'92 Prelude 2.3i won't start when engine hot
 

Hi, I hope some of you Honda experts can help me. I bought a 1992 Honda Prelude 2.3i last November, and noticed after a while that the engine wouldn't start when it was hot. This usually happened when I'd been on a drive, parked somewhere briefly (e.g. to get fuel) and then tried to start it again a few minutes later. I'd generally only have to leave it for 5 minutes to cool down, then it would be ok again.

I mentioned this to the Honda dealer when I took it for a service and they said this was common with the older Preludes, and there wasn't a solution.

However, now that the weather here in the UK is finally turning warm, the problem is starting to become crippling... I don't have to drive the car anymore, just leave it sat in the sun for a little while and it will refuse to start. Since it's sunny most of the day, I basically can't start my car between about 10am and 7pm! This can't be "just one of those things" Prelude drivers have to accept, so I'm sure there's a fault somewhere that can be addressed. I'm not sure I trust the local Honda dealer to know what the problem is though, so I came looking for the experts :)

From the bits I've read in this forum and here:

http://www3.telus.net/public/johnings/MainRelay.HTM

It seems that it might be a problem with the alternator or the main relay.

When I turn the key you can hear the engine turning over, so it's definitely trying to start up, but doesn't "catch". Sometimes it will spark into life briefly, then die out again... once or twice it's done this and managed to recover before the engine shuts out completely.

Once the car is started and it's got past those difficult first seconds, it runs fine. I've never had it stall unexpectedly on me whilst driving, even when I've driven for 2 hours and the engine is presumably far hotter than it gets on a summer day.

This has me suspecting the main relay from the description above. Would other experts concur?

As a follow-up, I called the local Honda dealer to get an idea how much it would cost to replace the main relay switch... they told me 57UKP for the part, but 2.5 hours labour would bring it up to nearly 300UKP (> $500 US). I'd got the impression that it was a pretty simple job to access the relay, and wasn't expecting to pay nearly this much. Is the guy just lying to me?

Dude, go to your local junk yard or even Ebay and buy a full Fuse Box .. i remember paying like $50 for a friggin Relay in 2000 because i really needed .. while you can buy the whole shit for like 15-20 on ebay .. also alternator isn't that hard task ,, just need tools and manuals ,,, your car shoulnd't be having issues like that one . although is kinda old ,, isn't suppost to be with those kind os problems at all ..
Good luck and don't let people steal your money man..
OScar

That's why Honda went S2000, Preludes were expensive but accesibles after all, now with S2K's they can keep charging people with some overpriced services 'cause most of S2K buyers are more adults and a little more whealthy ... (IMO)
Oscar

I had a similar issue, the problem was the main relay. There is/was a part of the relay that was fragile, and worn so it separated when hot, my mechanic soldered it together. I would have paid $145 (USD) if he wasn't my sponsor.

YUp i had a 1992 H23... same thing. Bought the main relay for i think 50$ and jus unnattached the older 1 and re attached mine. VERY SIMPLE, dont let throw away all your money for something that takes 20 mins.

LMFAO! 500 bones for a main relay?!! Don't let them rip you off man. It is an easy part to replace.

Yeah It's the main relay, the one I bought didnt turn on when we went to test drive it, :rofl: it had a bad main relay and the owner paid for it to be fixed, and now it starts perfectly

Thanks for the replies - I cancelled my appointment at the Honda dealer, who apparently can't be trusted, and I'm going to take it to a local auto-electrician to see if he can fix it with a soldering iron :) I hope that does turn out to be the problem!