Honda Car Forum

Accord lxi starts fine unless it's too hot...(Engine catches
fine but quickly dies)If I park in the sun on a hot day, I
have to push car into shade, wait a bit, then starts fine,Or if
I've been driving awhile, and have to make a quick stop, it won't
start till I sit for 5-10 minutes. Doesn't overheat, fan comes
on normally when driving. Manual indicates a thermo sensor?
Thanks for any help.

Sounds like the famous "main fuel relay assembly" (a.k.a. "main relay") solder
failure problem. This relay is located near the left knee of the driver. It's
not a big repair.

Plenty of people here say the relay can be re-soldered at minimum cost and with
minimum talent.

My 91 Civic's main relay failed in 1999 (105k miles) as you describe below. I
just replaced it, not knowing any better at the time. It's a bit of a pain to
get out on some Hondas but still do-able by the handy DIYer. The part runs
probably under $50 from online sites.

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

http://www3.telus.net/public/johnings/MainRelay.HTM

http://techauto.tripod.com/mainrelay.htm

"name" <name@nospam.com> wrote
> Accord lxi starts fine unless it's too hot...(Engine catches
> fine but quickly dies)If I park in the sun on a hot day, I
> have to push car into shade, wait a bit, then starts fine,Or if
> I've been driving awhile, and have to make a quick stop, it won't
> start till I sit for 5-10 minutes. Doesn't overheat, fan comes
> on normally when driving. Manual indicates a thermo sensor?
> Thanks for any help.

"Caroline" <caroline10027remove@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<Uv7Cc.22981$Y3.4390@newsread2.news.atl.earth link.net>...

I got the same problem. I have 89 civic with stating problem. I did
the
re-soldered the main relay part. It then solved the problem for a
week, then
the problem started again. I have had to wait while to start the car
if the car is hpt. Does this ot in the main relay problem? How about
fuel injection problem?


> Sounds like the famous "main fuel relay assembly" (a.k.a. "main relay") solder
> failure problem. This relay is located near the left knee of the driver. It's
> not a big repair.
>
> Plenty of people here say the relay can be re-soldered at minimum cost and with
> minimum talent.
>
> My 91 Civic's main relay failed in 1999 (105k miles) as you describe below. I
> just replaced it, not knowing any better at the time. It's a bit of a pain to
> get out on some Hondas but still do-able by the handy DIYer. The part runs
> probably under $50 from online sites.
>
> More info:
> http://www.markl.f9.co.uk/howto/elec...main-relay.htm
>
> http://www3.telus.net/public/johnings/MainRelay.HTM
>
> http://techauto.tripod.com/mainrelay.htm
>
> "name" <name@nospam.com> wrote
> > Accord lxi starts fine unless it's too hot...(Engine catches
> > fine but quickly dies)If I park in the sun on a hot day, I
> > have to push car into shade, wait a bit, then starts fine,Or if
> > I've been driving awhile, and have to make a quick stop, it won't
> > start till I sit for 5-10 minutes. Doesn't overheat, fan comes
> > on normally when driving. Manual indicates a thermo sensor?
> > Thanks for any help.

Do you think you did the re-soldering right? Do you have a lot of experience
soldering?

Take the relay out and see how it looks now. Do the joints look like the photos
at the sites given before? Do you have the symptoms indicated at the sites?
Especially the non-clicking on trying to start the car?

If your soldering fixed the problem for a week, I'd sure suspect that you didn't
clean off the old solder adequately, or maybe you did something else related to
a less-than-perfect solder job.

If you have any doubts about your soldering ability, maybe you should buy and
install a brand-new relay instead of re-soldering. Or you can wait for others to
comment here about what a weenie approach this is and listen to their
suggestions about soldering :-)

'Course, your car might have some other problem, like you say. Good luck.
Updates always welcome, for the edification of the world in the future. :-)

"Red Cloud" <mmdir2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote
> I got the same problem. I have 89 civic with stating problem. I did
> the
> re-soldered the main relay part. It then solved the problem for a
> week, then
> the problem started again. I have had to wait while to start the car
> if the car is hpt. Does this ot in the main relay problem? How about
> fuel injection problem?

"Caroline" <caroline10027remove@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<1FLCc.25479$Y3.18975@newsread2.news.atl.eart hlink.net>...

Thank for good advice. I will definitely consider it.


> Do you think you did the re-soldering right? Do you have a lot of experience
> soldering?
>
> Take the relay out and see how it looks now. Do the joints look like the photos
> at the sites given before? Do you have the symptoms indicated at the sites?
> Especially the non-clicking on trying to start the car?
>
> If your soldering fixed the problem for a week, I'd sure suspect that you didn't
> clean off the old solder adequately, or maybe you did something else related to
> a less-than-perfect solder job.
>
> If you have any doubts about your soldering ability, maybe you should buy and
> install a brand-new relay instead of re-soldering. Or you can wait for others to
> comment here about what a weenie approach this is and listen to their
> suggestions about soldering :-)
>
> 'Course, your car might have some other problem, like you say. Good luck.
> Updates always welcome, for the edification of the world in the future. :-)
>
> "Red Cloud" <mmdir2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote
> > I got the same problem. I have 89 civic with stating problem. I did
> > the
> > re-soldered the main relay part. It then solved the problem for a
> > week, then
> > the problem started again. I have had to wait while to start the car
> > if the car is hpt. Does this ot in the main relay problem? How about
> > fuel injection problem?