Crazy Starting Problem with 91 Accord

[troyflake]

Hey, I could really use some help:

I have a 91 Honda Accord LX with 120k. It is fuel injected, manual, 4dr.

For about 6 weeks it has had a problem where it will sometimes not start. It will crank just fine. I was told by some idiot mechanic that "he'd seen it 100 times and a new starter would do the trick." So I changed the starter and it still does it.

It will ALWAYS pop-start. Also, if you wait 20 minutes to an hour, it will start. Sometimes it goes days without doing it. Sometimes it does it twice a day. Does it when the engine is warm. Does it when it's cold. Ruins my life.

So the obvious suspect is spark: I unplugged the wire at the distributor end and you can see the spark jump, so that seems to be ok.

I am pretty sure I hear the "click" after the CEL goes off.

I am just about to go buy a new main relay. But my question is would the car still pop start if the main relay was bad? I mean how does it make a difference between when the starter is turning the engine and when you're push starting?

ANY help you can spare would be MUCH appreciated. I'm dying here.

[AccordWarrior]

Everything I see leads me to believe its a bad main relay. The only other thing that I could possibly think of is the coil. But my thoughts on that is if it goes bad, your car shouldn't be able to start again, but that's just me.

[Kman_]

My opinion is the main relay. I recently replaced mine, as my car was intermittently not starting and now it starts perfect all the time.

Replacing the main relay is something you can do yourself and the part is pretty cheap so instead of wasting more cash in replacing other parts, just get a new relay and do it yourself.

Another way to check before replacing the relay, is WHEN it is NOT starting, get a friend to put his ear right around the area of the gas cap to listen for the buzzing sound of the fuel pump powering up. Turn the key to ACCESORIES and right away for a couple seconds you should hear the fuel pump buzzing before the click. If you don't hear the buzzing the car won't start -- that's a faulty main relay.

[Acclipse]

Main relay I say. Go here for more information on fixing it:

http://techauto.tripod.com/

If you are handy with a soldering iron you can do it for free. If not it is $40-60 from the dealer new.

[troyflake]

Ok, so I talked to the guy at the Honda dealership.

He said this: If it was the main relay that was acting up, you wouldn't be able to push start it.

He thought it sounds like the ignition relay because it will work in the "RUN" postion, but not in the "START" position, explaining why I can pop start it (because the ignition is set to RUN).

But that doesn't explain why it's so intermittent and waiting will make it work. He said "Well, mabye both" thinking that I would pay him $85 an hour to change both parts. Not likely.

Anyway, unless someone has a brilliant theory about ignition relays/switches, I'll start with the main relay.

Let me know.

[Acclipse]

I would pull the main relay and check it out at the very least. If you go to the website I listed above it has pictures of what to look for. It took me all of 5 minutes to pull mine yesterday. If you need help just post and we'll help you out.

The site I linked to also has information on the ignition system but I've never looked at what info is there, you may want to check that out.

[Leung]

cool since i repair PS2 and Xboxs on the side, this is something i could do in a matter of minutes because i already have all the supplies needed.