I picked up my 1988 white Honda Legend this morning. I thought I got a good deal at $335. I removed the thermostat and jumped the fans to stay on. I drove the car down to a petrol station and put $10 of petrol in it and checked the tyre pressures, they were all good. After that my friend and I headed to the freeway, I though seeing as the car was alright through town it would be fine on the freeway. So we got on the freeway and the car was going along so smoothly (the transmission and engine were way smoother than my '89, now I know why everybody raves about how smooth these cars actually are) So anyway we just got on the freeway and the guage started to head up, so I thought I had better pull over to see what was going on. I popped the hood to find the the heater hose was split and leaking quite a substantial amount of water. So I said to my friend (who was driving the '89)to drive up on the grass, on the side of the freeway so I could get further away from the road so I could repair the heater hose (Yes I had some spare in the back, I was ready for just about anything 
). So he moved further to the side of the road and I pulled up behind him. Well just as I was pulling behind him up I went to brake and I though I had no brakes, turned out the motor had stopped just as I was pulling up. (It was only idling when it stopped.)
I didn't think much of it, just hot or something. So I replaced the heater hose and topped up the water. Went to the drivers side to start it.......it wouldn't start. It would crank but nothing else happened, nothing so much as a cough. So I had to think logically, what could it be? I thought it may have been the fuel pump or something, but I started with spark. I took a spark plug out and checked for spark... nothing at all. So I checked the distributor cap, looked fine, I think it had a reconditioned distributor anyway. I could smell rubber burningas well and I could see some black smoke coming from nowhere in particular in the engine bay. I put it down to the power steering because it had gone through 500 mL in 5 minutes. So I checked a few other bits and pieces then it hit me.
Yep, I looked through the timing belt cover to discover that when the motor was cranked the cam was indeed not turning. So as it turned out it snapped the timing belt while it was idling on the side of the freeway. I had to get it towed to a wrecker where I sold it for $100. I got lucky that there was a wrecker nearby, I couldn't afford to have the car fixed and I couldn't leave it anywhere (Being 200 Miles from my house). So I took a few parts out of it to hopefully make some money back off it. I didn't grab half the stuff I wanted, but what can you do?
Such a shame because it drove so nicely and the transmission was so much smoother than my '89, I really could have used 3/4 parts off it to fix up my '89
But as they say that's the way it goes and everything happens for a reason. So at least I got to drive another Legend, even though the total driving time did not exceed 10 minutes and I don't think I went above 3000 RPM
Here is a list of parts I grabbed which I will probably end up selling:
Clear corners (One is badly damaged and the other one has a small 'chip' if you like on the bottom of it.)
Woodgrain - Manual heater controls, stereo surround, shift selector surround.
Front grill with H logo on it the same as mine- again not in that great condition.
The steering wheel cover? It has the H emblem in the middle of it instead of Acura like the 86/87 models have.
Kickboard with courtesy light and ashtray.
Cruise control buttons
Pod
Gauge assembly
Note: All interior items are brown in colour. All items came off a 4 door Sedan.
Sorry about the long post, if you have a problem with long posts don't read them
). So he moved further to the side of the road and I pulled up behind him. Well just as I was pulling behind him up I went to brake and I though I had no brakes, turned out the motor had stopped just as I was pulling up. (It was only idling when it stopped.)I didn't think much of it, just hot or something. So I replaced the heater hose and topped up the water. Went to the drivers side to start it.......it wouldn't start. It would crank but nothing else happened, nothing so much as a cough. So I had to think logically, what could it be? I thought it may have been the fuel pump or something, but I started with spark. I took a spark plug out and checked for spark... nothing at all. So I checked the distributor cap, looked fine, I think it had a reconditioned distributor anyway. I could smell rubber burningas well and I could see some black smoke coming from nowhere in particular in the engine bay. I put it down to the power steering because it had gone through 500 mL in 5 minutes. So I checked a few other bits and pieces then it hit me.
Yep, I looked through the timing belt cover to discover that when the motor was cranked the cam was indeed not turning. So as it turned out it snapped the timing belt while it was idling on the side of the freeway. I had to get it towed to a wrecker where I sold it for $100. I got lucky that there was a wrecker nearby, I couldn't afford to have the car fixed and I couldn't leave it anywhere (Being 200 Miles from my house). So I took a few parts out of it to hopefully make some money back off it. I didn't grab half the stuff I wanted, but what can you do?
Such a shame because it drove so nicely and the transmission was so much smoother than my '89, I really could have used 3/4 parts off it to fix up my '89
But as they say that's the way it goes and everything happens for a reason. So at least I got to drive another Legend, even though the total driving time did not exceed 10 minutes and I don't think I went above 3000 RPM
Here is a list of parts I grabbed which I will probably end up selling:
Clear corners (One is badly damaged and the other one has a small 'chip' if you like on the bottom of it.)
Woodgrain - Manual heater controls, stereo surround, shift selector surround.
Front grill with H logo on it the same as mine- again not in that great condition.
The steering wheel cover? It has the H emblem in the middle of it instead of Acura like the 86/87 models have.
Kickboard with courtesy light and ashtray.
Cruise control buttons
Pod
Gauge assembly
Note: All interior items are brown in colour. All items came off a 4 door Sedan.
Sorry about the long post, if you have a problem with long posts don't read them
