Hey ya'll

Daily has been a 1996 Accord (the 97 HX was finally retired, was burning too much oil and never got any serious offers when I tried to sell). Accord was a cheapo fixer upper, been driving for a little over a year now.

On some starts, it takes the fuel pump a while to prime. I thought it was the known issue with the fuel pump relay, but it came with a new one. I reflowed the solder on it, no real change. Just cycle the key a few times and it eventually primes, start and go.

One thing that caught my eye: I was checking the readiness for emission test, making sure all the passive and active tests were done, the obdii reader couldn't connect. I noticed the fuel pump hadn't prime yet (the D4 light hadn't cycled on and off and no hum). This leads me to think the problem is the ECU is failing, as the reader isn't able to communicate and read if anything is there. Once it primed, it could got the reader got feedback. CEL light stays lit until the pump primes.

Reasonable assumption? Any other possible causes for the fuel pump not priming AND the obdii reader not getting any response?

 

These both share the same fuse/circuits.
#2 fuse on the under dash fuse panel, make sure it is not corroded or loose.
But what most likely is the cause is the ignition switch itself is just worn out, sloppy or the plastic housing is damaged and not allowing for proper contact of IGN 1contacts.
You can try jiggling the key around when it is in position II(ON) and see if that activates the main relay.
Fairly easy to replace. Honda tries to make it that so that you replace the tumbler/key switch and ignition switch as a unit but that is not necessary. There is a metal flange that blocks removal of the switch but that can be bent back and allows removal of the ignition switch without having to remove the key tumbler
1/4" open end wrench actually works better at removing/installing the tricky bolt on the key side of the switch attachment.
A #1 phillips or 6mm socket can be used on the two left side bolts.
There is a bracket that holds the harness for the steering wheel electrics against the column, remove it to let the harness hang down and safely out of the way. Don't unplug anything other than the ignition switch.
Might have to wrangle with the switch a bit to get it past the bent flange but it will come out.

 

Thanks for the reply.

fuses are good, jiggling the key does nothing. I tried grounding with a test light and testing both sides of the fuses (some other people said that triggered ECU to cycle), still nothing. Still randomly turns on and then good to go.

Any other ideas?

 

Pull the ecu and see if there are any burned or leaking caps.

 

Just pull the carpet back, unbolt, unplug and remove from the metal enclosure, correct?

 

That's correct. It's some 10mm nuts/bolts and a Phillips head to open

 

Thanks again for the help. Ripped out the ECU and popped it open, looked all good on the inside. The capacitor heads are all flat, don't see any corrosion (checked the bottom as well).

Edit: Took a closer look, there looks like there's some corrosion near the large capacitor on the board itself. Time to find a replacement. Or would that not be enough to cause this problem?

Any other ideas?

 

Closing this out:

Found this video:


I tried this and it worked, warming up the ECU made it work better. Hit up the local salvage yard and found the exact same ECU, and now it starts without any issue, no delay in the computer turning on and triggering the fuel pump relay.

Thanks for the help.