Hello all,

I have a 1999 Honda Accord Ex 6 cylinder with 294k miles. A few weeks ago, I was at the gas station and after filling up, tried turning the car on and the engine turned over but would not catch. I cranked it a few times and eventually the battery was drained. After sitting there, I thought about the fuel pump, turned the key and noticed I didn't hear anything. I located the fuse, jiggled the fuse, and heard some whirring (whether this was because of the fuse, I'm not sure). I secured a jump, and the car started right up. No problems after.

A few weeks later, I tried to start the car in the morning and again the engine kept turning over but would not catch. I changed the fuel pump later and tried to start the car and the same issue happened. I checked fuel pressure coming from the pump; pressure was great. I heard the whirring of the pump after turning the key. Eventually, I just went for it and held down the ignition. After about 12-15 seconds and some sputtering, the car violently shook a few times and the engine caught, was running about 1300 RPM, and a big puff of white smoke came out the exhaust and I saw some white smoke emerge from the hood. It settled down to 800 RPM and ran fine. I took it to the mechanic as I was hoping they could diagnose something; maybe a head gasket problem or compression issue. They didn't find anything, and I don't think they looked too much into it as it started right up for them.

I am still having intermittent problems with the car starting. This morning, I heard the fuel pump whir and still had to hold down the ignition for about 8 seconds until the engine caught. The car runs fine, has never stalled out when running, and idles OK. I will say the car vibrates a bit when idling, but I would likely contribute most of that to its age and wear.

Apologize for the length of this post, but I am short on ideas. Would replacing the fuse help (are prongs weak from 20 years of use?), is there an intermittent electrical problem with the fuel system? I thought maybe there was an issue with the fuel injectors, so I tried adding some Techron to the gas tank. Other useful info: battery life should be fine, starter was replaced maybe in 2014 or 2015, and I replaced spark plugs and wires in 2018. Other sources of issues I am considering are compression, fuel, and timing. Timing belt hasn't been changed in a long time (maybe more than 100k miles ago). I could check compression but would need to rent a tool. Thank you for reading!

 

What does the tachometer do while you are cranking? If it is not responding, it could be the igniter is failing.
Do you have lots of charms and/or keys on your key chain? If you wiggle your key in the ignition when it is turned to II(ON) does the dash or any lights blink off? When the engine is running does it stumble/stall? The ignition swithc is made mostly of plastic, 20+years and over 100kmiles the switch itself may be worn out.
Have you checked your MAIN relay? It was a common fault in early 90s Accords.

Verify battery is clean and fully charged.
Verify battery connections are clean and tight.
Verify battery leads are not corroded, damaged loose.
Verify fuses have continuity with a meter. Check both when 'cold' and 'hot', thermal failure of a fuse can be hard to see, if in doubt replace fuse with a known good unit.
Verify grounds and bonding jumper connections are clean and tight.

Get back to basics.
Verify no codes, stored codes, and(with a proper scanner), no pending codes.
Verify no blockage of air ways, from filter to throttle body.
Verify fuel pressure is adequate for starting. Listen for fuel pump priming every time the key is turned from I(OFF) to II(ON). The pump should prime for a few seconds, usually kicks off when the D4 lamp turns off when the key is turned to II(ON) without continuing on to III(START).
Verify spark at the spark plug. Remove wire, remove plug, reinstall plug into wire, ground plug against engine(good ground) and have assistant crank engine over.
Verify spark is whitish blue in color. Orange color may indicate a problem in the secondary ignition of the system.
Verify all spark plug wires are installed correctly. Cheap/incorrect boots tend to pop off the spark plug.
Verify the distributor cap is not full of moisture, dry out and spray down with WD-40.

 

Thank you for your detailed response. I am still having this sporadic problem and need help. Some updates: I tried to start the car last Monday, it would not start after cranking. I left it until Thursday as I did not have time to look at it. On Thursday, it started immediately after turning the key. I drove it to a Goodyear as I don't have a ton of time to look into this, and this is really confusing me. They performed a diagnostic and told me it was battery and alternator problems, which I didn't believe because this problem is random and sometimes the car starts after sitting for days after a failed starting attempt. I did replace the battery as it is an old battery and don't see harm in doing that. Upon startup, I noticed a much stronger starting of the engine immediately after. However, the following morning, I went to start the car and once again it cranks and turns over but does not catch and run. I removed 3 of the easy to reach spark plugs and checked for electrical problems. I noticed fuel is reaching the chamber and can smell it. As of now, I am wondering if it's a sporadic electrical problem. The car has never stopped running when it starts though and runs fine, albeit a bit rough. I would account that to old age though. Please help if you can!

What does the tachometer do while you are cranking? Tachometer does not move when cranking.
Do you have lots of charms and/or keys on your key chain? If you wiggle your key in the ignition when it is turned to II(ON) does the dash or any lights blink off? When the engine is running does it stumble/stall? The ignition switch is made mostly of plastic, 20+years and over 100k miles the switch itself may be worn out. I have never noticed any of those thing. Wiggling the key in the ignition causes no changers. Engine has never stalled or stumbled when running.
Have you checked your MAIN relay? It was a common fault in early 90s Accords. For the fuel pump? I have not done that.

Get back to basics.
Verify no codes, stored codes, and(with a proper scanner), no pending codes. No codes.
Verify no blockage of air ways, from filter to throttle body. No air blockage.
Verify fuel pressure is adequate for starting. Listen for fuel pump priming every time the key is turned from I(OFF) to II(ON). The pump should prime for a few seconds, usually kicks off when the D4 lamp turns off when the key is turned to II(ON) without continuing on to III(START). Sound of fuel pump is heard.

I will try the below things.

Verify spark at the spark plug. Remove wire, remove plug, reinstall plug into wire, ground plug against engine(good ground) and have assistant crank engine over.
Verify spark is whitish blue in color. Orange color may indicate a problem in the secondary ignition of the system.
Verify all spark plug wires are installed correctly. Cheap/incorrect boots tend to pop off the spark plug.
Verify the distributor cap is not full of moisture, dry out and spray down with WD-40.

 

I could still use some help. I have located the source of the problem. When the car doesn't start, there is no spark at any of the plugs. There is evidence of fuel on the plugs, so fuel is reaching the engine. When the car does run, spark is fine. The car has never stalled when it runs. I would appreciate any ideas on direction to go from here. To summarize, car doesn't start intermittently. Sometimes, it starts right up with no issue. I did replace the battery as it was due for a new battery (this didn't help). I pulled all 6 plugs and wires, inspected, and checked resistance and they were great. So it is somewhere at the distributor or further upstream.

I am planning to open the distributor cap and see what is going on inside.