On my beater car, a '92 dx w/ 138,000 miles. My symptoms are as follows:

Once every 3 weeks or so, I hop in my car and it just wont start, i'll crank till the batt. dies and nothing. Then, later on, or the next day, ill hop right in and it will fire right up and run fine for a few weeks. It will continue to run fine and start fine for a few weeks and then eventually it will do it again.

The car idles a tad rough, and everyone now and again it will stall out, but starts right back up.

I was having dist. problems before and dismissed it as being something with the distributor, but thats been corrected and now im thinking its the fuel filter. When i get home tomm im gonna check it out. Does it sound like im on the right track?

 

does this problem occur when its really hot? maybe the main relay?

 

Maybe, are you referring to the motor being at operating temperature or do u mean when the weather is hot?? Because the last 3 times it has happened to me it has been quite warm outside. Twice the motor hadn't been ran all day, and once i walked into walmart and when i came out, no start.

I replaced the fuel filter today because it probably needed it regardless but that did not fix it.

I checked, I had fuel, spark, and i full battery charge and it WOULD NOT START!! I have never had time to check these things before but today i had the oppurtunity.

Eventually after cranking on it for about 1/2 it eventually started and is running fine again.

Killed the batt. twice in the process.

 

maybe they fuel pump is going bad next time it happens and doesnt start listen to see if the fuel pump goes on.

 

No its not the fuel pump, i tried doing that, but then i took the fuel line off the rail and i cranked it and there is plenty of fuel flowing.

I was thinking its gotta be something like a relay, etc.

 

sounds like another coil/ignitor problem...very typical in Hondas especially with that kind of mileage.

 

Dude youre experiencing the exact same thing I was. It's your fuel relay.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00Red_SiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds like another coil/ignitor problem...very typical in Hondas especially with that kind of mileage.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes thats a typical problem, but i dont see how that can be the problem. but maybe im wrong. Its like this, whenever it wasnt starting, i checked for spark and fuel. If there was a problem with the ignitor, there wouldnt be spark correct?

Also, if it was the fuel relay, why would there be fuel pumping whenever i try to start?? I have checked both spark and fuel and they are present.

 

Id say check your main PGM-FI relay for bad connections. Its a quick visual check, if you don't wanna do the full out electrical one. It should very quickly tell you wheather or not theres something wrong with it. Its my guess as to why its not running since its extremely common for high milage EGs to have PGM-FI relays that don't function in warm temperature.

 

Thats the next thing to check then. I didnt know it was common for the FI relays to go bad on eg's. Thats may be my problem

 

pull your main relay, open it up and check the solder joints. If you see cracks then your relay needs to be replaced.On hot days these cracks wills expand and not make a good connection to your fuel pump.

 

You say you have spark AND FUEL... Do you mean there's fuel flowing in the rail? That's good, it means your fuel pump is working.

But if the injectors aren't firing, the fuel isn't getting into the cylinders. That could be caused by the main relay, or a few other things. If so, check whether the injectors are getting power.

 

yeah, i have fuel at the rail so i know that my pump is working. ( this was my first suspicion)

I'll just have to wait around til the next time it does it to see if the injectors are getting power.

I'm gonna check the relay for cracks and what not and see what i come up with.

 

If the relay is cracked, which you should kinda hope it is cause its an easy fix. If you have any soldering knowledge/skill you can just resolder any joints that appear to be cracked. Just remove the old solder first and then resolder it. IF you dont want to do this then its about $50 to buy a new relay at a honda dealership, which really isnt to bad.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Used2beAb16 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe, are you referring to the motor being at operating temperature or do u mean when the weather is hot?? Because the last 3 times it has happened to me it has been quite warm outside. Twice the motor hadn't been ran all day, and once i walked into walmart and when i came out, no start.

I replaced the fuel filter today because it probably needed it regardless but that did not fix it.

I checked, I had fuel, spark, and i full battery charge and it WOULD NOT START!! I have never had time to check these things before but today i had the oppurtunity.

Eventually after cranking on it for about 1/2 it eventually started and is running fine again.

Killed the batt. twice in the process. </TD></TR></TABLE>

its ur dist. u have spark but not at the rite time
the crank angle sensors out of wack sometimes
i chase that problem before