92 Accord, intermittent starting

SCOOTER99

MEMBER
1992 HONDA ACCORD

92 Accord, 250,000 km. Since I bought the car it will occasionally not start no matter how much you crank it, but if you let it sit for 2 min it will start no problem. Lately it has gotten worse to the point I cant drive it. It will die while driving which it never used to do, usually once it started it was fine. Sometimes it won't start, sometimes it will but die after a bit, and sometimes it will start and run beautifully. The temparature does not seem to have anything to do with it. I have done some trouble shooting and determined that it is a spark problem. I have changed the cap & rotor, wires, checked the ignition coil, plugs, cleaned the battery posts, cleaned every electrical connection under the hood and wiggled them while running to check for a broken wire. Nothing helped. I've read a lot of questions here and the "main ignition relay" under the dash, seems to be a common problem with these symptoms. Could this possibly be my problem, and if so is that the actualy name for the relay? I can't find it in my manual.

3 Replies

DJ_2CB

MEMBER
8 POSTS

The main relay controls the fuel mainly, Listen for the fuel pump to come on when it doesnt start or when it does. Usually cycling the key makes it easy to tell. Try cycling it on and off (with out starting a few times and listening for the fuel pump to run) it should have a distinct hum to it. If it does not come on at times then the main relay may be to blame.

I would check the Igniter control module.

It is located inside the distributor ( looks like a little box with 4 wires coming off of it. About 1-2" wide and 3 inches long. Attached to the inside of the distributor behind the rotor and shield )

Faulty Igniters tend to lead to symptoms that you explained.

It can be an expensive part, but the majority of the times ive repaired honda's with similar symptoms it was that. Hope this helps - Jay