Honda Car Forum

Please help!

91 accord 2.2, was parked up for approx 1 month and now will not run, was
running fine beforehand.

Sometimes it will start and run for a short period of time, between 5 and 20
seconds, then misses and dies.

I have cleaned up the plugs, checked the inside of the dizzy for damp etc,
still no good.

Could the fuel pump have partially siezed? Any ideas of where to start
gratefully recieved

Thus spake Me on 1/11/2004 7:26 AM:
> Please help!
>
> 91 accord 2.2, was parked up for approx 1 month and now will not run, was
> running fine beforehand.
>
> Sometimes it will start and run for a short period of time, between 5 and 20
> seconds, then misses and dies.

You might just have bad gas in it. Try tossing a can of line dryer in
your tank.

-moitz-

Could be a bad main relay. There is a starting circut for the fuel
pump (first of the two relays in the main relay). Problem could be a
little or very intermittant, usually during extreme temperatures.

See the following taken from previous posts:



=============================================
Hi all-
I've got a 91 Accord LX that drives me crazy sometimes. In the cold
weather,
no problems whatsoever, but when it gets warm outside (which it is
starting
to in my area) it sometimes won't start. Here are the symptoms:

-When it's warm out AND the car is totally warm from driving, every
once in
awhile it won't start, like after getting gas or something.
- I let it sit for awhile and it finally starts (never consistent,
sometimes
5 minutes, sometimes a few hours)
- When it won't start, the engine turns over, and almost catches, but
then
immediately dies- this tells me no problems with battery or starter.
- It has never just quit running in middle of traffic, at a stop
light, or
anything like that, once it's running, it runs until I cut it off.
- I thought it may be a gas tank vapor lock, but even releasing the
cap and
letting pressure escape, still doesn't help.
- I replaced the ignition module, and the problem seemed to go away
for a
few weeks, but maybe it was just coincidental. The problem may only
happen
once a week, once a month, or once a day- it's totally unpredictable.
- I replaced plugs and wires, not trying to fix the problem, but just
because they were way overdue to be replaced. This, as expected, had
no
effect on the problem.
- I took the car to precision tune (lol) and they couldn't find
anything
wrong with it, even though they kept it for a few days, it always
started
without no problem.
- It finally happend to me one day in the driveway, and not at a gas
station, store, etc. so I was able to do more diagnostics. What I
found was
that when it wouldn't start, there was either no spark, or just a
spark
occasionally when turning the engine over. I tried this on each
individual
plug, all were the same.
- I can't remember, but I believe I also changed the cap & rotor when
I did
the plugs and wires.

Does anyone out there have any info on this huge annoyance?? It sucks
having
to leave the car running in fear of it not starting after I get gas,
smokes,
and a six-pack at the store!!!!

Thanks in advance for ANY info!

===========================================

It's not the typical description of the problem, but still:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the "main relay" (also the fuel
pump
relay). They are failure prone on the 90-93 Accords (at least), just
search
this newsgroup in google.

If your relay has the typical broken solder joint problem, then an
intermittent problem with rough-running/quitting would result. Please
do
the search. There are web-sites (some from people in this NG) with
colorful
pictures of the relay location and how to replace it, even how to
inspect
it. The typical trigger for the symptoms are hot weather, although
once the
contacts are broken, you can get the no-start, or engine-quit symptoms
in
any weather.

If you've never had the main relay replaced, then I would start there.
Good
luck, post back with results!

-Arthur

Jeff Kolodziej wrote:
> Net.gurus:
>
> I have a 1990 Accord LX with a manual transmission and
> 317,000+ miles on it. Until last Friday, the car has
> never left me stranded on my daily commute (60 miles
> one way - twice a day - 5 times a week).
>
> Last Thursday, I noticed it ran a little rough twice.
> I would be driving along, and it would lose power. I
> would step on the gas, and it did not accelerate. After
> a few seconds, the car would "act" normally. Last
> Friday morning, the car ran normally. I went out to
> lunch, and the car acted normally. On the drive home,
> the car began to lose power again, just like the
> previous day. After a few times, the car completely
> lost power, and died. It would only crank for
> about five minutes, and then it started. It ran
> normally for only a few more minutes this time, and
> then lost power and eventually died. This sequence
> kept repeating itself, with the interval between
> when it started getting longer and longer. Now, it
> will only crank - and I need to re-charge the
> battery.
>
> I checked my records, and I replaced the fuel pump
> at 269,856 miles. I replaced the fuel filter at
> 250,369 miles. The spark plugs and wires were replaced
> at 286,210 miles. The igniter, coil, and rotor
> I replaced at 269,582 miles. I must admit I am not
> sure if I am getting gas to the intake manifold - I
> have not pulled off the gas filter inlet to see if the
> fuel pump is working. I also have not replaced the
> main relay yet - although last Friday was cloudy
> and COLD in the Chicago area. I was running low on
> gas, so I will start my diagnosis by putting some
> more gas in the tank. It's possible I could have
> gotten some bad gas, but I went to the same station
> I always go to for that particular tank.
>
> Sooo, any ideas on why my Accord will not start?
> Any help would be appreciated - heck, the car is just
> broken in!
>
> Regards,

================================================== ======
The usual symptom is the engine will not start when engine was shut
off after running for a while. Often after getting gas the car will
not start. A couple of minutes later when a little cooler it runs
fine. Could also happen when very cold but I think mostly during very
warm/hot.

Heres a link to a great site to identify and fix the main relay
problem. It helped me tremendously when I had the problem with
my '91 Accord. The cracked soldier joint was very hard to spot.
Even when knowing exactly what to look for. Mine was just a little
mark on one post (didn't look like even a crack). When un-soldiering
this joint the soldier melted differently than the other joints.

http://www.markl.f9.co.uk/howto/elec...main-relay.htm

================================================== ========


On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 13:26:43 +0000 (UTC), "Me" <me@myhouse.com> wrote:

>Please help!
>
>91 accord 2.2, was parked up for approx 1 month and now will not run, was
>running fine beforehand.
>
>Sometimes it will start and run for a short period of time, between 5 and 20
>seconds, then misses and dies.
>
>I have cleaned up the plugs, checked the inside of the dizzy for damp etc,
>still no good.
>
>Could the fuel pump have partially siezed? Any ideas of where to start
>gratefully recieved
>

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 13:26:43 +0000 (UTC), "Me" <me@myhouse.com> wrote:

>Please help!
>
>91 accord 2.2, was parked up for approx 1 month and now will not run, was
>running fine beforehand.

Is the gasoline also only 1month old? That would not be enough to make the
gas go bad but there are some odd things happening with the modern
gasohols, which can pull in water from a humid atmosphere.

>Sometimes it will start and run for a short period of time, between 5 and 20
>seconds, then misses and dies.

After it dies, it stays "dead"... and won't kick again?

>I have cleaned up the plugs, checked the inside of the dizzy for damp etc,
>still no good.

Did you take the plugs out right after the above 5-20sec run? Were they
wet with gasoline? That'd tell you it's at least getting (some) gas.

>Could the fuel pump have partially siezed? Any ideas of where to start
>gratefully recieved

Turn the ignition on and listen for the fuel pump humming for ~2secs - it's
not loud so close the doors/windows and listen carefully toward the rear
seat. Repeat this a couple of times to be sure it repeats. If OK it's
probably not the main relay.

A similar scenario to yours happened to our '92 Integra - would run for a
few secs and then die and not restart for several hours, when it would
repeat the above. It was at college at the time so I have to trust the
diagnosis and fix the Acura dealer told my daughter. They changed the
igniter and all was fine. In case you don't know, the igniter is an
electronic replacement for the old contact points - it's bolted to the
inside of the distributor.

Before replacing the igniter, which is not cheap, I'd check for spark and
check all relevant electrical connections and grounds. Since the
difference in ambient temps over that month could be making a difference, I
think I'd also check the resistance of the coolant temp (TW) sensor. It's
screwed into the cylinder head end just under the distributor - the one
with a two wire connector - and it should measure ~5k Ohms at 0°C,
decreasing with higher temps to ~100 Ohms at operating temp. It's used by
the ECU to decide how much to "choke" on cold starts.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 13:26:43 +0000 (UTC), "Me" <me@myhouse.com> wrote:

>Please help!
>
>91 accord 2.2, was parked up for approx 1 month and now will not run, was
>running fine beforehand.
>
>Sometimes it will start and run for a short period of time, between 5 and 20
>seconds, then misses and dies.
>
>I have cleaned up the plugs, checked the inside of the dizzy for damp etc,
>still no good.
>
>Could the fuel pump have partially siezed? Any ideas of where to start
>gratefully recieved

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

"Me" <me@myhouse.com> wrote in message
news:btriuj$d77$1@titan.btinternet.com...
> Please help!
> 91 accord 2.2, was parked up for approx 1 month and now will not run, was
> running fine beforehand.

No compression? Might need lubricants the cylinder walls.