crxaddikt

i had a post a couple days ago, and it helped me eliminate a few things, but to sum it up..............


here is the deal:

my mom barely drives this car, it looks "mint", it is a 1990 Accord LX with 130k on it, and it has been maintained at the honda dealer most of its life until now.
this is the first time it has had a problem, (something i never thought it would see)
it does'nt start, so i pulled out the plug wires, i saw oil, i replaced the sparkplug gaskets, put new plugs, and apparently that was'nt the problem. then i cleaned the battery terminals, and put anit-corrosive stuff on them and made sure they were tightened good, i also put in a new air filter, and cleaned out the throttlebody with STP stuff.
i tested for spark by putting a screwdriver into one of the wires, and resting it on the shock tower bolt, and having someone else start it, .................i did'nt see anything
i took out the ignition coil, and ignitor, and i had them both tested at autozone, and the ignition coil tested GOOD, but the ignitor tested BAD,............ ......i asked if it was a reliable test, they said yes), but somehow i was skeptical,....................... but anyways, when i was there i also got a new cap, rotor, ignition wires, and the next day i got a new ignitor at the honda dealer.

no ecu codes, fuses are good, grounds are good, oil level is fine, headlights work and door chimes when its open, so i assume battery is good.
so, feeling positive as to what the problem was, i proceeded to put the new parts on (the cap, rotor, wires, ignitor), and i put them on carefully, so i go to start it and ...................NOTHING !!!!!!

i tested spark again the same way, and nothing

btw, i smell some gas by the exhaust after trying to crank it a few times, does this mean my fuel pump and main relay are fine???


any opinions? any more tips i can check? i am already obsessed, and i have to figure it out, i don't want to "lose" and suck up to a mechanic

docz918

hey, maybe you should check your ignition coil it is inside your distributer, it takes like 2 min. to remove. if your not getting any spark at all that should do the trick.

JimBlake

If your starter cranks strongly, your battery is OK. Starter is the biggest load it ever sees. Keep cranking for long & you're gonna have to put it on a charger.

Checked spark with the screwdriver resting ON the shock tower? You know you have to have a gap, right? Place it so it's like 1/8" away, or use an old spark plug that's resting on an engine ground.

Speaking of grounds, how's your engine-to-shassis ground? I don't know '90 for sure, but it's maybe from your transmission to chassis, or maybe near an engine mount. It's gonna be a big wire...

crxaddikt

actually i did'nt leave a gap when doing the spark test, i will try that in a bit

the engine to chassis ground looks good and tight

don't know how to get to the transmission ground, do you need to jack the car up?

maybe i should take battery and get it charged up at the autozone? since its been a week and a half of trying to start it and stuff

i have this weird feeling that its something with the ignitor, maybe i put a wire on wrong or maybe i put the old one back in, (cause they look the same, and i could of easily misplaced the new one , hopefully i did'nt, but since autozone tested the ignitor as being bad, i just don't understand why it does'nt work after putting a new ignitor in, especially since it had the symptoms of a bad ignitor previously.

RotaryBzzzz

Check the part of the harness the ECU uses to ground to the body. In my 16v Jetta, I had a problem with a corroded ECU ground wire that cut everything. Very confounding...

I could still crank and my dash would still light however w/ no engine-management = dead car. Your experience of cranking and "smelling gas" reminded me of that. Good luck.

Also too: make sure your spark plug wires aren't routed wrong off the distributor cap. I've made that mistake before...

bill-71SS

replace the coil

crxaddikt

i have the wires as follows:

at dizzy its, and the one is on the part that has a c with a circle

1 3
4 2 (clockwise facing dizzy)


facing the motor its 4 3 2 1


i checked and o'reillys has a ignition coil for 64 bucks, i might get it.

crxaddikt

i can't believe this ****, i put a new ignition coil on, and still nothing, ............maybe its the starter motor's clutch or selenoid thing, or maybe i should give up

i looked through the whole electrical/ignition section of the haynes manual and i pretty much went through all of it already, and also when i was at the honda dealer, the parts guy said that the test that autozone did on the coil and ignitor are not reliable and thats not the way you are supposed to test it, so basically i think i got a new coil and ignitor for nothing ($65 and $95 down the drain), cause i think they were good to begin with, but since i was stupid and was trusting the autozone guy, i was took the risk and just threw money at it, ...............oh well and i got the battery recharged also.

D114

Buy an aftermarket coil and wire it externally. Get a different distributor cap or modify your old one and use that.

I had 2 bad coils in a row from the dismantlers before I gave up and got a mallory promaster coil.

Works fine now, and im ready for nitrous, should I choose to go the route.

Try looking for a generic E core at autozone or kragens fix-up section.

blades

Does the LX have the "main relay", or is that only on the LXi?

TomSlick

The LX does have a main relay. It has an external coil--not an internal coil too.

You never replied back as to whether or not you're getting spark to the plugs. Go back and check that you are getting spark as a previous poster described. None of these suggestions are going to help you resolve your problem unless you know the answer to this, and you'll just continue to throw money at the problem.

JimBlake

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxaddikt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have the wires as follows:

at dizzy its, and the one is on the part that has a c with a circle

1 3
4 2 (clockwise facing dizzy)
</TD></TR></TABLE>I'm not sure if you meant it to look that way, but on my '95 & '98 it's...

3 4
1 2

The firing order has to be 1 - 3 - 4 - 2 clockwise, but the starting point might have changed over the years. Put #1 at tdc compression, the rotor will point to #1.

Did you check your spark again, either with an old plug or with a gap of some kind?

blades

If it does have the main relay, is that something you've checked out already?

Just fixed mine on my 89 LXi ~ wouldn't start. Does now.

RUBZERK

I SELL MAIN RELAY CHEAP

RotaryBzzzz

You never mention if the car is actually "turning over" or "doing nothing" when the key is turned.

Does the starter even click or make any noise?
Do your dash lights go on?
Do your dash lights dim when you turn the key?

I just pulled the TSB's for your car...looks like there's a distributor problem. I remember a friend who had to replace the entire distributor on her 92.


Safety Recalls
TSB Number Issue Date TSB Title 95028 OCT 95 Recall - Front
Seat Belt Buckle

General Recalls
93032 AUG 93 Campaign - Distributor Defect, Possible no Start
93020 APR 93 Campaign - Rear Seat Belts Lock When Parked At Angle
93003 APR 93 Campaign - Radio Replacement
MESSAGEA03 FEB 92 Campaign - Trunk Spring Product Improvement
91028 OCT 91 Campaign - A/T Shaft Nut May Loosen
91003 OCT 91 Campaign - Trunk Lid Doesn't Stay Open All the Way

crxaddikt

sorry, i did'nt reply to the spark test above, but i did it with a screw driver into the wire and rested it about 1/8"-1/4" away from a bolt and i had someone try and start it, and no spark, and i also tried it with the screwdriver touching the bolt, and also tried on the shock tower bolt as well, and nothing, did it in the daytime and night.

as far as main relay, that was the very first thing i thought it was, since i had the problem on my crx before, on the crx it did'nt start and usually when it was really hot, but other times it started, but went back and forth, and putting in the new main relay fixed it.

so, the reason i kind of eliminated it being the main relay on the accord was that,

1. when my crx's main relay was bad, it still started when it was cool, and not when hot out, and accord does'nt start at all

2. i smelled fuel around exhaust on accord after trying to start it

3. i did'nt have spark on the accord, so i was thinking that was the problem, the spark, not fuel.

4. as far as the fuel pump humming, i went to my crx and put the key on, and listened and did'nt hear anything, and i never heard anything before, and i went and tried the same on the accord and still did'nt hear anything, so since i could'nt hear it on the car that does'nt have any problems, then i did'nt know how to compare it.

and as far as how it is when i start it, basically it's making that trying to start sound like "rotating- sheh-sheh-sheh-sheh-sheh-sheh-sheh" sound, but dash lights are on, just battery and oil drip thing, and engine and tach don't respond at all.
dash lights don't dim or anything.

door chimes when its open, headlights work, ecu blinks one blink saying its ok.

battery is charged 100% and good condition.

cyrixvsp2

ok, first, i do'nt know who told you to use a screwdriver but this is how you check spark:

pull one plug out, put the plug back into the plug wire, then holding onto the plug wire and not touching any metal with your hand, hold the thread part of the plug to the engine block and have someone crank it. that right there will show you spark or no spark.

i had the same problem and it was my coil. You could have gotten another bad coil. I would test it with a digital multimeter and see if you have proper impedence between the + terminal and the coil tower. I wouldn't worry about the main relay if you are getting fuel then the relay is fine.

So far work on teh spark problem, which doesn't matter with the main relay. If you replaced the ignitor then that shouldn't be the problem. check to make sure you got all the ignitor wires installed properly.

i hope that helps, other than that the only thing that could be wrong is your distributor went bad, i heard that's a common thing for that year. Check a junkyard for a cheap one to test out.

crxaddikt

thanks, btw i bought the coil at O'reilly's and they said it was a new one, not rebuilt.

ignitor was bought at dealership

i was told my at least 4 people on here that the screwdriver method works for them? so it is'nt a reliable way?

and i made sure ignitor wires are correct using a picture

somehow i keep thinking to try main relay, but i wish i could just borrow someone's to try instead of risking buying one for nothing.

Stripped Honda

i know that i am late in responding to this post but did you check to see if the timing belt is broke ?? a easy way to see is to crank the engine and look in the oil cap to see if the cam is turning ..... if it isnt turning then it is a timing belt problem now on the other hand you need to look at the distributor might be that coil


also i have seen many 4th gen accords have this problem with a bad ignition switch ... but usually when that goes bad it will start then die out or it would have been dieing out randomly ...

just giving you a few other ideas but i really doubt the main relay people love to blame that for every problem the car may have but in my experance i have only seen 2 or 3 go bad and even when they do go bad they are easy to fix

dblack

Did you ever get the problem fixed???? I am having
similar problem with a 93 Accord..

trustme

smell the relay, if it smells burnt replace it. also bang on the relay when starting and it may start if that is your problem. relays fail mostly when hot though