Well, I went and did it. I bought a 97 Accord with a 5 speed yesterday. I love the car, and it's everything I expected it to be. However, it seems that there's practically no clutch pedal. I say that, as it's all about 1 inch off the floor/firewall, then it's all travel (doing nothing). Is there a way to adjust this to get it to engage a little further up the stroke? Or is this a sign that it's time for a clutch replacement? It doesn't slip. It does operate, but I had to move the Accord logo'd floor mat back to get that last 1/2" to get it to work.
I also don't know if it's ever been replaced before, but it does have 234K miles on it. I'm going to look over the entire car today though, as I prefer to know what's been replaced, what hasn't, and what it needs before it causes a problem down the road.
Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

I believe there is an adjustment nut where the cable goes into the trans.

 

This actually has a hydraulic clutch. I got to checking it yesterday, and found the fluid level was low.

Unfortunately I think the fuel pump died, as I can't get the car to start, so I couldn't test it. The PO told me he had this issue as well (fuel pump not running) before he sold it to me, and had lowered the price on the car accordingly (knocked off 200 bucks). My problem, is I haven't found the pump access hole, so I can work on changing it. I did find the gauge sending unit cover plate, and popped it off, and looked inside to find it (no hose fittings, as I thought it was the pump access). I don't have a book for it yet (it's on order), but is the pump unit under the rear seat? And if so, how do I get the seat to release? I've already tested for power, both with the key on, and trying to start, and I have power at the connector plug, so there's power to it.
Any help is appreciated.

 

Ok, I got the seat out, only to find out the pump is not there. This means I'll have to drop the plastic shield and drop the tank to get to it. I'm glad I ordered up a Denso pump and strainer, as I don't think I'm going to want to change it again (versus putting in a cheap AZ pump). I also ordered up a few other bits that I plan on changing, like the plugs, wires, cap and rotor as I don't know when they were done last. I also have a timing belt and water pump kit on order for the same reason. And after my wife's Accord blew out the balance shaft seal, I ordered up a retainer clip kit for that too, as when doing the timing belt is a perfect time to add the clip, since you're already there, and you've got access to installing it.

 

might change the crank and cam seals, also the tensioner i do this on my 02 civic at timing belt changes.

 

I probably should have changed the name of this thread, or started a new one, but at this point I'll just keep adding to this one. Maybe 1 of the moderators can change the title to "was a clutch problem" to something else. I don't know what though, as I'm kind of bouncing around with doing other stuff on a high mileage "new to me car".

The timing belt kit includes a new Koyo (made in Japan) tensioner bearing and a 2nd bearing, Honda springs, and Mitsuboshi belts (a big belt mfgr in Japan), along with an Aisin water pump (also made in Japan). So all of those parts will go in. It's the same kit I installed on my wife's 2000 Accord, and she's already put 10K miles on it. I'll have a look at the crank seal while I have it apart, but I've already got the cam seal here, and the balancer shaft retainer kit includes a new seal.
The new Denso pump and strainer arrived today, so I'll probably work on getting access to to it (gotta drop the plastic cover 1st), and see about changing it. The new plugs came today as well, but I'm still waiting on the wires and distributor cap, so I can do the tune up all at 1 time. I just wish I could buy the "O" ring for the distributor seperately, as they all seem to leak there (my wife's car, this car, my 92 Geo (with a Toyota engine), and even my son's Civic). But no, they want you to buy the whole damn distributor to replace that seal.
But thanks for reminding me about the seals.

 

Well, I decided to try the pump 1 more time before removing all the bolts holding the plastic cover in place, as I finally had it quiet enough to hear things. As it turns out I can hear the pump run (damn it's a quiet pump). But, it still didn't start. That's what I get for listening to the PO.

This is now leading me toward an ignition problem, but what? Coil? Ignitor?, Crank sensor? ECU? I only say that, as it barely coughed when I shot some starting fluid at it. At least now I know why it didn't run on that stuff.

Add to the mystery, Honda used 2 different coils on this model, with matching distributors, caps, and rotors. WTF?? Naturally, I ordered up the wrong parts, as I didn't know there was a difference (was ordering LX parts) until AFTER I ordered the stuff. D'oh (where's the head slap smilie?). So much for standardization of parts. I only say that, as you look thru the parts listings, the LX is kind of by itself on some stuff, and then the DX, EX, and LX share some parts, while the EX-R is all by itself on all parts. I've got an LX here, which apparently uses some parts only, and shares others. Crap. I can see this is going to be expensive.

 

Well, it finally stopped raining and snowing for a couple of days. Yesterday I dropped the tank to change the pump, as it stopped working again. Got it swapped out, and got it back in today. Still no fire up, but it does sound like it's trying (more so than before). I'll tell you, I really don't want to drop the tank again, as it's really a royal PIA job to do.
Got the correct parts to do the tune up, but held off on doing the plugs, as I'm setting tomorrow as "timing belt day". I've heard that if the belt is off 1 tooth, it won't run, and I also want to fix the valve cover oil leak while I'm in there as you gotta have the cover off to do the belts (a 2fer job). Don't know if I'll get it all done tomorrow, but we'll see. Hopefully the weather will hold out for another day or 2 (something that hasn't happened very much this year) so I can see if this thing will fire off, or if it needs an ECU.
On a plus note, I did finally get my factory service manual for it. That helped a little when doing the fuel tank drop job.

 

Well, I was hoping that I'd find a tooth off, but no luck there. It was on the money, but definitely needed changing, as you could see it was well worn (both belts). Definitely overdue. Got everything put back together today, tried starting it again, and it sounded like it almost wanted to start, but didn't. Got an ECU on order, which will arrive sometime next week. Don't know what else to replace if that doesn't fix it. It's starting to **** me off though. I'm sure glad I haven't sold my Toyota Corolla (92 Geo Prizm actually), as I've had this car almost 3 weeks and haven't been able to drive it (had a buddy ask me if I was selling it). So much for it being a new car replacement for the Geo. Probably should have just dumped the cash into that car, as it's a reliable as a rock. It's just hard to get parts for here in the Midwest.
So, Any ideas?? Or am I destined to turn this car into a parts car?

 

Wow, I thought I updated this thread, but I guess not. No, I didn't scrap the car. I found the problem, and corrected it, and it's been good to go since. I case you're wondering what the problem was, it was a lack of 12 volts feeding the injector resistor pack. Without 12 volts there, you don't get any injection action. This of course was after swapping the ECU (no change), and back probing the ECU connections, and reading their voltages or resistances. I also shot satan fluid down the power brake vacuum supply hose, and got it to run on that as long as you kept spraying it. But it was running a new 12 volt decicated wire to the injector resistor pack that finally got it running.
I replaced the tires on it, changed the trans fluid and eventually the clutch hydraulics (to fix the low pedal), and drove it all summer (the AC was working great too). I've since picked up a 99 Accord LX with 5 spd for next to nothing (needed the timing reset and a harmonic balancer/lower pulley, but the PO said it needed a motor), and dumped a few bucks into it. So far it's been a good car too, but we'll see which one I'll keep, as I really don't need 2 Accords for myself, and 1 for the wife.