Questions and Answers

Honda Accord Pinging And Shaking Q. Hello, My car is 1990 Honda Accord LX, 2.2 liter 4cylinder, fuel-injected, 5-speed manual transmission, with 115,000 miles. My first problem is that my car seems to ping. It only happens at higher rpm, say above 4,000, and of course only under load. If I put premium fuel, 92 octane, in it pings less, but it doesn't go away completely. The car only requires 87 octane.

My second problem is that when the car is stopped in neutral, the car seems to shake and vibrate a lot. Its almost like it idling rough, but its not. My tachometer usually holds pretty still (around 700-800 rpms). And if I turn on the air conditioning, it really gets bad! Its downright embarrassing. Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
Randy

A. Usually when these two symptoms appear together, it indicates that the timing belt may have slipped a tooth. And since this has a manual transmission, it becomes even more probable. So if you have never had the timing belt replaced, this would be a good time to do it.

And since this engine is an interference engine, if the timing belt should break, it could cause serious engine damage.