Flywheel? Starter Issue? 1984 - 1987 Accord? Nope!

Hey there Honda Owners,

My name's Dan and I'm an avid honda fanatic. I've owned around 3 honda
accords in total.
I've always stuck with the 1978 - 1983 honda accords (CVCC) , however,
when moving back to British Columbia Canada,
I bought myself a 1985 honda accord (1984 - 1987 are the same
mechanicly with minor body changes, fuel injection etc..).

I _did_ start it a few times while it was running once or twice
because it was running so quietly after
a new muffler job and I was in a parking lot not paying attention.

Anyway, Much to my surprise I phoned a mechanic friend of ours who
always does the big jobs I
don't feel like doing myself on the car. He told me it was the
flywheel or the flywheel ring gear and
that If i could get one he'd surely replace it for me when he had
time.

SYMPTOMS:

The sounds I was getting were sort of a scraping noise and a buz
depending and then eventually it would
start, and one day it just got to the point where it wouldn't start at
all. And in fact, if you leaned on the car
It would sound like a cows bell dinging (the plate the starter motor
spins on had broken off inside).

So, I phoned around everywhere and no one had heard of a flywheel or a
ring gear for a 1985 accord LX.
I phoned honda and they told me they did have one, however it was
$1300.00

CONCLUSION:

There _IS_ no flywheel ring gear or flywheel for a 1984 - 1987 Honda
Accord. They have a
Torque Converter that has a "ring gear" welded to it. The Torque
converter on the transmission
has teeth for the starter to run on built on to it. The torque
converter
the part that had fallen off the side of the transmission is not
replaceable either. Because
It's welded on there, Wreckers won't even sell you the entire torque
converter because they
want to sell it WITH the transmission.

ANSWER!:

I had my mechanic buddy remove the starter and look at it. Indeed the
part had fallen away from the tranny.
He noticed that the plate with the teeth on it was held by "Tach"
welds or "Spot" welds around the plate.
There were 4 weld spots around the ring. He called a friend from the
autobody bay behind "Eds Automotive"
in Aldergrove B.C. and had him use his 220 Wirefeed Welder to put 4
new tach welds onto the plate.
** Note. The mechanic did say you had to use 220 because you can't
weld for too many seconds. Last thing
you want is an oil fire. 220 is the only weld that would work for
this.

With this solution there was no need for a $1300.00 part or 4/8 HRs +
of the mechanics time to
remove the transmission to replace the Torque converter (welds can be
done inside the starter hole
easily by cranking the engine with the pulleys for each spot). The
mechanic told me I owed him a
case of beer!!! I gladly paid the $25.00 case of beer VS paying $1300
+ Shop Rate totalling a near $2000.00 repair.
(and this is a very honest mechanic BTW, friends with my family for
_years_)

SUMMARY:

1. 1984-1987 Accords don't have flywheels or ring-gears.
2. No need for new Torque Converters, welding fixes it easily.

Hope this helps someone out there... I've heard quite a few with the
issue.

"Daniel J Deyette" > wrote in message
om...
> Hey there Honda Owners,
>
> My name's Dan and I'm an avid honda fanatic. I've owned around 3 honda
> accords in total.
> I've always stuck with the 1978 - 1983 honda accords (CVCC) , however,
> when moving back to British Columbia Canada,
> I bought myself a 1985 honda accord (1984 - 1987 are the same
> mechanicly with minor body changes, fuel injection etc..).
>

Well, go back to the Honda School of Fanatics. ) Your '85 had the
bodystyle of '82-'85., not '84-87.

"Saintor" > wrote in
:

>
> "Daniel J Deyette" > wrote in message
> om...
>> Hey there Honda Owners,
>>
>> My name's Dan and I'm an avid honda fanatic. I've owned around 3
>> honda accords in total.
>> I've always stuck with the 1978 - 1983 honda accords (CVCC) ,
>> however, when moving back to British Columbia Canada,
>> I bought myself a 1985 honda accord (1984 - 1987 are the same
>> mechanicly with minor body changes, fuel injection etc..).
>>
>
> Well, go back to the Honda School of Fanatics. ) Your '85 had the
> bodystyle of '82-'85., not '84-87.
>
>

Well... I specificly said "etc.." because I wanted to get my point out
on the block and specs for repair roughly being the same. The torque
converter on the transmission specificly.

82 - 85 were not the same body entirely either if you want specifics. I
collected 82-83 and there was a change in 83 to 84. An ugly change. They
stoped using the "one piece hood/Front end" and they stoped using the
CVCC engine.. two very crappy changes.

But anyway, I'm never one to argue, and i'm not big on anything newer
than '83 anyway... The fuel injected 1800CC engines that never produced
better than 300,000k. The CVCC engine 1978 - 1983 had the capability of
over 600,000k without a hitch (however by then you've replaced your
tranny once.. hehe)

No worries though.. Again, not arguin', not starting a flame war, simply
stating that this info could drastically help someone in the same
situation, since I saw a posting in here with a starter issue that
sounds awfully similar to the issue I had.

Anyway, best wishes there!

D