rr209

Let me start off by telling you a little bit about my car. I bought my 2002 Honda Accord in April of 2007, and it has always run great since the day I bought it. When I bought it it had 101k miles, and I put roughly 20k miles/year on it, so it is over 141k right now. It is a 4 cylinder w/ auto transmission.

Recently, the engine began to knock and make a lot of noise while I drove it. It still drove okay, but the sound was ridiculously loud. I took it to my mechanic who told me it needed an engine.

I had the engine replaced by somebody else. I got the car back, and only used it to drive from work to home and back (about 4-5 miles) two times. The next time I drove it I went a long distance, 150+ miles, and on the way back home I had a problem with the car again. While I was on the freeway the car stalled. I would press the accelerator and the RPM's would go WAY up, above 5,000/6,000 from what I remember, but the car wouldn't accelerate.

I pulled over to the side of the road hoping that it would work again after a few minutes but it didn't. Now when I tried to start it again the car would barely make a noise. The battery was not a problem because all my lights, my cd player, etc., were all working fine. I called my mechanic from the car and he told me the problem could be that the other mechanic didn't put the flex plate in right.

I took the car directly to the mechanic who installed the engine, and he told me that the flex plate broke, that it had nothing to do with the way he installed the engine/flex plate, and that he was going to charge me $200 to replace it.

I don't know much about cars, and according to my mechanic the flex plates on these cars don't break too often, so I wanted to ask around before I go down there to argue with this guy. Is it likely that the flex plate would break on its own, or is this something that can be caused by faulty installation? I appreciate any help I can get. Thanks.

wrench97

Both it may have been bent in either transportation if he reused the one supplied on the replacement engine, or bent during the installation, first you need to find out if the flexplate is off your original engine or from the replacement engine, hard to believe a flexplate would break within 500 miles of being installed that showed no signs of cracks or abnormal wear at the time of installation.

Did the new engine have any vibrations while driving?

rr209

I will ask which flexplate he used. I do not believe I drove the car over 200 miles before this problem occurred. When I first started driving it I noticed no vibrations, but I wasn't listening for them either. It was driving smoothly. I didn't shift from D4 to D3, D2, D1, etc, didn't drive fast, or push the car because I knew it was a new installation and I didn't want to risk messing anything up. Thanks for the feedback.

russellclan

most engins i have installed ,i have rerun the flywheel/flexplate. not even a crate motor comes with a new one .. but not uncommon for them to crack/ break if the car has been driven hard in the past. cracks sometimes look like grease that has been slung out from the crankshaft. and unless its looked for ,it can some times be overlooked. if it was a used moter that was installed it may have come with a flexplate. and in all used parts , u get what u pay for . good luck

rr209

Thanks for the response. One more thing I forgot to mention. Whenever I would press the accelerator for the first time (each time I drove), and a few times in between, the gas pedal would get stuck. I had to hit it pretty hard to get it to move. I had this problem from the day I picked up the car, but I thought maybe it was just because it was a new installation. Could this have anything to do with the flex plate?

rr209

By the way, it gets even better. I got my car back on Wednesday. On Thursday I went to charge the freon in my car because it's hot over here and the AC wasn't working. The guy who was charging it looked like he didn't know exactly what he was doing and he was asking another worker a lot of questions. The worker told him it was okay.

I drove the car around for a while and the AC worked perfectly. I parked the car in front of my house for a few hours, and when I went to start it everything lit up like normal, but when I turned the key EVERYTHING went out. No lights at all and the car won't start. Do you think this could have something to do with the freon or is it most likely the engine? Any ideas?

mack1

Hi rr209,

I don't suspect either. Sounds like you blew a fuse, fusible link, or the battery cable came loose.

If you have a test lamp or voltmeter, check the battery voltage. Also, look at the fuses.

Best regards,
Mack1

rr209

Thanks Mack. Yeah, it was around 2am and I only slept about 3 hours the day before so the battery didn't even cross my mind at the time. I'm going to check it out right now.