Honda Car Forum

Whew! I am glad to see so many contributions in trying to sort out
this problem. I have a rebuilt start on order and I will inform
everyone of the outcome. Here is a summary of the problem, thus far,
starting with turn of the key:

Symptom
1) Turn key (All the while ensuring both steering wheel and AT shift
are in normal positions).
2) In Position 1 (Between O and start) - I hear the Main Relay in
action ~2 seconds. This means fuel is being delivered.
3) In Position Start - Nothing. No crank. No turning over. Just dead
silence. Identical to a very dead battery, except my lights could
still be powered on.
4) I would try this over and over again. Some times within 3-10 turns,
I would get the thing started. There have been two occasions where it
sat dead in my driveway for hours.

Changes to this point
1) Replaced battery.
2) Replaced ignition switch, which is attached to and activated by the
key.

My course of action
1) Replace starter.
2) Replace ignition coil assembly and probably the entire distributor
assembly (While I'm at it). This is absolute last resort, as it costs
major $$$.

Anything I've missed?

Challenged wrote:
> Whew! I am glad to see so many contributions in trying to sort out
> this problem. I have a rebuilt start on order and I will inform
> everyone of the outcome. Here is a summary of the problem, thus far,
> starting with turn of the key:
>
> Symptom
> 1) Turn key (All the while ensuring both steering wheel and AT shift
> are in normal positions).
> 2) In Position 1 (Between O and start) - I hear the Main Relay in
> action ~2 seconds. This means fuel is being delivered.
> 3) In Position Start - Nothing. No crank. No turning over. Just dead
> silence. Identical to a very dead battery, except my lights could
> still be powered on.
> 4) I would try this over and over again. Some times within 3-10 turns,
> I would get the thing started. There have been two occasions where it
> sat dead in my driveway for hours.
>
> Changes to this point
> 1) Replaced battery.
> 2) Replaced ignition switch, which is attached to and activated by the
> key.
>
> My course of action
> 1) Replace starter.

> 2) Replace ignition coil assembly and probably the entire distributor
> assembly (While I'm at it). This is absolute last resort, as it costs
> major $$$. ????????????????
>
> Anything I've missed?

Why change the coil and distributor? Has nothing to do with your
problem. You are better off diagnosing the problem, rather than
throwing money at it helter skelter.
Say fer instance your first problem was as described. Random starting.
The first thing to do would be to test the solenoid. You can do that by
unhooking the normal wire from terminal S and running a jumper with
12v to the S terminal, and see if it cranks.
If it failed to start, the solenoid or starter is bad. If it did start
and sound
normal, you have a bad switch somewhere in the line. You could also
have a
voltmeter connected to the S terminal, and just watch it from the
drivers
seat to see if it's the switch, or solenoid. If you read 12v every time
you
turn the key, the solenoid is bad. Or starter..
Most likely the starter will fix the problem, but I would have tested
for
voltage to the solenoid before I coughed up any dough. Could be a
toasted
wire or connection. Probably not in this case, but you never know..
You shouldn't guess when working on a machine, unless you have no
choice. If you diagnose the problem, you only buy the needed part, not
half the electrical system. Save a lot of time too.. You might wanna
invest
in a cheap VOM if you don't have one. They sell decent digi versions
pretty
cheap these days.
MK

Challenged wrote:
> Whew! I am glad to see so many contributions in trying to sort out
> this problem. I have a rebuilt start on order and I will inform
> everyone of the outcome. Here is a summary of the problem, thus far,
> starting with turn of the key:
>
> Symptom
> 1) Turn key (All the while ensuring both steering wheel and AT shift
> are in normal positions).
> 2) In Position 1 (Between O and start) - I hear the Main Relay in
> action ~2 seconds. This means fuel is being delivered.
> 3) In Position Start - Nothing. No crank. No turning over. Just dead
> silence. Identical to a very dead battery, except my lights could
> still be powered on.
> 4) I would try this over and over again. Some times within 3-10 turns,
> I would get the thing started. There have been two occasions where it
> sat dead in my driveway for hours.
>
> Changes to this point
> 1) Replaced battery.
> 2) Replaced ignition switch, which is attached to and activated by the
> key.
>
> My course of action
> 1) Replace starter.
> 2) Replace ignition coil assembly and probably the entire distributor
> assembly (While I'm at it). This is absolute last resort, as it costs
> major $$$.
>
> Anything I've missed?

Actually, yes: since you have an automatic, it may be the shift interlock (my
Hondas have all been standard, so I didn't think of that initially). I don't
know about Hondas, but I've seen it fairly often in Dodges, where that switch
gets flaky, either electrically or mechanically. In our '96 Caravan, the
selector sometimes doesn't quite slip into the Park position (the tranny itself
does, it's just the part in the column that displays the gear selected and
triggers the interlock) and it won't start unless I put it in Neutral, or
sometimes slip the shifter down to a lower gear and slam it back into Park.

Since the interlock is typically in the wire between the key and the solenoid, a
flaky one will cause the complete lack of response you describe. Next time it
doesn't start, try putting the shifter in Neutral and then crank it.

The coil and distributor have NO relation at all to the starter; replacing them
won't hurt, but it won't solve this problem.