1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

I've had my 92 hatchback vx for about a year now. It has run great and the mileage has been consistently between 44-50 the entire time. Ever since day one I have had an issue with it wanting to start sometimes after it has been driven.

Nearly every day I drive about 2.5 miles and then have to stop and go to the post office (I turn the car off while inside). When I get back in to start the vehicle it will sometimes not want to start. It cranks and all that good stuff. Usually when it does this it will fire and the tach will go up to about 1500, typical start, and then fall right back to zero (car dies). The gas pedal during this time is unresponsive during. I usually have to try starting it 3-15 times with a couple second crank before it will finally start up and run as it should.

I have never had an issue with a true cold start and it has done it after a completely warm start as well (engine temp on my post office trip isn't completely up to operating temp when I arrive). I would think that if it was the fuel pump that my mileage would suffer and it wouldn't be as intermittent.

It is difficult to trouble shoot because I can't necessarily predict when it will happen all the time and I don't have a fuel pressure gauge installed to check when it won't start.

Does anyone have any opinions or ideas on what the issue may be? I can do more trouble shooting if anyone needs more information in order to provide an educated guess. Let me know what you think and I appreciate any assistance.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Resolder the main relay.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Sounds simple enough, I'm pretty good at soldering so I'll give it a shot. Any info where the main relay in on this particular vehicle? 92 hb vx

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

what ron said, and also the main relay is under your dash right next to your hood latch assembly .. where you pull to open your hood lol can't find a word for it.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Thanks, I'll pull it out in the next day or so (when I get some free time) and take a look at it and resolder it and see if that works.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

highlighted in red

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Thanks very much. That definitely will help out a lot. I appreciate the help everyone.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

np let us know how it goes.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Yeah, I definitely will.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Thanks for the post honda.

I noticed something else today that I have not seen in the past. The tach seems to be acting up a little. It is reading lower than it should and at stops it is nearly zero, however the car seems to be idling fine. A couple of times around 1k rpms i noticed a jumpy behavior of around 200 rpms. Just thought i'd throw that out for diagnosis purposes.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Add test igniter unit to resoldering the main relay.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

I'm not sure what you mean. I have the relay pulled out now and out of the casing. I'm heating up the iron.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Well, just finished up soldering it. I resoldered all connections except the main pins on the outside. I reflowed those with a bit of new rosin core. All in all, it wasn't too bad. Not really a quick way of finding out if it fixes the issue or not.

I did start it up and saw that jump in the tach. I will keep my eye on that.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Took a drive on it, the usual everyday drive, and it worked well. Time will only tell if this was the fix. My rpms are definitely different than what I'm use to. Not sure if it is because it is working right or what, but does anyone know where I can find out they should be at different speeds and grearing? It is a vx, all stock.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

sounds like the main relay 2 me jus buy a new one bro ten min fix

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Well, I soldered it. I was reading that purchasing a new one may just as easily result in bad soldering as well (from the factory).

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Just took it for a quick spin to check the rpms in 5th at 30mph. They showed around 500, not right. I believe they should be right at about 1000. With the mechanics of things, it has to be an electrical thing because the rpms have to match the speed. Could this still be a main relay issue? I can't say if the starting issue has gone away, but it hasn't done it yet (doesn't do it every day).

It appears that the tach is reading about 500 rpms low b/c at idle it will show about 100 or so, but the vehicle is idling just fine and sounds good.

Edit: all the other gauges appear to work perfectly

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Well..... After about a month of doing this I have not had a single issue with starting after a quick trip. I am confident to say that the issue has been resolved successfully. Thank you everyone for your help.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Hey guys, I'm new to these forums. Recently got a 92 hatchback vx with a D16Y8 swap. Ran fine on the hour long drive home. Shortly turned it off and came back to start it and it wouldn't start anymore. It'd crank, just not start. Then randomly when I try to start it it went well. Could this also be the relay? A mechanic says its either the distributor or ignition switch. Both $200+ items. Any ideas? Please and thanks.

Re: 1992 Vx Hatch - Fuel Pump or Relay?
 

Figured it out, it turns out it was just my relay that was going bad. Swapped it out with a junkyard one temporarily and bam! Started right up ever since.