more inspection, I noticed that the black cap behind my rotor was movable. It must have broke somehow. Unless you guys would know of how to fix this piece, I'll just buy a new one.

As far as my valves go, how would I adjust those? I know when I touch the top of of the valve cover it seems like the knocking. coming directly from the right side.

How would I un-clog my exhaust? Check my EGR? Check my gas filler pipe?

Thanks in advance.

Also you guys (and girls just in case), how do you post pics?

Esquire3G:

In perfect agreement with what Princess and others stated:

You got BLOWN, when you bought the car. Do your homework next time. Have the car fully checked by a mechanic you know and trust.

What you bought is a vast collection of complicated problems. If you plan on keeping the car, you need to take it to a Honda-savvy mechanic who can sort them out, one at a time. The carbureted cars are a real PITA, respective to parts availability and those who actually KNOW how to work on them. (Most trade schools no longer teach anything about carbureted fuel systems!)

Find an older guy (like me? LOL!) like Princess's Hubby...who can sort through the issues, one by one. And unless you are prepared to spend a TON, I'd suggest you dump it and get a Honda with MPFI...as in, Multi-Point Fuel Injection! :yes:

Next time I see a carburetor, it will be at the Smithsonian Institute...or some other museum! :lmao:

I used to own an 87 accord carb long time ago and it was ok but I still did not like that year model particularly it was really under powered, brakes sucked, a/c sometimes had issues after a long distance drive in hot weather as well as idling issues. I personally think that Honda really improved their Accords by 1990 and on up.