Honda Car Forum

Just thought I'd post some info for anyone having problems with their
Prelude starting. I found similar info in various places but could
have used a few more tips. My normally reliable 92 Si had difficulty
starting on a hot afternoon one day. It finally fired up after many
turns of the ignition, apparently after the vehicle interior had
cooled down. I read a lot of posts about Honda main relay problems
and bought the part from my local Honda dealer for about $60 (probably
a bit high). They wanted $72 to install it. Re-soldering the old
part is a viable option, and there's a lot written on that procedure
if you want to try it. I don't claim any particular expertise but was
able to install the new part in about an hour. It would only take
about 10 minutes if I knew what I was doing! On the 92, the main
relay is under the dash on the driver's side. Contort yourself under
the steering wheel so you're looking up at the roof, and it's right by
the steering column behind a mess of other harnesses. No panels need
to be removed. Unclipping the harness turned out to be the only tough
part of the job. It didn't want to come off. Just depress the side
clip and pull until you can wedge a small screwdriver under the
harness and pry it off. Once I had the harness disconnected, I found
that unbolting the bracket would be impractical, so I pulled the new
relay from its grey housing and swapped it into the old mounted
housing. So far so good! I also recommend the free site www.hpoa.org
as a good resource. Good luck to all.

Hi RP,
You might want to check your oil for gasoline contamination. A period
of hard starting can cause unburnt gasoline to wash into the oil.
If you are near needing an oil change, it would be good to go ahead.
Otherwise, check the oil for gasoline odours and if you detect any,
get an oil change.
Dan

(This account is not used for email.)

RPColtrane (coltrane_rp@yahoo.com) writes:
> Just thought I'd post some info for anyone having problems with their
> Prelude starting. I found similar info in various places but could
> have used a few more tips. My normally reliable 92 Si had difficulty
> starting on a hot afternoon one day. It finally fired up after many
> turns of the ignition, apparently after the vehicle interior had
> cooled down. I read a lot of posts about Honda main relay problems
> and bought the part from my local Honda dealer for about $60 (probably
> a bit high). They wanted $72 to install it. Re-soldering the old
> part is a viable option, and there's a lot written on that procedure
> if you want to try it. I don't claim any particular expertise but was
> able to install the new part in about an hour. It would only take
> about 10 minutes if I knew what I was doing! On the 92, the main
> relay is under the dash on the driver's side. Contort yourself under
> the steering wheel so you're looking up at the roof, and it's right by
> the steering column behind a mess of other harnesses. No panels need
> to be removed. Unclipping the harness turned out to be the only tough
> part of the job. It didn't want to come off. Just depress the side
> clip and pull until you can wedge a small screwdriver under the
> harness and pry it off. Once I had the harness disconnected, I found
> that unbolting the bracket would be impractical, so I pulled the new
> relay from its grey housing and swapped it into the old mounted
> housing. So far so good! I also recommend the free site www.hpoa.org
> as a good resource. Good luck to all.

ag564@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Dan Beaton) wrote in message news:<cc3mb1$d52$1@freenet9.carleton.ca>...
> Hi RP,
> You might want to check your oil for gasoline contamination. A period
> of hard starting can cause unburnt gasoline to wash into the oil.
> If you are near needing an oil change, it would be good to go ahead.
> Otherwise, check the oil for gasoline odours and if you detect any,
> get an oil change.
> Dan


the failed main relay kills the fuel pump, so it's likely not an
issue.
on most of these soldering the old one works for a while, but the bad
joints cause arcing at the contacts, so it usually doesn't last long.
whenever i get one in with a bad one i just whack the side of the dash
while cranking and they always start one more time.
Chip

chip@chipanddebby.com (Chip Stein) wrote in message news:<5ddcea74.0407031412.2b13ccd3@posting.google. com>...
> ag564@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Dan Beaton) wrote in message news:<cc3mb1$d52$1@freenet9.carleton.ca>...
> > Hi RP,
> > You might want to check your oil for gasoline contamination. A period
> > of hard starting can cause unburnt gasoline to wash into the oil.
> > If you are near needing an oil change, it would be good to go ahead.
> > Otherwise, check the oil for gasoline odours and if you detect any,
> > get an oil change.
> > Dan
>
>
> the failed main relay kills the fuel pump, so it's likely not an
> issue.
> on most of these soldering the old one works for a while, but the bad
> joints cause arcing at the contacts, so it usually doesn't last long.
> whenever i get one in with a bad one i just whack the side of the dash
> while cranking and they always start one more time.
> Chip


The HOnda main relay problem's webiste does not saying that bad main relay
killing the fuel pump. Is this your idea or you got from expert?
I do agree that sometimes I whack the main relay and the car starts right way.

That's what the main relay does. It provides power to the fuel pump and to
the ECU.

> The HOnda main relay problem's webiste does not saying that bad main
relay
> killing the fuel pump. Is this your idea or you got from expert?
> I do agree that sometimes I whack the main relay and the car starts right
way.

"Jafir Elkurd" <jafir@nospam.no.spam.hotpop.com> wrote in message news:<10ego0d90dd0ec@corp.supernews.com>...
> That's what the main relay does. It provides power to the fuel pump and to
> the ECU.
>
> > The HOnda main relay problem's webiste does not saying that bad main
> relay
> > killing the fuel pump. Is this your idea or you got from expert?
> > I do agree that sometimes I whack the main relay and the car starts right
> way.

i got it from several years as a honda tech. i can't help what the
website yo refer to says. there's a lot of bad info out there.
Chip

"Jafir Elkurd" <jafir@nospam.no.spam.hotpop.com> wrote in message news:<10ego0d90dd0ec@corp.supernews.com>...
> That's what the main relay does. It provides power to the fuel pump and to
> the ECU.
>
> > The HOnda main relay problem's webiste does not saying that bad main
> relay
> > killing the fuel pump. Is this your idea or you got from expert?
> > I do agree that sometimes I whack the main relay and the car starts right
> way.

i got it from several years as a honda tech. i can't help what the
website yo refer to says. there's a lot of bad info out there.
Chip

"Jafir Elkurd" <jafir@nospam.no.spam.hotpop.com> wrote in message news:<10ego0d90dd0ec@corp.supernews.com>...
> That's what the main relay does. It provides power to the fuel pump and to
> the ECU.
>
> > The HOnda main relay problem's webiste does not saying that bad main
> relay
> > killing the fuel pump. Is this your idea or you got from expert?
> > I do agree that sometimes I whack the main relay and the car starts right
> way.

i got it from several years as a honda tech. i can't help what the
website yo refer to says. there's a lot of bad info out there.
Chip