My 89 Civic seems to not want to start up running after quick stops with the motor turned off. For example, after I've been driving and gotten the motor up to temp, then I stop to put gas in which only takes 5 min, I try to start it up again and the starter will crank good but never start up the motor. If I wait like another 10 minutes it will start just fine. Like after the motor has cooled some. The previous owners mechanic told them this is the result of some "contact" that is cracked and when everything is hot it seperates and prevents the motor from starting. Thier solution was to not worry about it and just let it cool so this contact would make contact again, because it was more money to fix than it was worth. Well, now its happening to often for me. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem and what is this part/contact/circuit that needs to be replaced? Thanks for your help.

 

i had a problem like you the matel needle is the cap the spring broke and it would cause the not to start. when the car was hot all i did was but a new cap and rotor and it fixed the problem

 

I had a similar problem and it was my main relay.

 

Yup, sounds like you need a new main relay.

 

Main relay. You know where it's at?

Alex

 

kind of under the area where the hood latch is.. .

 

Well to word it better...it's in the same area where the hood latch release handle is. If you're looking up in there from the floor, it's further up and behind the hood latch release. It's kind of a bitch to get at, but that's most likely the problem.

Alex

 

its a black box that says main relay

 

i had the same problem, and put in a known good relay from a buddies car and it helped alot but didnt fix the problem 100%. but thats what happens with used parts.

 

Cool, I'll check out the main relay. I finally found in one of my searches someone else having this problem. And I did see the little black box that looks like a plug above the hood release, so I guess thats it. I did read in another post that you could attempt to re-solder the contacts in the relay, but I figure its better off just getting a new one. Thanks.