Honda Accord intermittent start problem
 

So we bought my kid a 1998 accord 4cyl lx for his first car. I've been poking around on the Honda forums but they really kinda suck, guess I'm just spoiled by Pelican. I was hoping some of you guys and gals might have an idea. The problem is it only starts when it want's too. It's real random. It will start and run great for 3 weeks and then out of the blue just not start. It cranks just fine all the lights work it just wont start. Then you go out the next day and boom back to running fine. I have replaced the Main Relay twice, the car has good spark the only thing I have not done is check for fuel at the rail (that's next). The ignition switch was replaced by the dealer. I was hoping someone might have another idea as to what it might be. This has been driving me nuts.

Check for power to the injectors. I recently saw a bad ground in the ECU cause a similar issue. It corroded inside.

My first guess is your key isn't right and the immobilizer is engaged.

I've owned a 1999 LX for 14 years and only recently the ignition switch went bad where it would shut the engine off when driving.

I agree about the grounds, we had a 1995 and everything is under the drivers seat ECU wise, make sure nothing has been spilled under there.....

It really seems like a ground problem to me. It's so intermittent. I pulled the fuel pump and cleaned all the connections. I think I will do that with the ECU next.

Ive had this happen before. Check the ground strap. It should be attached to the valve cover. Typically, it oxidizes and causes problems.

One more option - it could be the distributor starting to go also. We had a 2000 Civic that started having trouble starting (which developed into intermittent stalling issues), and it turned out to be the distributor.

Distributor or the igniter module.

^^^as said above igniter / coil / distibuter. 1 of the few issues with Honda 4 cylinders is the distibuter shaft bushing wears out and the shaft starts to 'flop' causing mechanical interference between the 'star' rotor and the reluctor ring. Also the module and coils fail frequently usually with is being the first sign.

Best bet, if you eliminate the other likely basic power / ground issues, is to buy a quality re-man complete distributor with all the internals. Very inexpensive and if it has 100K or more miles - good insurance as there are few other things that wear / break on those cars at that point.

Those things are known to have bad distributors.

Oh yeah, you can check the coil with an ohmmeter, check the resistance on the plug wires too. Internal coil on that one I think. You might want to just replace all that stuff, coil, rotor, cap and igniter, the distributor shaft usually lasts a little longer, but that would not be a bad thing to swap out too.

I had a similar problem with my 1992 Accord EX. It was a bad fuel pump relay. Not sure if this is the same for a 1998.

Kinda funny, more help here in 12 hour than in my 4 honda forum posts. I looked at the ground strap this morning and its pretty crusty. I've been thinking I'm just gonna do a complete tune up on it. All the ignition parts plugs, wires the whole thing. I've replaced the fuel pump relay. The one I pulled out looked brand new so I think the previous owner tried that as well.

You might want to consider adjusting the valves too, if you don't know when they were last looked at. How many miles on the car?

I've found most of the Accord forums are populated by kids.

Only issue with ohming the parts is the reading changes with ambient temp and engine temp. It read within specs at one temp and out at another............

I've had starters that were intermittent and finally died for good. Are there any common themes, like the car is cold or hot, or won't start after it's been recently running?

He said it cranks fine, Matt, even when it doesn't want to start.
I'm voting for a new ignitor or a completely new distributor on this one.

It cranks just fine, the real problem is I can only trouble shoot it when it's not working and it always does it when I don't have time to trouble shoot it.

Ebay has a whole dist @ more than reasonable prices.
It needs a tune up anyway? LOL
Like everyone else- I suspect the problem inside it.

Yeah, the Honda forums aren't very helpful, that was my experience also.

We get spoiled here on this board :)