Hi Brett. I can't nail this one very well but I'm just
hanging out so I thought I'd steer you to at least a good
Honda FAQ run/start problems site at
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun , and then
ask a few clarifying questions.

What's the maintenance history on this car, particularly
tune-up items (plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, air
filter? How many miles? Thrown a bottle of injector etc.
cleaner into the fuel tank recently? Chevron Techron is one
brand of injector etc. cleaner much mentioned here. I use it
about once a year, to no ill effect.

Ever have the main relay replaced? Not sure your symptoms
are perfectly consistent with this, but they're certainly
mighty close.

You eventually get some kind of start, so I don't think it's
the coil or igniter at this point.

"brett" > wrote
>I have a '92 Civic EX. Sometimes the engine will turn a
>while before
> the car finally starts. This doesn't ever seem to happen
> when the car
> is cold. I can go into the grocery store for a few
> minutes, come out,
> try to crank the car and it just turns for about 5 seconds
> or more.
> Sometimes I stop turning it, try again and it kicks right
> off. It
> always kicks right off on the second try, as if something
> was primed
> from the previous try.
>
> Yesterday, I stopped for some gas. Filled up and tried to
> crank the
> car. This time it turned as usual but tried to start and
> couldn't.
> The car would try to come to life and shake then keep
> turning and
> repeat that cycle. Sounded like it wasn't getting enough
> gas. That
> was a first. So I pumped the accelerator a little and it
> kicked off.
>
> I'm thinking this is any of the following: starter, fuel
> filter, fuel
> pump, fuel injectors. It's a '92 and computer
> diagnostics for the
> engine weren't available until '96. Not sure if that
> would help in
> this case. Any one have some suggestions?