TheVMan

We've got our 2000 Honda Accord (4 cyl) at the dealership to be fixed but they've had it a week and can't determine what's wrong.

The car is idling rough and high on starting, when it starts at all.

I've pulled out the spark plugs and see that they're wet with gas and I smell gas as well. This started gradually and has been getting much worse. I notice the problem really kicks in when I've been on the highway for 10+ miles. When I turn the car off and it sits, that's when it stops wanting to start. The last time I got it running it took about 15 minutes to get it started.

I've changed the fuel relay, the coolant sensor, and the spark plugs. The check engine light came on and the tech said it indicated the pistons were mis-firing but they don't know why.

On Tuesday they said they were going to change out the PCM and the Fuel regulator. Today, Thursday, they called back and said that according to their book, that fix was for a 6 cyl. not a 4 so they didn't want to make that switch and they had no other solution. They also said they could no longer duplicate the problem but I know it needs to be driven a bit for it to show up.

I took it to the dealership because I figured they know everything about Honda's but this is redic.

I created a video of what it sounds like when trying to start.


Any ideas out there?

jdowen2

If the plugs are wet with fuel it's probably ignition related. I'm surprised
Honda is clueless.

holmesnmanny

Start the car up if at all possible and warm it up. Turn it off, see if it won't start again. If so, keep the ignition in the on position without trying to start it and hold the gas pedal down for five seconds and try to start it. If it starts then the car is flooding for some reason. If not, check for spark immediately. You need to find out if it's not getting fuel or if it's not getting spark. Also, check for stored codes.

When the car starts up how does it run, idle ?

TheVMan

When I do get it started, let it run for a minute and turn it off, it WILL start up again. However, if I do the same and let it sit for 20 min or so, then it won't start up again.

Honda called today and they're going to order a fuel regulator sensor? to see if that's the problem?

See the video below for the hesitation that happens when gas is applied when the car is idling.


And here's what happened after I drove it up the street and back and then let it sit for 20 minutes.

holmesnmanny

The first video doesn't really suggest anything out of the ordinary. I'm not saying everything is ok but i just can't see anything.

Regarding the starting of the car did you do what I suggested before trying to start the car ? If it starts you know it's getting flooded.

Also, let it sit again for 20 more minutes. Then try to start it this time without holding the pedal down and let it do it's "no-start" thing. Then immediately pull each spark plug one at a time and smell inside each cylinder for fuel. If there is one that smells and the others don't you may have found a bad injector.

There is a chance that your issue is the engine coolant temperature sensor. However it appears you replaced it already. If it all checks out then we can test that to see if somehow it's bad. If it's a Honda sensor odds are it's not bad but we will see.

TheVMan

After a long delay, the dealership said that the fuel injectors were bleeding and I okay'd them to replace all four. Got the car back today and while it does start/run it's extremely "sputtery" on start up still.

Holmesnmanny - now that I have the car back, I'm going to go through all your recommendations and see what happens and provide an update.

In the meantime, my wife wants us to start looking for a new car :-(