experienced loss of power and difficulty starting VERY occasionally the past couple months. it's sporadic and has only occurred a handful of times all over the course of a couple months.

1st time I was stopped at a red light on an incline, making a left onto a level street. green light, hit the gas, and i barely crawled through the intersection. put on my hazards and jumped in the right lane, suddenly everything was fine. i even punched the gas to the next light, she was zippy as ever.

few weeks later i go to leave work she won't start. deep grumbling sound, revs don't go up, just like stalling out a manual car by not giving it enough gas. wait half an hour and she starts fine and drove her home no problem.

similar loss of power happened on the road in 2 other instances. red light, hit the gas and she crawls by, then a few seconds later i have normal power. a month goes by without a hitch. filled up with gas, drove 9 miles, parked in my driveway which is at an incline, a little steep but not front-end scraping or anything. i went to start the car 15 minutes later and it wouldn't start, same as last time. this time i took a video of me attempting to start the car, you can hear the deep grumbling noise, and you can see the gas tank is full and engine oil is already warm from me driving home. here's the video http://www.mediafire.com/?ay0aue2f476bwjb

i just hit 105k miles and will be getting the tuneup done in a week, my timing belt was replaced at 90k. i don't really know much about cars, i just don't want this to develop into a huge expensive issue and it seems like a warning sign. i hope i can do some preventative care and keep her running for another hundred thousand

2002 Accord Coupe EX-V6


edit: not sure if it's relevant or not but my kenwood radio has been dying also. first the AUX input stopped appearing as an option so there was no way to use it. now the ipod/USB still appears but when you try to play it says MECHA ERROR. so only thing that works is radio tuner now so i've been listening to NPR on my drive ha. could this be some sort of electrical issue or is it just coincidence that this happened recently as well? i know decks die so no biggie i just hope my car didn't kill it

 

Spades,

It could be several things. Not to be unhelpful, but without some testing, it is hard to say. So all this is a wild azz guess and a few things to test. going to go from easiest/quickest to more advanced.

Basics. Fuel, air, spark, timing. We can rule out timing (at least timing chain/cam/valve issues.); and unless you have a slumbering squirrel in your air box that roles over at long intervals we can rule out air. Let's take spark, first.

Multimeter on the battery. What is the reading with the engine off? Then on? If you are getting a higher read than 12.5V with the car running, then the alternator is doing its job, although it could be nearing end of life. Check the belt. Used cracked, or stretched? Replace it. Better now than on the side of the highway. They are not meant to last forever. Is the battery lower than 11.5V with the engine off? Bad juju. Have it Load Tested at a parts house.

When you have get the no start is it hot inside the car? Have the windows been up on sitting in the sun? Main relays under the dashboard control the fuel pump. As they age, the solder connections go bad. No connection, no pump, no fuel. When you have a no start, turn everything off (quiet cab) When you turn the key to the second position (no crank) do you hear a humming or a whirring noise from the back seat? That should be your fuel pump priming the line to operating pressure. It should go off after a few seconds. If you don't hear it, then you are not getting power to it, and the main relay is the usual suspect.

Now break out the tool box. When you have a no start. Pull the spark plug and put the tip back into the wire. Ground the plug to the car and have someone crank the engine. Don't be leaning on the car and don't hold the wire close to the ground. It is going to spark and arc to ground. You might feel a 'tingling sensation'. But you will have eliminated spark plugs, wires, distributor, coil and ignitor as the issue. Pretty much from the battery to the spark plug is doing its job. If not, then I would suspect your distributor (not just the cap.) More detail troubleshooting will be necessary if you get no or weak spark.

So far so good? Fuel system. When that plug is out for testing, see if you smell gas when you pump the pedal (don't hold the pedal down steady on the floor, pump it) If you don't have a gas in the combustion chamber, it is time to work backwards to the tank. Common culprits are fuel filters being restricted, fuel pumps, low fuel pressure in the rail/injectors.

Because the issue with performance has been intermittent over time, I don't think the issue with the radio is related. If you had a bad alternator it likely would have died by now and you would have a dead battery.

If I had to take a bet, I would place my money on Main Relay or distributor. Both these components cause the symptoms you describe and take a few months to really get bad. But they will get progressively worse until it will not start or run at all. The good news is they are both easy fixes for anyone whom has the desire to spend some an hour of quality time with their vehicle.