Having trouble with our 98 Accord not starting. It's done it maybe seven times in the last six weeks. The engine cranks very quickly (as normal) but it won't "catch". Eventually I can get it to start by working it and trying to give it throttle at the right moments.

Every other time it starts and runs fine.

It may stall before reaching full operating temp, but only when it's had trouble starting.

After the first few failures to start we took it to our mechanic, who is very good with Hondas. It never failed for him. He tried everything he could think of to make it fail, but couldn't. Reluctant to start replacing parts without knowing the true cause we took it back.

Today it did it again to my wife. The car was not started or driven yesterday.

It only has trouble with the very first start of the day. Once it's been started it's fine.

Tonight I decided to take a video of the starting trouble. I had already tried to start it for about two or three minutes prior to this video.


Any ideas? Thanks!

 

I'm not a mechanic, but first guess would be that it's fuel-related. Meaning lack of it(pressure) or something else. As far as you "working it" and giving it throttle: Do you try to get it to start w/o even touching the gas pedal the first couple times, or do you quickly start giving it throttle if it doesn't immediately start?

I'd try w/o touching the pedal at first, and if/when that doesn't work, I would do what the manual says to do in cold starts/no-start conditions. Just follow those steps exactly, first you give it partial throttle I think, working your way to full throttle if each previous step doesn't work. If that helps I believe it would point to a fuel issue whether it's the filter (that may be an in-tank filter, not sure) or something else.
I believe it also states to wait at least wait ~15 seconds between attempts, might not be a bad idea to try that as well.

edit: do you ever smell fuel the next day, prior to the no-start? Maybe an injector is sticking and flooding the engine:shrug: If you've never used something that cleans injectors (seafoam/lucas/marvel mystery oil being good choices) that might be a cheap thing to try just in case.

Otherwise next guess would be a sensor (such as crank angle) b/c I don't believe a fuel relay would act up in the way you're describing.

 

yes, fill up your tank and get a bottle of fuel injector cleaner.. my 90 accord did the same EXACT thing.

 

Did it again this morning. Was able to get it to start again.

It will misfire under a slight load before the engine has fully warmed up - i.e. from a dead stop I'll accelerate, at around 7 - 10 MPH it will misfire / stall and act like it might shut down, then it will recover and be fine. Again, once it runs for a while this problem goes away.

 

Also, what's the best recommendation for fuel injector cleaner?

 

hmm idont know about that misfiring and all. but I just used the lucas brand

 

I have had simliar issues.

 

Check for spark - could be coil or ignitor.

 

replace fuel filter, spark plugs and clean the throttle body really good and replace the distributor cap and rotor if it has one

 

mine did it and didnt do it agien for a year then just recently it did it three times in one week so i changed fuel pump didnt work then i found the problem it is the FUEL PUMP RELAY SWITCH is under the drivers side dash above the fuse box realy easy fix hyave a friend is a honda mechanic they dont get a lot of air there and tend to get moister in them and they stick thats wy it dont always hapen the only fix is get a new one 82 dollers at dealer was well worth it