honda starting problems

Hello, I have a 93 Honda with 88k miles, has an automatic transmission. In
hot weather (91 F or over) after being parked in the sun for a couple of
hours the car is difficult to start. It cranks but won't fire until I have
tried it about 5 times and then after 10 minutes of trying it will start and
run as well as it always does. Could it be a vapor lock? I was told that
it could be a computer problem, a connection that makes or breaks with high
temperatures. Has anyone had such an experience or have suggestions to deal
with this? Thanks, Dario

 

Main Relay is most likely culprit. Standard, very famous, Honda problem.

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#stalling

 

Could be many things, so here are some. Others here will have many more
valid things to try -- you'll be a busy man trying them all

Could be that an injector is leaking and floods your engine: When it
starts, do you see a huge puff of smoke behind your car along with a
smell of gas?
Next time, floor the accelerator and try to start it.
Often a good injector cleaner with several good gas fillups clears this
condition.

Main relay, possibly: Gas is not getting to the injectors. Next time it
happens, bang on the panel next to your left knee and see if that
helps. The main relay is located around there somewhere and they tend
to suffer from having bad connections internally over time. They can be
repaired with a soldering iron most of the time.

Are you getting spark? Some here tell the story that the ignitor/coil
can become sensitive to higher temperatures.

This faq may help you identify the problem:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun

Hope you find it soon.
Remco

 

Hey John

You must have replied as I was typing just now.
Great minds think alike and apparently sometimes I think like you

I just gotta tell you: nice job on the FAQ, man! The recent additions
and look make it even better than it was before. Thanks!

Remco

 

Thank you, I appreciate the info. I'll see what I can do.
Dario

 

Kind words indeed, thanks.

Got LOTS more stuff to add, too. It takes time, time that's claimed by the
family and other things.

I have a dozen subjects still to-do on my Post-It list stuck to my
monitor... Several megs of photos from me and contributors. I should win a
lottery and become a millionaire so I can do this stuff full-time.

Got a weird one just now: Replacement of a hood hinge. Did you know that
when hood hinges wear they cause an ungodly buzz at just the right idle
speed? $39.95 Cdn each. I'm picking it up tomorrow.

 

I went through this recently, and this group helped me fix it with my 94
civic. It turned out to be my distributor coil but I ended up replacing the
whole distributor. I checked the main relay (put my hand on it while
starting to feel for the 3 clicks) before testing/replacing the distributor
parts.

I'd recommend:

Tegger's FAQs
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun
I also got a lot of help from AutoZone on the web and in the store.
http://tinyurl.com/8xmxs