holmesnmanny

There is no correspondence to the ect sensor and cooling fan control whatsoever. The aux fan staying on after the car is turned off is completely and totally normal. Do not pull the fuse to stop the fan from doing what it is supposed to be doing.

TOM2RN

It's amazing how a fairly inexpensive part can cause so many problems. Mine was so odd because it never showed a check engine light until the very last. I bet the engine fires up right away tomorrow.

96accordlx_smh

I know!!!! A $20 part caused quite a ruckus! I can't wait to start it in the am! Lol I will post how it went!!!!

Mine NEVER had a check engine light...so yes it was odd that it was a sensor...

96accordlx_smh

So....my bad apparently!!! Lol. It kept running when I got home so I left out alone...went out 20 mins later and it was off.. thanks for posting!!!

96accordlx_smh

SOOO irritated. It did not start.

I checked the FITV and I was able screw it down about 2 turns before it tightened.

STILL NOTHING!

I did unhook the battery for about 5 minutes while doing the FITV because the tutorial said to.

I guess now I'm going to try to tackle cleaning the IACV.

The thing that really gets me going is it ran soooo good last night. Of course that's after it was sitting in an 80degree climate all day. grrrr.

Really hoping i have a car tomorrow morning.

Lost Again

Ok, lets step back for a moment.

Can you confirm spark? Since this is a temp related issue you will have to test for this when the "situation happens".

96accordlx_smh

No I can't at the moment...for one my IACV is half off... if I could get the hoses off I could clean it and put everything back together, but right now this is becoming an issue for me.

Two...I have no one to help crank while I look for spark ... and my babysitter just bailed while my kids is napping so as soon as he wakes up this whole thing gets tabled.

And it's warming up so even if it was together right now and it did start I wouldn't be convinced that it's fixed.

Back to work tomorrow so that means it'll sit for another week.

***ok done venting... for a little anyway

BUT .....WHAT WOULD CAUSE temperature related no spark issues?

Lost Again

You can try to clean it with the hoses attached. Not much room but you can get most of it.

96accordlx_smh

Ok...I was afraid the carb cleaner would be bad if it went down in those hoses....

I'll have to do that...my kid is awake all I'm on hold until I can either rope a neighbor into babysitting or my husband comes home from work..

DCFIVER

Sounds like a leaking HG. How is the coolant level in the radiator and reservoir bottle?

96accordlx_smh

Really? HG would cause intermittent no start?

Coolant level is great, no disappearing coolant it anything...and no smoke out the tailpipe...

Lost Again

"Fiver" has a point. We've seen a leaking HG show up as "cold start" issues before. What happens is a slow leaking HG will allow coolant to enter cyl(s) with a long "sit" cycle.

So a car sits for "x" hours and has a hard start issue can be caused by coolant slowly entering cyl(s). After so many cranking cycles the coolant is finally gone and the plug(s) clear up and the car will start.

Usually if this is happening, you will also have a "slow crank" speed from the motor when trying to start it.....compressing water/coolant is much harder than air.

96accordlx_smh

Yeah the only thing that didn't tie into my situation is let's say I try to start it at 7am... it won't start.. fine I take the train to work. 6pm I try it and it starts on first try like nothing was ever wrong. Then I can drive it all evening.

On the weekend the cut off time seems to be around 1 pm....
So in the case of the HG I don't see how sitting longer would clear anything and allow our to start? Plus even when it doesn't start it never cranks slow.... Correct me if I'm wrong?

96accordlx_smh

Ok guys...I managed to get the IACV cleaned out and reinstalled. Also did the butterfly plate or whatever it's called right under the map sensor. And earlier got the FITV screwed down all the way.

She started. Now it's warm and 3:30 and I would have expected her to anyway.

However...she did start a little hard, just a tiny bit.. I turned the key and let if as normal, I guess I was expecting her to catch cause of the temp, but she sputtered a bit and stopped. So then I cranked her again and there was a bit of a delay, not much, maybe one second and she caught, was rough for about 3 seconds and then smoothed out. She almost right away kicked up to about 1300 rpm idle and then came down maybe 30 seconds later to 700 rpm. Lower than I'd like but so far she seems nice and smooth there. The a/c killed her oomph like always and she fell down to 400rpm but was smooth in the transition if that makes sense.

I'll drive her a bit today and then try in the a.m.... NOW...TOMORROW! If she doesn't start, I won't have a ton of time but what should I do if she doesn't start?

I should have my husband here who can help...should I check for spark?

Whatever happens I'll effort back because I'll either be celebrating or crying!!! Lol

And thanks again to everyone. I'm determined tho get this car running the way she should be!

....now it's time to try to get the grease of my hands.

holmesnmanny

Its not surprising that a new ect sensor didnt fix it since the old one tested fine at cold temps.

You need to check for white/blue spark and fuel when its not starting.

96accordlx_smh

Just to update on the rpms... after driving it idle is more 1k or 1100 .. a/c takes it down, but it's smooth and constant.

96accordlx_smh

Ok. So no spark.

Now granted I don't have an actual tester, but I pulled a wire off and stuck a screw driver in the end and put the screw driver across the metal where the front strut is... and it was still dark out...didn't see any arch

If you don't think that's a good enough test, let me know.

I intended on pulling a plug too cause figured I could see it better, but turn out my spark plug socket lost its little rubber boot... sigh. I hope it's not one of those Mondays.

So... after figuring there's no spark I decided to warm the distributor and see if it made a difference...it did not.

Then after deciding I really didn't want to take the train I thought I'd start it the old fashioned way (just keep cranking) though the differences surprised me. Before it started on partial cylinders and would limp into full gear... this time all cylinders fired at the same time and she purred smoothly ...for a second...then died off. I can't imagine it's a fuel issue only because the whole area smelled of fuel by this time. But it certainly was odd. It did that about 5 times before the brand new starter burned up.

Sigh.

So..
1) do you think that spark test was enough? (Oh, did that with two different wires just in case)
2) is there something I can test with my multi meter tomorrow morning?
3) do you think the short period of running or the burnt up starter is a clue to anything?

***also...just thinking back... it used to take about 10 minutes starting it that way...then it went to 15, then 20... then finally right before I posted the op, it wouldn't start but would 'rumble' and then finally on one attempt it burned out the original starter. I can't help but think that should mean something... it didn't crank slow or intermittent or anything just before it burned up so it makes me wonder if it got too much voltage somehow...
The New one has a warrantee...we'll see if they honor it...hopefully they will.

As always, thanks guys!

96accordlx_smh

Ok guys just updating you... turns out my starter was not completely burned out. My husband was home today and I didn't tell him about this morning's adventures, so he went out in the afternoon and said she started!!!! Now he did say that it reeked like fuel and said for a while it seemed like she was choking on the gas ... ????? Not exactly sure what he means... but...

Now I'm thinking she wasn't starting because she was flooded? I mean there was no spark at the start of trying to start her but I never retested her after she cranked over for a bit...

Still looking for input in anything I can test ...probably won't have time tomorrow, but the next day. I can try to use my to do whatever...

DCFIVER

Honestly, sounds like perhaps it is a bigger job than you can handle at this point. Tools/testing equipment will be needed to find a definitive answer.



Check Google and Yelp for good repair shops in your area....

96accordlx_smh

FIXED IT!!!!!!!!

OK so first off I want to thank you guys for all your support. AND big thanks to FIVER for saying it was over my head... that gave me the extra boost of incentive I needed.

Long story short... it was the computer.

Nothing made sense and everything was inconsistent. I was going to replace the coil but the new one tested on the ohm meter just like the old one and didn't do ANYTHING. (figured out I wasn't quite testing it right either in the meantime) Thank god- it was also not quite a right fit meaning it wouldn't fit onto the bracket. The parts store took it back because of that.... so after thinking what was up the line from the coil I took a shot on the computer. Went to a yard, was lucky enough to find same exact car I had, put it in my car and she hasn't hesitated since!

Good thing too because the colder weather is really starting to set in now...

lol- all this for a $30 computer from the yard that took me no time at all! Oh well... at least everything else I did to it just made it that much better.

Lost Again

Thanks for the update/follow up - too many times these threads lead to no answer/solution.

Glad it is working for you

DCFIVER

Sorry,but you started rambling in the last post. Not everybody can be with out their car for a month. A competent repair shop would have found your problem in a few hours.

Good job none the less....