My grandsons and I are refurbishing a 1988 fuel injected Honda Prelude SI with 4 wheel steer (it was originally their mothers and has sat for 8 years after she said it wasn"t running right).

We removed the head and had it checked, they replaced a intake valve and refurbished the head. We removed the fuel tank and cleaned and coated the interior. We installed a new fuel fuel pump and filter and replaced the main filter in the engine compartment. We reinstalled the head with new gasket, water pump and timing belt. We aligned the timing marks on both the crank and cams, torqued the cam and head bolts and turned the engine over by hand 6 revolutions. Rebuilt and tested the fuel injectors with all new gaskets and reinstalled all the ancillaries.

We then hooked up the battery and turned the engine over with the starter (no plugs installed) to test the fuel pressure. There was no fuel at the main filter in the engine compartment. Tested the wiring to the pump, no 12v at the pump with the key on (should supply 12v for 2 seconds when turned on). Checking the wiring diagram this voltage is supplied by the main relay. Removed the "main relay" and tested it, no problems there. Checked the wiring to the relay all was good but no ground on #2 wire.

We attached a ground to #2 by stripping back the black wire which according to diagram goes directly to ground. We then had 12v at the fuel pump and also to the ecu. We then tried to start the car, there was fuel to the filter and also to the injector rail. We removed the plugs and put a small amount of gas in each cylinder, attempted again to start the car, it smoked and sputtered which told us the plugs were firing.

We removed and checked with a meter all the under hood and in cab fuses.

My questions are these, does anyone have better diagrams or know where this #2 wire from the "main relay" is physically grounded? Is this ground supplied by the ecu? Any ideas on why the fuel injectors are not pulsing, could it be the ecu is bad? My diagrams show the #2 wire connecting directly to ground somewhere but (according to my diagrams) the ecu is not powered until the "main relay" pulls in but it won't pull in if the ground is not supplied thus the ecu has no power.

 

main relay could be bad. they can be inttermittant before totaly failing.
open teh grey cap on it. and it will be either corroded or small solder joints are cracked.....google this. very very common