90 Accord Does Not Start

Net.gurus:

I have a 1990 Accord LX with a manual transmission and
317,000+ miles on it. Until last Friday, the car has
never left me stranded on my daily commute (60 miles
one way - twice a day - 5 times a week).

Last Thursday, I noticed it ran a little rough twice.
I would be driving along, and it would lose power. I
would step on the gas, and it did not accelerate. After
a few seconds, the car would "act" normally. Last
Friday morning, the car ran normally. I went out to
lunch, and the car acted normally. On the drive home,
the car began to lose power again, just like the
previous day. After a few times, the car completely
lost power, and died. It would only crank for
about five minutes, and then it started. It ran
normally for only a few more minutes this time, and
then lost power and eventually died. This sequence
kept repeating itself, with the interval between
when it started getting longer and longer. Now, it
will only crank - and I need to re-charge the
battery.

I checked my records, and I replaced the fuel pump
at 269,856 miles. I replaced the fuel filter at
250,369 miles. The spark plugs and wires were replaced
at 286,210 miles. The igniter, coil, and rotor
I replaced at 269,582 miles. I must admit I am not
sure if I am getting gas to the intake manifold - I
have not pulled off the gas filter inlet to see if the
fuel pump is working. I also have not replaced the
main relay yet - although last Friday was cloudy
and COLD in the Chicago area. I was running low on
gas, so I will start my diagnosis by putting some
more gas in the tank. It's possible I could have
gotten some bad gas, but I went to the same station
I always go to for that particular tank.

Sooo, any ideas on why my Accord will not start?
Any help would be appreciated - heck, the car is just
broken in!

Regards,

Jeff Kolodziej

 

Time for a new car.




....................
I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

 

Check for spark. The rotor may be in question. A friend`s 90 Accd
acted same way. Distib shaft known to melt a rotor. Also, check plugs
for gas.

Time for a new car is good advice only if problems sees no end. (imo)
Jeff`s problem is simple.
Koji

 

| I need to re-charge the battery.
www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=38055

| 317,000+ miles on it.
| I replaced the fuel filter at 250,369 miles.
Already >66,631 miles on 1 petrol filter, unless your petrol is very clean
, I suspect this filter is clogged.

 

I have seen reference to this loss of power due to a fouled up
Catalytic Converter, it is an old car, perhaps that could be the
issue.

 

Jeff,

A plugged fuel filter will not prevent your car from starting (unless
you've plugged it with cement). Dirty filter will manifest itself at
higher loads, like climbing or passing, when volume hits it's max.

There's an 'icing' problem that happens to the throttle body, but I
can't remember why it happens . . . something about a flap, or sensor
that stops functioning and allows the intake to get too cold, and ice up
when the humidity / temp is just right.

Anybody else know what I'm muttering about???

'Curly'

--------------------

To REPLY: If there are a couple of underscores in my return address,
you must remove them to reply directly . . . . . . Thanks.

Regarding stage performances: When everyone else has finished playing,
you should not play any notes you have left over. -

 

When you slowly applied the brakes on low gas, it's possible that
foreign liquids floating near the top of the gas gets sucked up the
fuel line. You don't know how many gas dealers attempt to dilute their
gas for profit, especially for $2/gallon. This isn't always true.

If you think you have bad gas, fill up with higher octane, apply
vacuum to the fuel return line (called FPR) and turn ignition on /off
repeatedly. This gets rid of old gas. This is better off if you want
no unburned fuel on your O2 or catalytic. Might want to listen for
fuel pump, while you're at it.
K

 

It's not the typical description of the problem, but still:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the "main relay" (also the fuel pump
relay). They are failure prone on the 90-93 Accords (at least), just search
this newsgroup in google.

If your relay has the typical broken solder joint problem, then an
intermittent problem with rough-running/quitting would result. Please do
the search. There are web-sites (some from people in this NG) with colorful
pictures of the relay location and how to replace it, even how to inspect
it. The typical trigger for the symptoms are hot weather, although once the
contacts are broken, you can get the no-start, or engine-quit symptoms in
any weather.

If you've never had the main relay replaced, then I would start there. Good
luck, post back with results!

-Arthur

 

The main relay problem:
The usual symptom is the engine will not start when engine was shut
off after running for a while. Often after getting gas the car will
not start. A couple of minutes later when a little cooler it runs
fine. Could also happen when very cold but I think mostly during very
warm/hot.

Heres a link to a great site to identify and fix the main relay
problem. It helped me tremendously when I had the problem with
my '91 Accord. The cracked soldier joint was very hard to spot.
Even when knowing exactly what to look for. Mine was just a little
mark on one post (didn't look like even a crack). When un-soldiering
this joint the soldier melted differently than the other joints.

http://www.markl.f9.co.uk/howto/electrical/main-relay/main-relay.htm