Well. It seems that 16 years is the magic age for the '92 Accord, because I've been having problem after problem. Here's the latest one, and it's a doozy.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have noticed that whenever I try to start the car in unusually cold weather (unusual compared to, say, 50 degrees), it would tend to struggle turning over before starting. It had more and more difficulty. I didn't think much of it, because it's a fact that the car has always performed better in non-freezing conditions. Plus it wouldn't have difficulty starting again afterward, presumably because the engine hadn't yet cooled back down.

Tonight it tried and gave up. Turned over about a dozen times, each time getting slower and slower (about four per second), and then it tapered off, stopped trying, and lit the check engine light. Tried it again in about 30 seconds and got about the same thing.

Now I need to mention that my car currently suffers from the main relay problem, which is the one where whenever it's blisteringly hot outside, the badly-manufactured relay tends to prevent the car from starting, until it's had a chance to cool off a bit. I'll be fixing that problem manually, as it's an easy fix for anyone with even a little soldering background. I am 99% sure that problem is completely unrelated to this one.

I don't think it's the battery. I can turn on the headlights.

This is really going to bite me hard if I can't get it sorted out before it causes me to be unable to go to work one morning. So if anyone can suggest what may be going on, as well as an estimated cost to get it repaired, I'd appreciate it.

 

check the distributor... thats what was wrong with mine..

 

Don't rule out the battery just yet, it could be that you have the volts (headlights turning on) but not the amps (slow turning over). I would get the battery tested first and see what comes of it, that's the easiest first step.

 

First things first, fix your main relay. If you are are so sure that the poorly manufactured part is not working. And yes if you have left a bad main relay in teh car long enough it can give up the Ghost eventually.

Then if fixing/replacing the MR doesn't fix the problem,

lol......have your battery tested/checked out properly. Turning on the headlights is no way to test a battery. A battery can have enough juice to run the lights and even the radio but not have enough to crank the engine over.