My wife called me this morning after I left for work and told me she went to start her 91 Accord and it wouldn't start. She said it would crank but would not start. I told her to let it sit for a minute or two and try and again and to repeat that until it started. It started after the third or fourth try. This has happened once before a few months ago.

The car sat overnight as it always does. The weather is not terribly cold. The car has a full tank.

Do you think it could be signs of a bad starter beginning to slowly go out? I did a tune up on the car when I changed the timing belt a year ago. The only thing I haven't done since buying the car two years ago is change the fuel filter. Any places you can have me start looking would be great! Thanks.

Aaron

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amb4081 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The car sat overnight as it always does.</TD></TR></TABLE>Let it sit overnight & then you start it. Since you've done timing belts & stuff, you should be able to recognize whether the starter is spinning as fast as normal or if it's slowing down. That's about all there is to a starter... But slow cranking can also be a weak battery.

If it cranks strong, but takes longer to start, try pausing with the key at 'run' for a couple seconds while the fuel pump primes. If the pump check valve or the FPR is leaky, maybe the fuel pressure takes a couple tries before it's good.

Then check tune-up stuff. Look for arcing plug-wires in the dark. Put a bottle of Techron (or your favorite stuff) into the gas tank.

 

Thanks for the prompt response. I will check it tonight.

 

hmmmm, turn the car on, not started, and make sure you here the fuel pump turn on for 2-3 seconds. fuel filter isn't a bad idea either.

but here's the real question....
does the car ever go down the road, and shut off, or stop working for a few seconds, tach stop working etc? if so this is probably a distributor issue. not to say if these things don't happen that it isn't a distributor issue. more specifically, honda distributors in this car had a faulty ignitor. the ignitor is only called that for honda and a couple other makes though, so if your asking around, call it a ground switching device, or an ignition module. this is pretty easy to replace, and about $70 i think. Also, if the ignitor is bad, it very well could have taken out your ignition coil as well, which is about $80. Unfortunately, not many places can test these things, although it is possible. Some auto parts stores have the equippment to test the ignitor, but not many, and you probably wouldn't be able to tell anything about the ignition coil with traditional methods since it is intermittent.

I had an intermitten no start issue with my 92 accord ex, and turned out to be the ignitor. i didn't figure this out until alot of reading up online, and after replacing the ignition coil.

to properly test the plug wires:
spray water on the plug wires, and get an automotive test light. clip the test light to a good ground, and run the test light probe over the plug wires(just trace them, barely touching). look for arching from the wires to the test light.

or get an oscilloscope and a low amp clamp, see what your spark patterns look like
...but that might be a little much for the do it yourselfer

good luck, and check out the recalls on that model year for distributors.

 

Well, so far I have not been able to get the car to repeat its symptoms. It started just fine this morning after a day and a half of sitting. Plus it was only 12 degrees out this morning. If anything new happens, I'll post my experience. Thanks.

 

The problem you describe being so intermittent, if I had one guess at it I would say it's the main relay. 2nd guess would be the igniter like someone else mentioned.