Hey everybody, i am just finishing up my car after not having it for 5 months. It just got out of the paintshop and i am just finishing up a turbo install on it. My main relay always gave me **** on hot days, it wouldn't prime the fuel pump, but eventually it would.

Fast forward to today. I am getting ready to crank my car for the first time today-i wanted to make sure i had no oil leaks and that my fuel injectors worked. I turn the ignition over and the pump doesn't prime, but everything else was normal. All of the dummy lights came on in the cluster, but it just wouldn't prime the pump. After a few tries, the pump eventually primes, but the only cluster light that comes on is the battery light. The engine fires and everything seems ok (runs like **** because of no tune) but i have no tach.

I decide i am going to take out the main relay and go over the solder connection so i can get this thing to work. I fumble with it for a while, and then my dad came out to see what i was doing. I go to show him what the car is doing, but when i turn the ignition on EVERYTHING was normal, and i had a tach again. I continue to get the relay out, and then i went over the soldering connections. I heated up a few that looked cracked and then put it back in. Now i have the problem all of the time. The fuel pump primes every time, but i have no tach. When you turn on just the ignition, i get just a battery light and a solid light from the ecu.

 

Below is my Main Relay Faq. More problems are fixed by replacing or repairing it than I can count...... I had all sorts of different problems before I replaced mine in April, and life has been good since!!

Are you pulling your hair out because your ECU is throwing a 16 blink "Fuel Injection" code, your idle goes up and down,injectors cut out when you hit the gas and your car won't re-start when its' been off for a few minutes? Where did your power go? Think you've checked everything? Nope,wasn't injectors,starter,ECU,fuel pump,dizzy,fuses,plugs,igniter,battery...this is getting expensive,and nothing works! What the hell is it #@!$$$@%!!!!!?

My friends, it probably is your "Main Relay"! (AKA Main Fuel Relay, PGM-FI Main Relay, Fuel Injector Relay..)
It handles power to both fuel pump and injectors in the starting sequence.



Swap it out and she'll run like new!!! @$40 at O'Reilley, or if you're handy with a soldering iron, fill the gaps around the pins....

Check out these articles...


http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq....html
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq....html
http://autorepair.about.com/cs...a.htm
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/mainrelay.html
Now then, where the hell is the pesky thing anyway?

Above your hood release to the left of the coin box next to the kick panel..
Get a flashlight in your teeth,lay down on the floor upside down and prepare to cuss...
It's an ornery bugger to get to. You must use a socket wrench (the smaller the better...). Remove fuse panel,coin box and hood release to get some room. Yep,its that big thing that says "Mitsuba" on it...

That's it, you can cancel your psychiatrist appointment and crack that Heineken. By God, it starts!!!



Modified by TEXREX88 at 11:37 PM 12/24/2006

 

Well it ended up being a fuse, but now that i resoldered the connections, the fuel pump primes EVERY time!

 

http://techauto.tripod.com/mainrelay.htm

heres another good one