91 Accord doesn't start

Sounds good again!

If you had poor connection with the jumper cables its possible to get
very little current flowing to the car with the dead battery. No
current flow would have no results with a completely dead battery.
That is no lights, radio... Any current at all should have been able
to get some lights working and possibly get the starter to make some
noise.

Waiting a few minutes (or 5 minutes) with the good battery vehicle
running and jumping the dead battery is in effect allowing the weak
battery to help start the car that it is in. If left long enough the
running vehicle could fully charge the dead battery.

 

You might want to check the ground cable from the battery to the block and
block-to-chassis ground cables.Those have been known to corrode.

 

== snip ==

That's funny, someone told me the exact same thing at work. I tried
that trick tonight and I just happened to wait about 15 minutes in
between 3 tries. Darn thing still wouldn't start! But the 45 minutes
of charging brought Accord's battery back from dead It's not fully
charged but better that fully dead.
I did notice tonight that it was having trouble when I cranked it. It
didn't seem like the *normal* cranking sound, it seemed more
*laborious* for a lack of better term. So what should my next step be
guys? Sure appreciate all the great help I have been receiving.

Thanks again.

Raj

 

sounds like a timing belt has slipped/broke.
search the messages and you will find many articles on how to visually
check for this problem.

 

Not even close.If the timing belt breaks the motor will either spin VERY
freely if a non-interference motor,or not spin at all when the piston
strikes an open valve.

 

You might want to try pulling a spark plug. As soon as you get it out
smell it for any traces of gas. If you sell any you're obviously
getting gas to that cylinder (and probably the others).

The next step would be to test for spark. You can reattach the spark
plug wire to the removed spark plug and lay it against the closest
bare metal engine part (thread part of the plug touching it). Then
have a helper crank the engine a couple of seconds and observe the
removed spark plug. You should be able to see the spark jump from the
inner electrode to the spark plugs ground electrode.

I doubt you have a timing belt problem. If the car was previously
running and you shut it off it's unlikely the belt either slipped of
broke the next time you went to start it. Most likely the problem
would be fuel or ignition (main relay turns on the ECU besides the
fuel pump).
I think all Honda engines are interference engines. Meaning if the
piston and the valve get out of synch (slipped of broken timing belt)
there will be great possibility the two will contact each other, The
result is usually bending the valve(s).

 

not a flame but it very well could be a timing belt as Ive had this very
problem on startup, and the starter
had no problem bending the valves on its next fatal startup.
I base my guess on the owners description " It didn't seem like the *normal*
cranking sound, it seemed more *laborious* for a lack of better term."

Being a 1991 vehichle it could be the float in the carb sunk and flooded the
engine. (someone else eluded to this issue)

however since the owner hasnt responded to these probabilities we can only
speculate.

 

I didn't respond beacuse I haven't gotten a chance to look at it yet.
Have been buried under other stuff. BTW, it's a fuel injection (4 dr
LX, auto), not a carb. Sorry, should have mentioned it earlier.

TIA

Raj

 

Folks,
I just couldn't find any time to work on the problem. First it was
the holidays, then we went on a vacation, etc. etc. Anyway, I had the
car sent to a local mechanic and he diagnosed it with a dead coil. I
had the coil replaced and additionally had him replace the 3 - 3.5 yr
old battery and and 60K old sparks. The car is working perfectly now.

Thanks to all for the help.

Raj

 

Besides fixing several MAIN relay's on my and a few
other Hondas, my 89 accord had a power window
controller that went bad. Guess what; it had a broken
solder joint much like the MAIN relay problem. What's
going on with Honda's soldering? It could also be a
design issue of not properly bracing a component to the
printed circuit board and just depending on the solder to
hold it. Then with vibrations and jolts that in an environ-
ment like a car, eventual failure.

chuck

 

What's

Spot on. Solder is a very poor mechanical fastener. If larger
components, like the relays inside the "main relay" are mounted only by
the solder joints it is very likely to cause problems. If you have
vibrations or any kind of mechanical stress on a solder joint the solder
will eventually fatigue and crack.

This is also why you should NOT tin the ends of wires that go in screw
terminals. You tighten up the screw, and eventually that tight screw
will cause the solder to fatigue and the wire to become loose. Many of
the UL type agencies will not approve products with tinned ends in screw
terminals.