onelostcoupe

1990 Integra with the B18A1 and manual trans. Approximately 145k miles on it, it had been sitting for a while before my friend bought it. We were told the gas tank and fuel pump were replaced somewhere along the line

So here's the problem, it'll die out when driving and won't start up for a length of time. It has always started up eventually later but 2 times I've towed it back to my place where it would then decide to run again

So I have an intermittent crank but no start situation. It isn't my car and I haven't driven it when it's died out but from how my friend describes it, it just dies out and will crank and crank without starting. Until it sits for a bit and then it'll go

Strangely enough or maybe this is purely coincidence, it has never died out when it had a full tank of gas and only has shown symptoms at 1/2 a tank and below. And when it has died out it has always (well 90% of the time) been on an incline or decline such as a steep on or off ramp on the highway

I've never messed with a DA fuel tank before but I know you have to drop the tank to put in a new fuel pump, is it possible the previous owners fucked it up somehow? Maybe didn't put the sock on correctly? Or is the 1/2 tank and incline/decline pure coincidence and it's something like a faulty 27 year old main relay? I mean, I do find it strange the car does start back up after sitting for a while on the incline/decline if it were a fuel slosh or bad pickup/sock issue

Any thoughts? I'm going to try and diagnose it today but as you know it's hard to find the problem when you can't replicate the problem.

kb8thekid

Does it do this when it's hot out? If it does, it sounds like the MFR (main fuel relay) mine would do it all the time, it would start in the morning, then by lunch when it was hot, it just wouldn't start or would die, I would let it air out a bit and then boom it would start, but once I changed the MFR no more issues. it's a cheap part and a good place to start since you said all the other stuff has been replaced.

onelostcoupe

I'm not sure, like I said it's a friends car and it hasn't happened when I've driven it. But I'm not really sure, it might. The problems started maybe 2 weeks ago and that's around the time we started getting some 50-70 degree weather which has been a lot warmer than the 20-30 degrees we've been having. It does seem to happen only after the car has been driven for a while though. I've tried a few times to replicate the problem when the car is cold started in the mornings and can't. Even driving up and down some fairly steep roads won't do it.

Is the MFR the same as the main relay? Or is that a different one?

kb8thekid

from my knowledge it's Main fuel relay, don't know if Honda changed the name of it or not, it's a black square box that goes under the steering wheel area and it comes with a silver bracket on it.

kb8thekid

90-93 Acura Integra OEM main fuel gas pump relay Part # RZ-0067 Mitsuba | eBay

onelostcoupe

ok I guess that's a different relay then. I think the main relay is right behind the coin holder to the left of the steering wheel. Unless that's the area you were referring to?

onelostcoupe

oh, ok I've seen that part called just the main relay. So we're on the same page then. I'll hit up the junkyard and see if there are any integra's, or I'll open mine up and solder up any cracked joints

kb8thekid

yeah, if you have someone else with another DA and can borrow it for a few days and see if it stops doing what it's doing or like you said, getting one from the junkyard and see if that works. GL man.

91akira

Try looking at the "igniter" in the distributor. Hope this might give you an insight. In 2004 I drove on the freeway. All of a sudden the car shut off (DIED). I pulled off to the side and tried starting it. Cranked and cranked. Stopped trying to start it and waited about 5 minutes.. started up and went on my way. Three days later it happened again. I changed out that igniter in my distributor. It never happened again. Years later I had the famous issue with "the car not starting after it has been ran" And that the famous culprit was the Main fuel relay. When I replace that one, I again had no starting problems. Hope this helps you out.

tamboo

bad icm will usually make the tach jump around.
main relay can sometimes be fixed with soldering iron.

Advanced Ignition Troubleshooting - Team Integra Forums - Team Integra

Honda Acura Essential Electrical Repair Website. Troubleshooting Main Relay, Coil, Igniter, etc.

could also be bad engine coolant temp sensor. fuel pump might also be on the way out.
all that stuff breaks eventually, ask me how i know...

UndergroundTrev

I have a 1991 Integra that has almost the exact same problem! The car ran great, then I let it sit for three years. Last year I started fixing it up and driving it again, but since I've put it back on the road it will start to sputter when I get below a 1/2 tank of fuel. Around 1/4 tank or below the car will start to really sputter and stall. If it does stall, all I need to do is let it sit for a while, then it will start again and I hurry to the nearest gas station. After filling up, the car runs great again.
As far as I know, the fuel pump has never been touched, and I've owned the car for the last 10 years. I was chalking this one up to something possibly floating on top of the fuel, perhaps some old gas gelled up from sitting for so long. I just haven't taken anything apart yet to check.

trm4life

It's a common problem, for the ignition coil (inside the distributor) when it is towards the end of its life, to fail when hot. Id replace the ignition module or find another used distributor, and see if the problem is the same.