89 Honda Accord trouble starting and dies after about 3 miles of driving

Asked by Greenman909 Jan 19, 2015 at 11:45 AM about the 1989 Honda Accord LX

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My girlfriend has a 89 Honda Accord
carburated model.  On new years eve her
sister was driving it home and it over
heated and died.  I met her down the road
and noticed that the water pump went out.  
I towed it down the road to her house and
parked it.  I the  replaced the water pump
and I drove it for a couple of hours and it
drove just fine.  The next day it was having
trouble starting up and when it did start it
would drive for about 3 miles and the die.  
We would have to let it sit for about 30mins
before it was able to start again.  I have
been looking on the net for ideas but there
are so many so I thought I would give this a
try and help would be great

7 Answers

13,285

Ok, when you go about 3 miles and it dies, what is the temp of the engine? Is it red lined or in the overheated range?

And an update for you I messed around with it last night I checked for spark made sure the fuel pump kicked on and all was good it died on me once after about 25 mins of running it at idle. After that it had no issues starting and I was able to do a 15 mile drive with no issues at all so I'm lost at this point

13,285

Ok, I know you won't want to hear this, but I had an 88 with very similar problems and I spoke with 2 Honda Techs that I know & they were just as stumped as I was, so I actually got rid of it. Sorry. They did both think that it may have had something to do with the antiquated "wax pellet" cooling system after we checked & ruled out the thermostat & pump.

Yeah I'm gonna try a few other things I was suggested to do off another Honda fourm. Test the intake seal and some vacuum lines before I give up completely

13,285

Good luck! I have been repairing cars and trucks for 45 years and have never been as frustrated with & not fix any car before this one that I had.

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