Honda Car Forum

I have a 2002 Honda Civic LX with 65k on it. A couple of times now it hasn't
wanted to start. It cranked over fine but didn't want to fire. I live in the
northeast and both times seem to be when it was a warm up above freezing. Any
ideas what might cause this or what I can look for?

Make sure you get fuel (check fuel pump) and make sure the battery has
charge. Then get back to us.

Most likely fuel related but it's worth checking the battery as well.

--Viktor

"TomM in NY" <tomminny@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040222170237.02130.00000222@mb-m19.aol.com...
> I have a 2002 Honda Civic LX with 65k on it. A couple of times now it
hasn't
> wanted to start. It cranked over fine but didn't want to fire. I live in
the
> northeast and both times seem to be when it was a warm up above freezing.
Any
> ideas what might cause this or what I can look for?

On 22 Feb 2004 22:02:37 GMT, tomminny@aol.com (TomM in NY) wrote:

>I have a 2002 Honda Civic LX with 65k on it. A couple of times now it hasn't
>wanted to start. It cranked over fine but didn't want to fire. I live in the
>northeast and both times seem to be when it was a warm up above freezing. Any
>ideas what might cause this or what I can look for?

Had the engine been fully warmed up to operating temp the last time it was
driven? Did you follow the "instructions"?:-) By that I mean Honda
manuals usually say to gradually try pressing the accelerator pedal futher
if it won't start right away: try halfway then full to the floor.

Rgds, George Macdonald

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

Thanks for your posts...
The first time it wouldn't start we had driven to the movies...about 40 miles.
Watched the movie-about two hours...came out and it would turn over but
wouldn't start. I was afraid I was going to waste the battery so I let it sit
and on the 4th or 5th try she fired.
The second time we had just backed it out of the garage and it sat for a good
part of the day. When we tried to start it to put it back in, it didn't want
to start.... I did push the pedal to the floor and she fired after a few
tries. We had taken it to wash it that day so it might have had some moisture
somewhere....

On 23 Feb 2004 15:35:58 GMT, tomminny@aol.com (TomM in NY) wrote:

>Thanks for your posts...
>The first time it wouldn't start we had driven to the movies...about 40 miles.
>Watched the movie-about two hours...came out and it would turn over but
>wouldn't start. I was afraid I was going to waste the battery so I let it sit
>and on the 4th or 5th try she fired.

That sounds awful like the main relay problem but I would have thought
would have been fixed by now in later models. Could also be the ignition
switch. You need to try to diagnose whether it's a fuel or ignition fault.
As someone else mentioned, it could be a fuel problem - maybe water - so it
might be worth shoving a bottle of isopropyl alcohol gas drier in the fuel
tank.

>The second time we had just backed it out of the garage and it sat for a good
>part of the day. When we tried to start it to put it back in, it didn't want
>to start.... I did push the pedal to the floor and she fired after a few
>tries. We had taken it to wash it that day so it might have had some moisture
>somewhere....

Very often that will leave the FI manifold flooded with fuel. When you try
to start later, the already flooded manifold gets even more fuel from the
"choked" starting.

Rgds, George Macdonald

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