wingtip

Hi all

As some of you know weve just had some massive flooding here in indiana and I have lost 2 vehicles along with some home damage due to the flooding.

My truck had full coverage so im not messing with it and will let the insurance take care of it or total it..
However, the 91 honda accord i have just had liability. Im wanting to keep it since it was so good on gas mileage and was dependable despite having 289,000 miles on it. thats right, 289,000Miles.

Heres the problem: (trying to keep this short)

Before the flood the car ran great, no problems. During the flood the water level came just up to the steering column (engine compartment wise it came up to the starter) but didnt get above the ignition... so the radio and everything below it was under water.

After the flood I shop vac'd the water out and tried to start but the battery was obviously dead. When we put jumper cables on it everything was going nuts. without even putting the key in the ignition the automatic seat belts were traveling up and down the tracks on their own, the wipers were going even with the switch off... it was almost comical.

I proceeded to turn the car over and as expected it pumped water out of the exhaust that had collected from the flood... after some time and it not firing we took carb spray and sprayed in thru the air intake and the car would fire so we knew it was getting spark...
We removed the plugs, dried them. I drained the fuel, changed the fuel filter, put new fuel in and tried again and still just wouldnt fire.
Then i came to this forum and read for hours about the faulty main relays. Long story short i resoldered the joints and it didnt help. It was then i decided to lookup the ECU and see where it was located and when i found out it is in the passenger floor i knew i'd have to check it and probably replace it... Upon opening it, it was soaking wet and muddy and already corroding bad so i knew this is probably why everything was going nuts.
Went to a junkyard and bought a relay and found a matching ecu with the corrected identifier letters, and numbers for a good match. Brought them home and plugged them in.
the first thing i noticed was everything was working normal, the check engine light came on for 2 secs like its suppose to and hopefully pumping fuel. It then went back out and i proceeded to START. the car turned over and started! I had been sweating my nuts off on this car for 2 days straight so i could have a way to and from work and i started yelling and saying F yeah lol.... my neighbors applauded and asked if i could fix their cars too.... and 30 seconds later the car died......
It seems if i turn the ignition to the on position, the pump primes. If i go to start it will fire. if i prime it several times before hitting start it will start and run a few seconds. for some reason it just wont stay running for very long.
After reading about the ignition switches here i dont think thats the culprit as long as it has fuel even after letting go of the key it will run, untill it starves for fuel again.. but letting go of the key from the start postion it does still run briefly.

My question is after changing the filter, the relay (another used one), and ECU (used), plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor, what else would keep fuel from getting to the engine in the run postion but work during the ON postion? The fuel pump is either good or bad right? and since it does get fuel up there during ON i am assuming its "good"?????

I have no wheels right now so i really need to get this smelly but dependable car back on the road... anyone have some good ideas from this point?

91 accord, 5spd manual, 4door lx

thanksssssssssss
davet70@comcast.net
765 318 2260

Dcsports92

Your problem could more than likely be the ignition switch. If the contacts within the ignition switch get wet it would cause a slight ark and short everything out within the ignition switch system.

I hope this helps you out. But damn congrats on getting it to run after it sat in deep water.

wingtip

well the ignition never got wet. the water level was just below the ignition. I find that just hard to believe but i suppose i can try it, its 50 friggin dollars new but an exam wouldnt hurt at the minimum. Turning the ignition to on, all the lights work as expected, the pump works for 2 sec's, CEL goes out, then i can hit start and it fires and runs briefly , even when i let go of the key, then it starves for fuel....
When i can work on it again i have the manual now and it has some test procedures for verifying the pump is in fact working... i really hope the pump is ok cuz it seems the tank has to be dropped to replace this and even a cheap autozone replacement is pretty expensive... the honda replacement was quoted at over 350 dollars from the local honda shop.

Dcsports92

You never know really, just because the water did not get that high up doesn't mean anything related to the ignition didn't fail.

As for the fuel pump.

NO. You don't have to drop the tank. Fuel pump is very easy to access. Just move the trunk mat (it comes out as one unit) and there's a metal plate with 3 screws securing it to the floor of the car.

Remove the screws and you will find the fuel pump assembly, 3 high pressure lines and one connector.

The fuel pump itself is only 30 dollars from a local parts store i.e AutoZone unless you get the complete assembly which is around 120 dollars maybe more.

wingtip

that doesnt make sense cause the haynes books shows that the tank does in fact have to be dropped but you can access the plug to the pump from the trunk/seat area without removing the tank, but to replace it, the tank has to be dropped... next time im home i will take another look and do the test procedures outlined in the haynes book to determine if its pumping or not. was just hoping someone might have been through this and had similiar problems that could shed some light and save me some time...im staying with friends 20 miles from home just so i can get to and from work.. wont be able to mess with the car till saturday i hope....

epixinc

okay on the 91 all u gotta do is lift up the car with a jack and place it on a jack stand, then remove the left rear wheel and u should be able to see the access point for the fuel pump right there. on the 93 and up thats when u gotta drop the tank. in terms of checking, what u can also do is fold down the back seat rest, and look on the passenger side in the trunk under the carpet. u should find a metal cover with a harness going into it and with three screws. remove them and u will find the top of the tank and the fuel level sender. there is a yellow wire and a black wire that run into there that should power the fuel pump. plug a test light into the yellow one and watch it when starting and running. if it goes out then it is definitly not the fuel pump.

Dcsports92

Once again you do not have to drop the tank. Shoot me an email and I will send you a PDF file on the factory manual.

I know this because I myself am a Honda technician.

wingtip

thanks.... email is davet70@comcast.net i hope to be back home tonight and can start working on the car again saturday morning... i really need to get this car going... my next steps are to diagnose that fuel pump.

TASAuto.com

Just because the water level didn't reach the ignition doesn't mean moisture didn't get in there. Make sure that the inside of your cap is dry.

wingtip

if your referring to the distributor cap it is new and very dry )
when i get some more tests done tomorrow i will post some results and see if anyone has any new ideas or directions i might head if i dont get it to stay running ... thanks!!

epixinc

hey bud, i am a noob so i cant send PM but i would really like a PDF of the factory manual for my 93 acoord. it has a no start problem that i believe is either associated with the EBAY main relay that the prior owner put in it, or the remanufactured ECU that is in it. cant figure it out. no spark and no power to fuel pump. email addy is jasonwilson1@clearwire.net

wingtip

Car is driveable now. the computer and the main relay were the main culprits and just time to dry out. the car makes a lil more noise while running... engine oil looks good but it just sounds funny.. now just need to replace the carpet and seats....

thanks everyone!

gianinline

wooow.. i'm happy to know you got it running!

wingtip

well after i got it running ive noticed the funny noise its making is coming from the ac compressor so a bearing or something must be rusted from the flood....
I changed the oil and filter, changed the brakes then bled all the brakes this weekend...
when changing the front pads (disc) the parts store asked if the calipers had 3 triangles or nissin written on them... the calipers had nissin on them so thats what i got... get them home and dammed if they werent the wrong pads...had to drive back into town and took the old pads with me this time... and even though his computer said they were right it turned out the pads for the triangle calipers were the correct pads even though the calipers said nissin on them...

and let me tell you, back drum brakes suck ***... how on earth did it take so long to go all disc on some of these vehicles... what a bunch of garbage of parts....

j_bizach

Not to dampen our hopes, but be careful how much money you spend on this car. Im from New Orleans and i work at a body shop. I've seen a lot of flooded cars that people spent money (not a lot but enough) on to get fixed take a dump a year later. The problem is that water has now made it into a few hundred electrical conections and a few more places that water should never be. Im sure that your car will work for a while and heck it might lead a long happy honda life, but from my experence in about a year all thoes electrical connections that got water in them will start to corrode away and no longer form a connection. And most of the cars I've seen the peple after about a year start chasing electrical problems and they never end.

I just dont want to see you spend a fair amount of money only to be chasing electrical problems and have an unreliable car. Just be careful.