No start when hot

[Duner]

1992 Accord EX , Starts fine when cold but when it reaches operating temperature and I try to start it just spits, pops, backfires, might start if I keep trying long enough. Fuel pressure is I believe normal between 38 and 43 lbs. when running , When I try to start it is about 43 lbs. When it won't start I have good blue fire to spark plug that I checked. Search seems to point toward "main Relay" but being as I have fuel and fire I wonder about that. Any body have anything like this happen to them? Thanks.

[Raf99]

If it's the main relay you won't hear the fuel pump come on. That may help ya. Besides the main relay it could be the ignitor in the distributor but you are 99% right there on the main relay.
Just grab one off the internet and pop it in or fix the old one.

[rps]

I had the same problem with my accord and it wound out being the distributor. My car would start up and run ok, then once engine temp got to normal it started to act up. EZ check put another distributor in from the junk yard. You might check for possible oil leaks from the seals inner and outer seals. Look inside cap and bottom for oil.

[Duner]

Key to on position and fuel pump runs for 2 seconds whether engine starts or not. I took cap off and no oil in the cap. Thank you for replies.

[Raf99]

Could also be your ground wires too. Check the transmission one for sure and under the fuse box one.

[Duner]

I will check the grounds. Thanks for reply.

[Duner]

I checked grounds and it started fine several times when hot. Has not started when hot since this trouble started. Thank you for your help. Now all I got to do is go someplace and see if I make it home.

[Sleezycb7]

I had this same problem, intermittent starting problems, as well as smoke out the intake, would stumble on acceleration up to 2.5 k rpms then jump to normal, mine ended up being the dizzy, despite being replaced 10k miles ago.

[Beater_CB7]

Any updates on what the root cause was?

[cp[mike]]

9 times out of 10, this is caused by the IGNITER module inside of the distributor. It is replaceable, but many people just replace the entire distributor in one shot. Glad you got it figured out!

[Duner]

Once I monkeyed with the grounds in engine compartment Car ran fine for a month. But one day the wife was going to drive it to work as I was going to work on her car, I started it for her and and shut it off after 5 minutes after a trip to mail box. When she was to leave in a few minutes it would not start again. Pops, sputters ,backfires etc, I cleaned the grounds again and now it has been working. I did rob an igniter out of 96 DL with same Tec dist as mine and will try that next if it fails to start when hot. My Tach never acts strange. Ihave correct fuel pressure and I have fire, not sure if I have fire when I should have fire tho.

[Sleezycb7]

I recommend two things, replace the whole dizzy with a quality one if problems persist. And clean your grounds and even add some dielectric grease