For months my Accord has had starting problems. At times it would not start but if you kept trying, removed the key and tried again it would eventually start. One day it wouldn't start at all, been trying to start it multiple times for about a week now and nothing. At times it seems to want to start but will not. All the lights and radio works fine. Took the battery out and had it tested and it was fine with a full charge. This weekend I pulled the starter and had it tested and it tested fine as well. What should I check next?

Thanks!

 

Start with the simple things....test for spark and fuel.

What do the spark plugs look like?

 

Check with your dealer for any ignition switch recalls for that car

 

If you try to start, and nothing at all happens, try moving the shift lever to neutral. Could be the shift position safety switch.

 

Ok, so far......

Had autozone check battery and starter and was told both were fine.
Tried starting car in neutral and nothing.
Changed spark plugs.

Car still wont start, posted a video on youtube if anyone can take a look and maybe someone can figure it out? Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur_-Q...ature=youtu.be

How would I check for fuel? It seems the fuel pump is turning on before I start the car, is there something else I should check?

 

Hang on, after watching and trying to listen (grew up in the 70's/80's so head banging loud music took care of that ). It appears the starter is not spinning the engine fast enough.

What happens if you try to jump start it using jumper cables?

Where I'm at right now, yes I know "someone tested", is a bad/waek battery under load. A starter being old and drawing too many amps or bad connections on the battery to the starter and or ground

 

Havent tried jumping it cause its in the garage, would be a tough push to get it back in there if it didnt work. So........ If it does turn over if I try and jump start it does that mean weak starter or battery?

 

When jumping....still could be....Starter, battery or the connections to them.......and then the grounds.

The cables at the battery should be clean and tinght....if they "wiggle", they are bad.

 

Pushed it out of the garage and tried to jump start it today, still no luck. It didnt make a difference when the car was being jumped, still didnt get any closer to starting.

 

I agree with >Lost Again< - here is my situation I am dealing with right now:
2003 Accord EX 4-cyl, 151k miles, going strong ... so anyhow, here is the story:
Since we bought the car in 2007 every 2 years we would have to buy a battery every 2 years (and it fell on late fall / early winter) when colder weather kicks in; so, this year we kind of researched more. Result of the research is that there is no parasitic drain, battery was reading 12.8V which was super great since the battery was 2 years old duralast gold.

Note: Battery jump start (car to car) would work every time.

I strongly believe that there is a short in the wire from battery to starter relay/solenoid, OR starter itself.

Starters usually when they are dead, they are dead! So here is my theory:
Wiring from battery to starter must be loosing power when the car is started. So it pools from battery, looses it along the way to starter and naturally starter cannot turn over (more likely in cold weather). Over the span of 2 years every time battery was still tested good, but car would not start - therefore, replacement of the battery would fix it for another 2 years only.

I was not lazy and after seeing couple of videos on youtube, here is what I did:
I went to Walmart, bought multimeter and then I measured Voltage level in battery which read 12.8 after jumping the car around 5pm, driving for 20 minutes, and then car sitting in the garage for 5 hours... 12.8V... So next thing was parasitic drain test with multimeter: took off black (ground) wire, and with multimeter switched to DC, to measure: red register I placed on black wire (ground) and black register I put onto the black on battery (negative) - per youtube video EricTheGarageGuy or something like that said that drain should not be more than 50mA... my readings were between 0.02 and 0.35... so, there is no parasitic drain (huh, glad I saw those numbers as the investigation may cost money)... last thing left was starter... connection to it, or starter itself.
Tried to replicate "car won't start" scenario but for the love of God I could not get it to NOT start... it started like dozen times when I tried. I am sure both black and red wire were connected to battery just fine before - so that's not it... just my luck I guess.

Waiting to see car "not" starting to try to kick starter with something and see if that changes - that should eliminate whether starter is good or bad I hope; going to my mechanic tomorrow anyway to check on this since I am off.

There you have it

 

Wait does the engine turn over but it doesnt start or does the engine not turn over at all?
My fiance has an '08 Ford Escape and sometimes when you turn the key it doesnt turn over but if you try it again then the engine turns over and it starts as normal. No idea what it is but until it wont turn over we're going to just keep driving it.
Ive tried searching online for it and it seems like a common Escape problem but no one seems to know what causes it or how to fix it, so as long as the vehicle starts after you turn the key a couple times, Im not going to worry about it. I dont even want to know how much money we'd probably waste taking it to a shop and having them try to diagnose and throw parts at it.

 

If you are asking me: it is kind of somewhere in between. It definitely does not keep turning over (without starting). It actually starts to turn-over, but it stops turning over within 2-3 seconds, and then random clicking happens. This clicking is more subtle, fairly quite in comparison to other clicking klik klik klik klik klik klik - in a fast pace.

 

If all your battery connections are good and battery and starter are good I would look at your fuel, spark and compression. Check your wiring on your engine and all your grounds. Here is a video that shed some light from scannerdanner on youtube.

 

Check the negative battery cable where it bolts to the rad support make sure that is tight

 

Ok - to update what the issue was:
Took it to my regular mechanic where I maintain both of my cars and asked him to check on Battery > Conectivity from RED to Starter > starter itself.
I narrowed down that there was no parasitic draw, and it had to be something with starter.

He tested battery bad - and once I replaced it car turns-over just fine, it simply works as it's supposed to.

Here is the kicker though: This is the 3 battery since 2007 (every battery lasted about two years before we replaced it - all the times it was the same issue: does not start then new battery works just fine).

Suspected issue: Starter simply needs more power than stock battery provides during cold times. Solution to this is - DO NOT REPLACE WORKING STARTER... REPLACE BATTERY with much more cold cranking amps.

Interstate or Napa batteries will do.

500cca is simply bare bottom of needed electricity for the starter during cold months - so if you live in midwest (chicagoland) or northern of that - invest in good battery.

Our Car: Battery was under warranty and we took free replacement from AutoZone (Duralast Gold Battery) - but in two years (if all is good with the car) we plan to change battery and get stronger better battery and higher CCA.

PS It will not hurt if you take care of the Service Bulletin if your headlights flicker in the middle of driving.

Thanks all on their help in this thread - it helped zero down issue I had tremendously!!!