ryaldin

Hey all. Longtime lurker here. I've searched the forums and haven't found any threads that quite have the same issues I'm having.

Background:
-1992 Honda Accord LX 5 spd.
-Sat for a Long time. Long enough for the fuel to virtually decay into kerosene.
-Was only going to use it for parts for a second Honda, which I later sold.
-Had some issues getting it going. Drained all of the fuel out of it, replaced the fuel filter. Was worried it was the main relay, but I pulled it out and tested it according to techauto.tripod.com and it seemed to be ok. Got it running this past Feb, just by putting in clean fuel and replacing fuel filter.

In August, on a hot day, it wouldn't start as I was leaving work. The starter would engage, the engine would turn over, and it would even rev up briefly, but then immediately die. The tachometer would flatline as the engine was dying. On the third or fourth start, the engine finally engaged, and the car seemed to be running fine.

I drove it home that day, and as I was cruising up the road to my house at about 35mph, the engine died again. Tach dropped to zero, but the car was still rolling. Managed to get it started again while the car was rolling. Drove the rest of the way home, and it died as I pulled up in front of my house. Hasn't started since. It does have a full tank of fuel, sufficient oil and coolant. I did add one bottle of STP fuel injector cleaner to this tank of fuel, prior to suffering these problems.

Characteristic behaviors:
-No CELs
-Starter will engage, engine will turn over, and tach jumps to 1000 as though its ready to idle.
-Almost immediately, it dies. Tach seems to drop to zero before the engine has completely stopped.

Things I have checked so far:
-Looked for spark. Disconnected the lead from the coil to the distributor and checked for arc from that wire, across about 1/4" gap to the engine block. Got a solid yellow/white arc when I turn the car over.
-Checked and replaced spark plugs. They were old and worn and looked like they might be originals. Replaced with NGKs.
-Checked the resistance of the spark plug wires and coil wire, all were well below 25kOhm, usually closer to 10k.
-Pulled a new spark plug and left it connected to a spark plug wire, while i briefly turned the engine over. Saw yellow spark on spark plug.
-Removed rotor and distributor. Rotor showed heavy signs of wear, and was likely original. Distributor also looked a relatively worn, but less than the rotor. Was likely not original. Replaced both.
-Cracked open the banjo bolt, and there is fuel pressure in the fuel rail.

I'm sort of at a loss of what to do to get it running. Any suggestions/ideas?

ryaldin

Ok, update:

Took the steering column covers off and removed the ignition switch. Interestingly, there was a tiny puddle of cooled solder sitting inside the ignition switch cover, and you can see a place where the solder must have melted at some point. It looked old and oxidized though, so I don't think it happened recently.

Anyways, opened the ignition switch, and saw a point that looks like there may have been some arcing, but again, oxidization suggests that this is an old fault. I cleaned all of the contact points with a wire brush and put it back together and attempted to start the car. Same problem, car dies as soon as it starts.

This time, however, I tried a popular 'wiggling the key' idea. The accord has four markings on the tumbler, 0, I, II, and III, which correspond (I assume) to Off, Accessories, Run and Start. As soon as you let the key go from III to II, the engine dies. But I tried holding the key just a little bit beyond the II mark (not quite halfway towards the III point), and the car, for the first time in two months, would run. Hooray!

Now, as soon as I let if fall back to II, it would die again. Further investigation revealed that the key can move quite a bit in the tumbler around point II, probably 30 degrees swing, centered around the II mark.

My question now is this: Is this a fault of the ignition switch, or the tumbler? Does the tumbler even have anything to do with it, or are there just problems in the ignition switch that are likely to not be visible to the naked eye?

Meraut

My girlfriend had a similar issue with her Civic, we ended up replacing the entire switch. I think the issue with it was the ignition lock cylinder though.

holmesnmanny

Since you already concluded that there were pieces of solder from the ignition switch in the cover itself, you should first start with replacing the switch. It may have finally burned itself out. Sounds like most things have checked out at this point.

doctorbee

yeah ig switch, 50 bucks with lifetime warranty at autozone