OK. I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my car. She cranks only once or twice a day Three times if I'm lucky. Afterwards I get nothing. Wait about 2hrs and it cranks again. I've narrowed it down to either a bad ignition coil...or main relay...someone that'd experience this same thing please. Share ur insight on what u did to fix the issue.

 

Do a spark test and a fuel pressure test.

If there's no spark, it's likely the coil.

If there's no fuel pressure, it's likely the main relay.

 

Tested the spark out and it's working got jolted..lmao how do I go about doing the fuel test?

 

Well, the best way to do it is check out a fuel pressure test kit from the parts store. It screws into the test port (I think it's on the fuel rail, but it might be on top of the fuel filter). Then click the key over to "on." This causes the fuel pump to prime the gas lines in preparation for ignition. You should be reading 35-45 psi on the meter.

The cheap, dangerous, imprecise, NO SMOKING method is just to loosen the bolt on top of the fuel filter and watch it while a buddy primes the lines. Gas should spray out vigorously. Again, no smoking.

If the fuel pump isn't priming the lines, there's a good chance the Main Relay is out. It's a common problem. I replaced the one in my '90 Accord. It's not hard to replace if you can contort yourself to reach up under the dash and fetch it.

It's a grey box attached. Pull off the cover and look for dark scoring around the solder points. If they look like the one pictured, you can either try to resolder them or just get a new one. They're about $50 from the parts store.

 

IF it stops cranking what is your battery voltage? If I read this correctly then it will turn over 2-3 times then wont anymore.

 

Can't find the relay to save my life I took some pictures but I dunno how to upload em. I found a gray metal box the chip on the inside looked fairly new though. No black marks.

 

OK that was my cruise control board I was looking at I got the main relay out and it has dark marks around certain points

 

If the coil goes out it's not going to start at all. If the main relay goes out, it usually is intermittently, meaning it will start after waiting for some period of time.

You can either try to resolder them if you know what you're doing and have the tools or get one dirt cheap at rockauto. Just do a search for "rock auto coupon code" before buying and look around you can find them in different categories at that site, and they call them different things in each category.

 

Thx that site is a lifesaver. And a 3 ur warranty. To boot vs 50 bucks at autozone and just a year warranty? I'll be buying my parts from here. I'll keep u posted

 

Coupon codes for Rockauto? Nice! Good to know. Thanks, manny!

 

how do you do a spark test?

 

Unplug one of the spark plug wires, but leave the plug screwed in. Push a spare plug into the wire and ground it against the valve cover, then have a friend start the car. Shade the plug against the sunlight and you should see a regular, rhythmic spark in the plug. Repeat with the other 3 wires.

 

okay i changed the ignition main relay dist cap plugs wires and rotor. Ran for about 3 days and its back to the same thing. cranks first time after running and recranking it doesnnt start wait about an hr and it cranks

 

What does the spark look like?

You may want to test your fuel pressure next. Go to a parts store and check out a fuel pressure test kit. There should be a test bolt either on top of the fuel filter or on the fuel rail, and the gauge screws into there. Pressure should read 40-50 psi, I believe.

 

OK I had someone come look at her yesterday and he's concluded it's the fuel fiter. Tried cranking it didn't crank...however sprayed ether into the intake and it tried to crank once I stopped spraying he should right back off. Haven't changed the filter since I got it...and he shoots fuel supply system error. So is this what it is? Dirty fuel fit?