Honda Car Forum

Lately my ’89 Honda CRX has been having trouble starting. When I crank the
engine it seems to start normally but then within 1-2 seconds the engine
immediately stalls. Pressing the gas pedal makes no difference. Usually,
after several attempts it starts. Once it starts then it drives fine. It
seems that sometimes turning the key completely off (cycling the power)
helps it start but I’m not sure. It started as an intermittent infrequent
problem 1 month ago but has been happening quite often lately. Any ideas?
The car has 250K miles.

"ThomasE" <lester12@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:b39100872c1bcb85368811a0c07d1933@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com:

> Lately my ’89 Honda CRX has been having trouble starting. When I crank
> the engine it seems to start normally but then within 1-2 seconds the
> engine immediately stalls. Pressing the gas pedal makes no difference.
> Usually, after several attempts it starts. Once it starts then it
> drives fine. It seems that sometimes turning the key completely off
> (cycling the power) helps it start but I’m not sure. It started as an
> intermittent infrequent problem 1 month ago but has been happening
> quite often lately. Any ideas? The car has 250K miles.
>
>
>



Summer must be coming. The Main Relay problems are back!

Resolder it or replace it.


--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

ThomasE wrote:
> Lately my ’89 Honda CRX has been having trouble starting. When I crank the
> engine it seems to start normally but then within 1-2 seconds the engine
> immediately stalls. Pressing the gas pedal makes no difference. Usually,
> after several attempts it starts. Once it starts then it drives fine. It
> seems that sometimes turning the key completely off (cycling the power)
> helps it start but I’m not sure. It started as an intermittent infrequent
> problem 1 month ago but has been happening quite often lately. Any ideas?
> The car has 250K miles.
>
----------------------------

I think it's the ignition switch. Search google and see if the symptoms
for the GREAT HONDA IGNITION SWITCH RECALL are the same as yours.

'Curly'

I read on various posts that it may be the main relay. Apparently the main
relay feeds power to the fuel pump. I found a schematic for the relay and
it shows that the relay is activated by 2 sources, the starter and the
ECU. Normally when you turn the ignition on the ECU closes the relay for 2
seconds. Then when you crank the engine the ignition sends current directly
to close the relay (perhaps because the ECU cannot do it while the engine
is been crancked-voltage drop). Then once the engine starts the ECU is
supposed to keep the relay closed. Well, I read that the soldering on the
relay connections gets bad with time. So if the soldering that connects
the ECU to the main relay is bad the car would behave exactly as it does,
that is, when I crank the ignition the relay is closed by the ingnition
and fuel pump starts but then once the engine starts the ECU signal does
not reach the relay, the fuel pump stops running, within a few seconds
fuel pressure drops and engine stalls.
So I’m off to get out the main relay see if I can see any failed
soldering. Actually if the car is malfunctioning this morning I’ll first
test the theory by measuring the voltage that reaches the fuel pump during
the ignition sequence…

Well, I just took out the main relay and resoldered all the connections.
The engine started normally this morning before I did any work on the car
so I did not get the chance to test the faulty relay hypotheis. In any
case things are ok so far after resoldering the main relay connections.
The engine has started 4 times so far in the morning when it was cool and
now at noon when it was hot insiode the car (I read that cabin temperature
has something to do with the erratic behavior of the relay). We’ll se how
it plays out…

As a note to anybody else who tries to take out the main relay on an ’89
CRX, note that the main relay is not very accessible, but I was able to
take it out without removing the dashboard. The relay is to the left of
the fuse box and I was able to remove it by removing the coin holder, the
hood latch handle and one of the dashboard screws (one close to the hood
latch handle). Removing these 3 things gave me just enough room to fit a
regular wrench barely enough to start turning the one screw that holds the
main relay.

Well, I just took out the main relay and resoldered all the connections.
The engine started normally this morning before I did any work on the car
so I did not get the chance to test the faulty relay hypotheis. In any
case things are ok so far after resoldering the main relay connections.
The engine has started 4 times so far in the morning when it was cool and
now at noon when it was hot insiode the car (I read that cabin temperature
has something to do with the erratic behavior of the relay). We’ll se how
it plays out…

As a note to anybody else who tries to take out the main relay on an ’89
CRX, note that the main relay is not very accessible, but I was able to
take it out without removing the dashboard. The relay is to the left of
the fuse box and I was able to remove it by removing the coin holder, the
hood latch handle and one of the dashboard screws (one close to the hood
latch handle). Removing these 3 things gave me just enough room to fit a
regular wrench barely enough to start turning the one screw that holds the
main relay.

"ThomasE" <lester12@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:4430564bd3e94cfea13b8593e40df7b6@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com:

> Well, I just took out the main relay and resoldered all the
> connections. The engine started normally this morning before I did any
> work on the car so I did not get the chance to test the faulty relay
> hypotheis. In any case things are ok so far after resoldering the main
> relay connections. The engine has started 4 times so far in the
> morning when it was cool and now at noon when it was hot insiode the
> car (I read that cabin temperature has something to do with the
> erratic behavior of the relay). We’ll se how it plays out…
>
> As a note to anybody else who tries to take out the main relay on an
> ’89 CRX, note that the main relay is not very accessible, but I was
> able to take it out without removing the dashboard. The relay is to
> the left of the fuse box and I was able to remove it by removing the
> coin holder, the hood latch handle and one of the dashboard screws
> (one close to the hood latch handle). Removing these 3 things gave me
> just enough room to fit a regular wrench barely enough to start
> turning the one screw that holds the main relay.
>
>


Two thumbs up for you, young fella. From a soupcon of advice you have
managed to cook up an entire meal.

The "not very accessible" location you refer to is shown here:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/mainrelay.html

You didn't happen to take any pics, did you?

--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

Thanks Tegger. Yes, I did take some pictures but they may not be that
helpful as advice. I can send them to you though if you’re interested. I
wish I had seen your pictures earlier. When I first tried to locate the
main relay based on the honda shop manual, I found some device that looked
like a relay right above the hood latch. Thinking that that was the main
relay, I removed it, at which point I saw that it had only 4 terminals so
it did not match the honda manual description. So then I started looking
again and it took me at least 10” to just see the tip of the relay from
underneath the dashboard.
The car has now started 8 times without incident since the resoldering so
I hope that was it.

ThomasE wrote:
> Thanks Tegger. Yes, I did take some pictures but they may not be that
> helpful as advice. I can send them to you though if you’re interested. I
> wish I had seen your pictures earlier. When I first tried to locate the
> main relay based on the honda shop manual, I found some device that looked
> like a relay right above the hood latch. Thinking that that was the main
> relay, I removed it, at which point I saw that it had only 4 terminals so
> it did not match the honda manual description. So then I started looking
> again and it took me at least 10” to just see the tip of the relay from
> underneath the dashboard.
> The car has now started 8 times without incident since the resoldering so
> I hope that was it.
>
>
if the relay has not before been replaced, it's #1 candidate. happens
to all civics/crx's this vintage. personally, i replace the relay, then
resolder the old one and toss it in the trunk as a spare. hopefully,
it'll stay there unused for another 10+ years.

Could someone post a partnumber and suggested location to order a main
relay for my 88 crx.


<<<
if the relay has not before been replaced, it's #1 candidate. happens
to all civics/crx's this vintage. personally, i replace the relay,
then
resolder the old one and toss it in the trunk as a spare. hopefully,
it'll stay there unused for another 10+ years.
>>>