Ok, I need help! please. 92 accord lx. last couple of days had a problem starting. engine turns over and runs for a few seconds then shuts off. after about 3-4 try's it starts. full tank of gas, good battery, all fluid levels fine. last night while driving home spedometer goes from 70 to 0 lights dim a little. i noticed clock light went out. engine acting like it shut off (lost power) completely then came back on rpms and mph came back and clock light came back on (D4 trans light flashed for a little while). did this about 3 times as i pray i can make it home. get home and shut off. restart with no problem.

this morning starts and run a few seconds and shuts off. several times before it stays running. I went in house and left it running for 2 min. came back and car was not running and it never would start again.

help. thanks

 

Start with the basics - fuel & spark. Check this stuff & post back with answers...

Turn the key on, not start. The fuel pump should run for about 2 seconds then quit. It's not very loud so listen for it. The idiot lights have to be on, too. Especially the check-engine light.

After trying to start it, can you smell fuel at the tailpipe?

Pull off a spark plug wire, stick on an old plug, lay it against a good ground. Crank the engine & watch the spark. Strong & blue? What's it look like?

 

Thanks JimBlake

I could definitely hear the fuel pump this morning. I will re-check and check spark and for the smell coming out of exhaust when i get home. I was going to go by the parts store and get a fuel filter, thinking maybe it is bad.
Any ideas on anything else i should pick up while there?

I'll post back with my finding's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92lxguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any ideas on anything else i should pick up while there?</TD></TR></TABLE>Got a multi-meter? Sparkplug socket?
Depending on what you find you might get into electrical checks... or who knows.

If you don't have spark you can look around in the distributor for anything suspicious like broken peices of stuff. If you don't find anything like that you'll want a meter to check out some stuff.

If any of your normal tune-up stuff is really old (plugs, cap/rotor, ?) you can get those, but until you find what's wrong you're guessing for now. Any reason to really suspect the fuel filter or it's just old??

Coil, ignitor, main relay are possibilities, but until you actually find something wrong don't just buy everything.

I don't have a '92 so I hope someone who owns that generation Accord can chime in. I just wanted to get you started systematically with the basics before everybody starts telling you it's the alternator.

 

my friends crx had a similar problem, said screw it and pulled the motor... we were going to pull his motor anyway. while we were taking it out we noticed a ground cooked itself apart.

get a multimeter and start checking wires

 

Ok, I know its not fuel or spark as both are present. One thing I did notice is that when I turn the key to the second position you can normally turn on the radio, etc..and all dash lights would come on. This does not happen until you acutally start the vehicle when key is in the third position. I think this is definitely an electrical problem.

Any ideas about where I should start checking?

 

found the problem. Its the ignition switch. If I hold it slightly forward after the engine starts I can keep it running without any starter noise. Also in second position if wiggled just right the dash lights come on.

I need to know how to remove the old switch. I removed as much as I could with no help and it looks like the core should come out for a swap but I dont see how this works......help!

Also does anyone know where I can get a replacement besides the dealer(I know the keys would have to either be different).

Thanks

 

try accordstore.com, or ebaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay