Bought an Accord...have a few issues

[JJR512]

I bought a 1998 Accord Coupe V6 from my ex. She was going to junk it, so I gave her the same price she would've gotten from the junk yard. I knew it had a few issues, but I think it has one more than I previously thought.

The car had been sitting in a business parking lot for about a month. It was sitting there because she was having problems starting it. She got it jumped a few times, and took it to either Autozone or Advance Auto, where they checked it out and said the battery and alternator are both fine, so (in their words) it must be either the starter, or the cable going to the starter. After that, she parked and left it.

While it was sitting there, someone stole the catalytic converter from it. Just cut it out. This isn't the first time that's happened to cars in that parking lot.

I bought it knowing it was missing the cat and that it might need a new starter. I had planned on getting both from a scrapyard.

Today, a friend and I went to see what exactly was going on. He wanted to try tapping on the starter (with a heavy wrench) while I was turning the key. Lo and behold, it did start. But it was running rough.

Now, I had expected it to not run perfectly, since I knew an O2 sensor was missing from the system, with the cat being cut out. At first, it was hunting for idle. Then it was acting like it was missing, but in an oddly regular way. It seemed like it was missing on one isolated ignition, spaced evenly one second apart. I've never seen missing that regular before. It finally settled on idling at 2000 rpm.

Finally, when I put my foot on the brake pedal, it just went straight to the floor. Is there a brake line near the exhaust, that someone cutting out the cat might have cut?

 

[RedRyder]

If the car sat for a month in the elements and was never started, a lot could happen. To narrow it down I would start by getting the old gas out if there was a lot. If there was very little, I’d just add new fuel. Clean the battery terminals and test the battery/alt/starter to see if they are operating correctly.

As for the brakes, is the brake lamp warning light on? Check the fluid in the reservoir, the condition of the brake lines, and the caliper operation (could seize). If all the thieves did was cut off the cat, then that should not have affected anything brake-wise (hardlines and e-cable are not close).

 

[JJR512]

If the car sat for a month in the elements and was never started, a lot could happen. To narrow it down I would start by getting the old gas out if there was a lot. If there was very little, I’d just add new fuel. Clean the battery terminals and test the battery/alt/starter to see if they are operating correctly.

Fortunately, the tank is just about empty, so I'll add new fuel as you mentioned. The battery terminals were cleaned recently, and I've tested the battery. With the car off, using a multi-meter (I have a Fluke 88 V), I saw just over 12v across the battery terminals. This doesn't indicate how much life the battery has left, but it does indicate it's alive enough for right now. Then, after starting the car, there was over 14v across the terminals, which should indicate the alternator is charging it just fine. Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of my conclusions...

As for the brakes, is the brake lamp warning light on? Check the fluid in the reservoir, the condition of the brake lines, and the caliper operation (could seize). If all the thieves did was cut off the cat, then that should not have affected anything brake-wise (hardlines and e-cable are not close).

I suspected that the brake lines would not be near the exhaust, as the heat transfer wouldn't be good for the brake fluid, and I was pretty sure the Honda engineers would know that. Thanks for confirming that. I didn't check the light, or the fluid, so I'll check on those. I guess I would check for a seized caliper by trying to drive it, and see if it feels like a wheel is locked up? Or is there some other easy way to check?

 

[JJR512]

I've just learned one additional detail. Shortly before she started having problems starting it, I recalled my ex mentioning there was something wrong with the brakes. I just checked with her if she'd gotten that fixed or not. She said she did get it fixed, and all it needed was fluid added.

That concerns me. As a closed system, fluid should not need to be added, unless it's disappearing somewhere, which means there's a leak. The month or so that the car was sitting parked may have been enough for a lot of the fluid to leak out.

So...I just went out to check. (The car is actually parked where I work, and she works at the same place as well.) There is fluid in the reservoir, and it appears to be above the MIN mark. This confuses me. I don't know enough about brakes to know how the pedal can sink to the floor if there's fluid in the system.

I've attached a photo of underneath the car, you can see where the exhaust is cut. Because the forward portion is just laying on the ground, I'm not going to be able to drive it around the lot to test the brakes. Well, I guess I could drag the exhaust, but nah. Question: what is the part laying on the ground at the far left in the photo? Is that a resonator or pre-silencer or something else? If I go to a junkyard to find a replacement, where would be the best points to remove it, and can it be easily removed or will I have to get it cut from the donor and welded into mine?

 

[RedRyder]

The brake pedal can go to the floor if there is air in the system. Not sure what that thing is at the far left, from the downpipe there should be the flex pipe, then a section of standard piping, then the cat, then more piping, then the premuffler or resonator, then more piping that goes out to the muffler(s).

 

[JJR512]

Based on the diagrams I've just pulled up on Google, and your description, it really seems to me that that's the cat. It still has the piping going toward the back attached. The section that's missing is the section that'd be under the back seat area. I think what they actually stole was the pre-muffler or resonator. If that's the case, then either someone specifically wanted that for some reason...or these catalytic converter thieves weren't very good!

 

[Brad2274]

lol that's the cat for sure because it has the bolt flanges, can't believe they took the resonator that's awesome though because it's $200 you dont have to spend. although that cut in the piping looks almost crimped, could be causing it to run bad

 

[JJR512]

lol that's the cat for sure because it has the bolt flanges, can't believe they took the resonator that's awesome though because it's $200 you dont have to spend. although that cut in the piping looks almost crimped, could be causing it to run bad

Thanks for the confirmation on that. The cut end of the pipe is pretty crimped, as you noticed. So it looks like the resonator is the only part actually missing. How important is that? If I get an exhaust shop to repair this with just a simple straight pipe, will the car just be a bit louder, or will it sound bad? I can live with louder, but don't want it to sound crappy.

When I started it earlier, I was surprised that it wasn't really loud. Oh, it was louder than normal, but not obnoxiously loud. Maybe part of what was keeping it quiet was the crimped cut not allowing much exhaust out, thus quiet sound.

 

[bairdandrew77]

What kind of thief would steal a resonator and not the cat? At least you don't have to spend as much as you thought to fix the exhaust.
For the brakes, see if there's a leak in the system. If it's good, assuming the brakes were fixed like your ex said, maybe it just needs to be bled. Really easy job, a lot easier with a friend to help. What does the pedal do if you repeatedly press it?
As for the weird missing, I don't know what to say there. Maybe check the spark plugs, test the plug wires and everything on the distributor.

 

[JJR512]

I took a look under the car from the passenger side just now. I noticed that the O2 sensor was unplugged from the cat, but still connected to its cable, and the sensor was just lying on the ground next to the cat. Someone obviously disconnected it, and I've got to assume that a catalytic converter thief would know that the part with the O2 sensor plugged into it is the cat.

Therefore, I'm going to guess that before they could actually cut the cat out, they must have gotten spooked and ran off. The car is parked in a business parking lot, and one of the businesses, the one I work for, is an ambulance company that is staffed 24/7. Still, at night, there are only a few people working there, although they do all go outside from time to time to smoke. Anyway, my guess is they were in the middle of the job, got spooked and left. This is the third time they've hit vehicles on this parking lot, and I think they do a lot of casing, because they only ever hit vehicles that have been parked for a long time. I guess they have a little conscience left, if they're not hitting vehicles that are actively being used. Still despicable, though.

About the brakes, I tried pumping the pedal repeatedly with the car running. There is a tiny bit of resistance in the pedal, but not nearly as much as there should be. With very light pressure on the pedal, I can get it to go down almost all the way, then for the last inch or so of travel it takes more pressure.

After all that pedal pumping, I checked the brake fluid level again. It appeared to be at about the same level as yesterday. I also checked for signs of fluid on the ground, and saw nothing anywhere under the car.

I have not tried driving it, though. I'm not afraid to, because it's a flat lot and I wouldn't go fast, and I know between the transmission in low gear and the parking brake, I'm fairly confident I can avoid hitting anything even if the brakes don't work at all. What I'm more concerned about is the exhaust pipe and O2 sensor that would be dragging on the ground.