1999 Honda Accord LX 5-speed manual only starts when it feels like it
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1999 Honda Accord LX 5-speed manual only starts when it feels like it
Hey Honda-Techies! Newbie here, but I've been reading up on your forum posts. I didn't see the problem posted yet, but direct me to the thread if someone else already had a similar question.
I have a 1999 Honda Accord LX with the 2.3L 4-cylinder VTEC engine and a 5-speed manual. One-owner car and 230,000 miles (two timing belt replacements through the years).
Here's the situation:
I have a 1999 Honda Accord LX with the 2.3L 4-cylinder VTEC engine and a 5-speed manual. One-owner car and 230,000 miles (two timing belt replacements through the years).
Here's the situation:
One day, I went to start the car. I turn the key and "click." Nothing. Did I not press down the clutch? Was the brake pressed all the way to the floor? I made sure they were pressed down and turned again. "Click." The radio worked. The lights worked. It wasn't a battery problem. I pulled the key out, put it back in, turned the radio off, and tried again. "Click." OK ... so I just toggled the brake and the clutch pedals, ran the shifter through all the gears and tried again. It started right up.
So for the past year, I've just been toggling the pedals, pumping them up and down, and eventually, the car starts. Until last month, when the secret trick didn't work any longer. I was stuck away from home, and tried lightly banging on the starter. Sure enough, after pumping the pedals again, it started up.
When I got home, I purchased new clutch safety switches ($74 total cost) and replaced them with the old ones. Although it seems I don't have to play with the pedals as long, the car starts in the same fashion. When it darn well wants to start. I turn the key; I get a single "click" sometimes. I turn it again, and. ... who knows? Sometimes another "click," sometimes it starts.
After replacing the switches, I realized I don't need to pump the pedals. I can just hold both pedals down and keep turning the key from "off" to "start." Eventually it fires up.
It seems like a mystery to me—but I know little about these engines. I'd love your expertise in this situation! Is the starter bad? Distributer acting up? Is this a spark plug problem?
Thanks in advance!
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Re: 1999 Honda Accord LX 5-speed manual only starts when it feels like it
i currently have a bad starter on my 95. I'm ordering one as we speak. I place one end of a breaker bar on various parts of the starter (not the cylinder part though, don't want to knock the magnets loose) and give it a few moderate whacks with a hammer on the other end. Fires right up.
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Re: 1999 Honda Accord LX 5-speed manual only starts when it feels like it
OK, so it sounds as though the starter needs to be replaced. But what is the explanation for is starting only on occasion? Some terminal inside the starter that's on the fritz? It just seems so random.
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Re: 1999 Honda Accord LX 5-speed manual only starts when it feels like it
Thanks for the advice, CD8. I was thinking that would be the answer.
I've heard the trickiest part of replacing the starter is getting to the small bolt on the inside of the engine. Besides that, and maneuvering around the small space, it's pretty basic, right?
I've heard the trickiest part of replacing the starter is getting to the small bolt on the inside of the engine. Besides that, and maneuvering around the small space, it's pretty basic, right?
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_MrAwesome_
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Dec 12, 2024 12:33 AM