Hi guys, sorry this has nothing to do with RX8's but i thought i would run the question by some of you mechanical gurus.

My sister has a 5 month old Honda Accord Euro. It had a major problem last week (constantly revving hard with no throttle). When she asked me i told her the throttle had probably stuck but Honda have looked at it and are saying its a faulty camshaft actuator (i presuming something to do with the vtec) and now they are saying they will do a "short motor" engine replacement.

Anyone know what they mean by "short motor". I thought it meant block and bottom end minus pistions, heads etc. Seems weird they would do that if its a faulty camshaft??? Can anyone shed any light on this?

 

I believe it "Short" run, ie done an equivelant amount of K's but not brand new

Andrew

 

I don't think that's it Andrew.

My understanding is that idolo is on the right track - i.e. a basic motor minus the other add-ons and accessories. I did know this once but I've forgotten just what is normally included in a 'short' motor (or perhaps more importantly, what isn't). :o

 

it has to do with how much of the motor is there. but I thought short referred to crank rods pistons and no head (hence short in height) and a long motor was with head cam and valves.

it's something along those lines anyway, engine reconditioning lingo.

oops wasn't very helpfull try this.
http://www.mynrma.com.au/glossary_s.asp

you were right sounds strange to fix a cam with a short motor unless something else happened due to the cam.

 

Oh dear...now I will show my age

You were on the right track, Dave. A 'short' motor usually comprises the engine block, head, crankcase and sump, pistons & conrods (er, rotors) crankshaft (er, eccentric shaft) camshafts, drives and valve gear, water and oil pumps (if integral to the head/crankcase).

It basically excludes all inlet and exhaust manifolds and everything back from there as far as induction/exhaust goes, as well as externals such as alternator etc.

These days (and I suspect this is the case in the US where there have been a number of reported engine replacements in RX-8's) it's probably quicker and cheaper in the dealer workshop to replace a short motor than it is to strip down and rebuild. In fact, under some manufacturer/dealer arrangements, there is a real incentive for the dealer to do this....cue Hymee...:

Ah...just noticed rotaryenvy's response -- that's right ...as originally conceived does exclude the head...which doesn't make sense in this case.

I'm betting my description above is more in keeping with current practice.

 

Back in the UK when I were a lad, a 'short' motor was the motor without gearbox, a 'long' motor was with gearbox.

That was in the simple old days of longitudinal engines and manual gearboxes driving the rear wheels - got much more complicated when they turned everything around.

Of course I guess Commodore and Falcon heads would still know that?

IF it's the engine without the transmission (clutch and gearbox), maybe you should ponder whether the constant high revving might have put any strain on the transmission? In which case maybe Honda should be doing a 'long' motor....

 

Short motor was put into my 8, no clutch or anything that actually bolts on to the engine. It is just a basic "mechanical" engine.