Hi All,

I am a newbie on this forum and am seeking words of wisdom and experience. I have a situation and have done some research around it. I have a 4 cylinder 1997 Honda Accord (4 door auto). The other day it stalled and since then it cranks fine but does not come on. It started up a few times sporadically but within a few seconds the rpm cuts and it dies again.

Ever since, I have changed the spark plugs, the main relay, ignition coil, air filter, put Lucas fuel filter cleaner in the tank and had the battery recharged but none of that has helped.

I plan on renting an OBDII scanner today and read the codes. My next guess is crank angle sensor. However, I am posting here to see if you guys feel I am on the right track or any ideas or things I might have over looked. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

I would def see if there are any cel codes first then I would start narrowing it down before throwing any more parts at it.

 

Welcome, you don't even need to bother with the code scanner, under the glovebox there is a small blue electrical connection, just jump those points with a paperclip or other conductive metal and turn your key to the on, but not start position.

Your MIL will flash out the current codes stored.
A long flash = increments of 10
A short flash = increments of 1
You can search on here or Google whatever codes it flashes out.
This will help you narrow things down so your not wasting money throwing parts at it.
Good luck.

 

Shoot some starting fluid into the throttle body, if it starts right up you have a fuel problem. Probably the pump

 

Update, I ran the codes and it is throwing a P0302 (cylinder 2 misfire) and P1399 (which I believe is a random misfire).

Next steps are to isolate the spark plug wire to cylinder 2 and back track to the distributor and ignition coil. I bought a little spark plug look alike tool to test the spark. Will update what I find.

 

Also, I appreciate all the responses.

 

No luck fellas. The plugs are getting the spark but car is not co operating. Now I need to try shooting some starting fluid in the throttle body to see if it's the fuel pump.

 

When you turn the key to the on position, can you hear the fuel pump priming in the back?

 

I didn't notice that but I will try to listen for it.

 

Does anyone have the original pics for this write up from the FAQ section explaining how to change the fuel pump.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/my-fuel-pump-install-experience-94-accord-ex-548287/

I think I might end up doing this.

 

Key in the on position, are you getting 12v on the black/yellow wire going into the dist?

What did the starting fluid test show?

 

I didn't get a chance to do that yet but primarily because I can hear the fuel pump prime when I turn the ignition on and it has started a few times. Here is the progress, I did replace the starter and the car came on. It ran fine and idled fine once at operating temperature for about 10 minutes but then when I put it in Drive, it stalled again.

It is giving the same starting trouble again. A quick recap, have replaced the main relay, ignition coil, spark plugs, spark plug wires, starter and put some fuel system cleaning fluid in the tank.

I'm almost out of ideas.

 

Here is the update. I sprayed starter fluid down the throttle body twice but the car didn't start.Then unscrewed the bolt on the fuel rail with the key in th ON position and fuel squirted out. It leads me to believe the fuel pump is working.

I also did the Ohm test on the injectors and they all read 2.54-2.56 Ohms. As a desperate attempt I took out the distributor and changed the direction of the rotor but that didn't help either and I changed it back.

I'm getting 5 long blinks and 1 short. Also, I'm getting 12 volts on the yellow/black wire to the starter.

I would appreciate any help at this point.

 

So you have fuel right, if you want to be sure crack the top bolt on the fuel filter and turn the key to see if fuel squirts out, will be a little messy just do it once.

I am wondering if the ICM is bad in the dizzy, if you have coil I think you have an ICM, some parts stores can test it for you.

Could be a bad dizzy.

 

I had teh dizzy tested out by visual inspection at the Advance auto parts store. They took the cap out and it has no signs of wear. I'm thinking of doing a compression test next, might be a major vaccuum leak.

 

Visual inspection will do you no good, you need to test the icm, either with a multi meter, there are stickies or some parts stores can test it for you.

 

Are you sure the fuel is good No E85 or diesel? are the plugs getting wet can you hear the inj. click use a noid lite on the inj. for comp control

 

Update,

I got a timing light and it was strobing on all spark plug wires. I had a friend crank the car while I changed the timing with the distributor and it started every time. However, the timing marks on the crank pulley are all the same color (dirt). Tried cleaning those up but still the same. I think once I start it by moving the distributor, I can probably set the timing and hopefully it should all be good. I need to figure out a way to color the timing marks again.