1991 Honda Accord Startup Problem

My wife hs a 1991 Honda Accord LX. It has over 150,000 miles on it.
Intermittentally, off and on over the past year, the thing has
had starting problems. This last time it has been a few months since
the last problem. But, this morning, she tried turning the key, and it
wouldn't start. She called our auto club. The battery tested ok. From
what she said, the troubleshooter driver shorted across something, and
got the car to start. He told her it looked like a problem with the
starter.
She took it to our mechanic, who tested the battery and the
starter. Both came out ok. Usually things will go along all right for
quite a while between times, although sometimes it will go through
about a half dozen times in a row when it won't start unless jumped or
something, and then it will go. We take it to the mechanic, and he
can't find a problem.
Without it showing symptoms, he doesn't want to spend a lot of
time looking for problems. He's a very honest and reliable mechanic,
and he doesn't want to make needless repairs. My wife has replaced the
battery about 3 times, but that doesn't clear up the problem.
She drives it under 20 miles a week, on average. Intermittenely,
the dash indicator indicating that the trunk or one of the doors is
open, evern tho it isn't. No idea if this ties in.
I looked on the cartalk.com site, and someone said that this
vintage of car has problems with the main relay or the fuel pump
relay. Anyone solve this problem with this or another solution?

"Frank starr" > wrote in message
om...
> My wife hs a 1991 Honda Accord LX. It has over 150,000 miles on it.
> Intermittentally, off and on over the past year, the thing has
> had starting problems.
....
> I looked on the cartalk.com site, and someone said that this
> vintage of car has problems with the main relay or the fuel pump
> relay. Anyone solve this problem with this or another solution?

Yes - I had a 1991 Civic and occasionally (I think it was on warm days) if I
drove the car then stopped the engine, if I went to start it again it would
not start. Once I waited a while it would start okay, maybe because the car
cooled down again. I can remember going into the Post Office and coming out
to a non-starting car, same thing when I made a quick run into the grocery
store. It was very aggravating. The first couple of times I ended up calling
AAA, only to have the car start on me a few minutes later, so I would call
them back to cancel. Then I learned just to wait and the car would start.

I did the same kind of research you did and learned about the fuel pump
relay issue. I took it to the mechanic that I trusted and told him to
replace the fuel pump relay. He asked why and when I explained he was
skeptical, but he did it. I never had the starting problem again for the
next three years that I owned the car. (I just sold it last year.)

It's not an expensive repair so you should consider it.

Regards,
Raab

On 19 Mar 2004 16:20:50 -0800, (Frank starr)
wrote:

>My wife hs a 1991 Honda Accord LX. It has over 150,000 miles on it.
> Intermittentally, off and on over the past year, the thing has
>had starting problems. This last time it has been a few months since
>the last problem. But, this morning, she tried turning the key, and it
>wouldn't start. She called our auto club. The battery tested ok. From
>what she said, the troubleshooter driver shorted across something, and
>got the car to start. He told her it looked like a problem with the
>starter.
> She took it to our mechanic, who tested the battery and the
>starter. Both came out ok. Usually things will go along all right for
>quite a while between times, although sometimes it will go through
>about a half dozen times in a row when it won't start unless jumped or
>something, and then it will go. We take it to the mechanic, and he
>can't find a problem.
> Without it showing symptoms, he doesn't want to spend a lot of
>time looking for problems. He's a very honest and reliable mechanic,
>and he doesn't want to make needless repairs. My wife has replaced the
>battery about 3 times, but that doesn't clear up the problem.
> She drives it under 20 miles a week, on average. Intermittenely,
>the dash indicator indicating that the trunk or one of the doors is
>open, evern tho it isn't. No idea if this ties in.
> I looked on the cartalk.com site, and someone said that this
>vintage of car has problems with the main relay or the fuel pump
>relay. Anyone solve this problem with this or another solution?

When you say "wouldn't start", do you mean won't crank or won't fire
up and run? If you mean won't crank, the symptoms you mention make me
think that it may be the solenoid or an electrical connection at the
solenoid or starter.
FWIW
YMMV
DFB

My wife says that the car wouldn't crank. She has just called our auto
club when the problem happens, but not tried to wait a while and try
again. The fuel pump relay sounds likely, although this problem
happens the first time you try to start the car for a particular day.
Once it gets started, you don't have the problem again. For example,
although this problem occured Friday, March 19, 2004, she was able to
start it the next day, first thing in the morning. This is what makes
things vexing, since the problem is intermittent, and not really
consistent.


D F Bonnett > wrote in message >. ..
> On 19 Mar 2004 16:20:50 -0800, (Frank starr)
> wrote:
>
> >My wife hs a 1991 Honda Accord LX. It has over 150,000 miles on it.
> > Intermittentally, off and on over the past year, the thing has
> >had starting problems. This last time it has been a few months since
> >the last problem. But, this morning, she tried turning the key, and it
> >wouldn't start. She called our auto club. The battery tested ok. From
> >what she said, the troubleshooter driver shorted across something, and
> >got the car to start. He told her it looked like a problem with the
> >starter.
> > She took it to our mechanic, who tested the battery and the
> >starter. Both came out ok. Usually things will go along all right for
> >quite a while between times, although sometimes it will go through
> >about a half dozen times in a row when it won't start unless jumped or
> >something, and then it will go. We take it to the mechanic, and he
> >can't find a problem.
> > Without it showing symptoms, he doesn't want to spend a lot of
> >time looking for problems. He's a very honest and reliable mechanic,
> >and he doesn't want to make needless repairs. My wife has replaced the
> >battery about 3 times, but that doesn't clear up the problem.
> > She drives it under 20 miles a week, on average. Intermittenely,
> >the dash indicator indicating that the trunk or one of the doors is
> >open, evern tho it isn't. No idea if this ties in.
> > I looked on the cartalk.com site, and someone said that this
> >vintage of car has problems with the main relay or the fuel pump
> >relay. Anyone solve this problem with this or another solution?
>
> When you say "wouldn't start", do you mean won't crank or won't fire
> up and run? If you mean won't crank, the symptoms you mention make me
> think that it may be the solenoid or an electrical connection at the
> solenoid or starter.
> FWIW
> YMMV
> DFB

On 20 Mar 2004 15:45:59 -0800, (Frank starr)
wrote:

>My wife says that the car wouldn't crank. She has just called our auto
>club when the problem happens, but not tried to wait a while and try
>again. The fuel pump relay sounds likely, although this problem
>happens the first time you try to start the car for a particular day.
>Once it gets started, you don't have the problem again. For example,
>although this problem occured Friday, March 19, 2004, she was able to
>start it the next day, first thing in the morning. This is what makes
>things vexing, since the problem is intermittent, and not really
>consistent.
>
>
>D F Bonnett > wrote in message >. ..
>> On 19 Mar 2004 16:20:50 -0800, (Frank starr)
>> wrote:
>>
>> >My wife hs a 1991 Honda Accord LX. It has over 150,000 miles on it.
>> > Intermittentally, off and on over the past year, the thing has
>> >had starting problems. This last time it has been a few months since
>> >the last problem. But, this morning, she tried turning the key, and it
>> >wouldn't start. She called our auto club. The battery tested ok. From
>> >what she said, the troubleshooter driver shorted across something, and
>> >got the car to start. He told her it looked like a problem with the
>> >starter.
>> > She took it to our mechanic, who tested the battery and the
>> >starter. Both came out ok. Usually things will go along all right for
>> >quite a while between times, although sometimes it will go through
>> >about a half dozen times in a row when it won't start unless jumped or
>> >something, and then it will go. We take it to the mechanic, and he
>> >can't find a problem.
>> > Without it showing symptoms, he doesn't want to spend a lot of
>> >time looking for problems. He's a very honest and reliable mechanic,
>> >and he doesn't want to make needless repairs. My wife has replaced the
>> >battery about 3 times, but that doesn't clear up the problem.
>> > She drives it under 20 miles a week, on average. Intermittenely,
>> >the dash indicator indicating that the trunk or one of the doors is
>> >open, evern tho it isn't. No idea if this ties in.
>> > I looked on the cartalk.com site, and someone said that this
>> >vintage of car has problems with the main relay or the fuel pump
>> >relay. Anyone solve this problem with this or another solution?
>>
>> When you say "wouldn't start", do you mean won't crank or won't fire
>> up and run? If you mean won't crank, the symptoms you mention make me
>> think that it may be the solenoid or an electrical connection at the
>> solenoid or starter.
>> FWIW
>> YMMV
>> DFB

I don't imagine the fuel pump relay is related to cranking. An
inoperative pump would keep it from building pressure to feed the
injectors thus prevent starting.

I have just spoken to my wife some more about this problem. It seems
that she has had occasions when she has had trouble starting the car
after she has driven it, or at least started it and gotten it warmed
up, and it wouldn't restart. On these occasions, she has come back 20
minutes later and gotten it to restart.
On the occasions when she had trouble restarting, the starter
made cranking sounds, but wouldn't turn over.

I saw a message somewhere else that the main relay could be a problem.
What does anyone else think of that?