I'm the original owner of a 92 Accord Lx 5 speed with 335000 miles which lately has been having problems which I think are related. First, the idle has a subtle roughness, and will often have a slight surge (~50 rpm). More troubling, the car will not hot start (like after filling up) until I wait 5-10 minutes. At speed it runs fine. Fuel economy has shown a very slight (5%) drop. No check engine lights are showing; I have NOT had the computer scanned.

I suspect the fuel injectors...any other thoughts? How much should it cost to get them checked/repaired/replaced??

One other thing...how much should replacing the engine mounts cost? I notice the engine vibration more now, but this predates the problems described above.

Any help appreciated.

Wontstart

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wontstart &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> More troubling, the car will not hot start (like after filling up) until I wait 5-10 minutes. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Have you checked the main relay for cracked solder joints?

 

yes, i have, and the main relay does not have any problems. I've managed to avoid that problem so far.

Thanks for the response.

wontstart

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wontstart &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes, i have, and the main relay does not have any problems. I've managed to avoid that problem so far.

Thanks for the response.
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Try unplugging the ECT sensor the next time it acts up to see if it starts.

 

ok...good idea. I'll give that a try.

 

ECT Sensor, lets see, it is a negative coefficient resistor, cold engine equals high resistance, hot engine equals low resistance, YES, unplug it and tell the computer that it is 40 below zero and flood the engine with lots of gas on a hot engine.

If it starts great, change it, if it doesnt, it still could be the ECT, go to radio shack and buy a 330 ohm resister and put it in the connector, this should equal a nice day outside with a properly warmed up engine.

If none of this helps then go for a drive like usual and shut it off like usual in your own driveway, let it hot soak and try to restart, no start. water down the distributor aluminum housing more around where it is bolted to the engine to help cool it down, if it starts up sooner then look at the internals like igniter and coil.

If you do this test and let us know I have easy igniter test procedure for you next.

 

It's the ECT sensor. It failed the test, so I replaced it and the car starts just fine.

Thanks!!

 

Duane,
What's your easy ignitor test? I'd like to hear it. I'm having a no-start problem with my '91, it is very random, very frequent and so far as I can tell there's no pattern yet (hot vs. cold, etc). It's a no-spark prob, not a no-fuel, so main relay is out. I have replaced the cap, rotor, coil and ignitor and it happened once again to me yesterday (although it is much less frequent since replacing the ignitor). What's your test procedure?

Thanks,
Darel

 

i'll bet its your ignitor pack. its an internal coil dizzy right. cause i had same prob with mine. guess accord dizzy's are kinda weak and crappy. but i still love my cb7 anyway.

 

Gain access to the ignition coil, use a regular test light and put it to a ground and probe the tip to the negative coil terminal, turn the key on and engine off (KOEO), the light should recieve 12 volts from the ignition switch through a fuse, not sure which one on your car, no light = check fuses and ignition switch. If you have power then crank the car, the light should turn off and on completely, if it turns off and on completely then you have a bad coil, if it barely goes dim and brighter then change the ignitor.

How long the light stays off and on is called dwell, I have heard of some techs using a dwell meter or possibly they use the dwell section of their oscilloscope. There is a minimum amount of dwell and I think it is 4 but not exactly sure. From one to four the ignitor is working but doesnt stay on long enough to charge up the coil to enough to create any real spark. This is when the test light seems to flash but barely.

I may not have said it correctly about the coil charging up but essencially that is what is happening.

 

Thanks Duane!

Is there a way to test an ignitor out of the car? I'd like to test the one I pulled out without having to stick it back in the car and wait for it to decide not to start, probably at 2 am in a dark alley...

Thanks again! This is getting printed and stuck in the glove box!

Darel

 

I would say that if you cannot change it in about 30 minutes then you have a pretty good car, what I mean is that if you change these things enough like a technicial would then you learn to diagnose them and change them in very short order. There are advocates of many different types a cars need to change both the coil and the ICM at the same time but some folks just cant afford that depending on the model. Theoretically one item can make the other item go bad do to a slightly shorted coil or a transister in the ICM allowing to much current to flow or not releasing its clamp quick enough, works for now but eventually may take out both units together or kill its partner again and again, this repaeated failure is a history failure, bad coils and ignitors on Hondas are called pattern failures, a very well known problem.

I suppose it could be tested off of the car with special hook ups, not as easy as say a solenoid. There is a voltage check while on the car and I have read it here or in another forum not long ago but I didnt copy it because I already have my own test procedure that is pretty safe and I also have a scope for the dwell test if in serious doubt.

To continue from memory on an earlier subject of coil charging, when you turn on the key the coil gets fully charged, when the dizzy starts to turn and the reluctors and pick up coils start to show RPM and TDC and each individual cylinder location, timing starts to be calculated for spark and injection. Spark is crated when the ICM opens the circuit and kills the coil, the coil then kicks back a CEMF into the secondary and BOOM, thousands of volts to create a spark. At the right time the ICM reconnects the circuit to the coil and allows it to be charged up again awaiting the next timing point to be released once more for the next cylinder in the firing order, this also includes injector timing. Of course injection and spark do not occur at the same time. Intake some air while squirting fuel then squeeze it during the compression stroke then BOOM, while still being compressed the A/F mixture is ignited at just the right time and many other factors are involved within the computer programming to decide when this spark happens, how far in advance of TDC so the ignitor and coil are not the only things involved but mainly the dizzy is doing all the work to create spark.