93 Accord ex crank no start Fixed!!

[Richhard]

Hi, my car is stored every winter, each year when I get it out it starts right away no problem. In the following days, it randomly decides to crank but not start. That trouble have been on and off for 3 years. Sometimes the tach and speedometer makes some glitches while attempting to start. I have fire, I hear the fuel pump (main relay resoldered) but when I pull the spark plugs after attempting to start without success, they are dry. I wonder if someone had the same issue and could point some possible explanation to this? What could randomly prevent to have fuel other than the main relay or the pump?
Thanks!

[Raf99]

When the issue appears do you have fuel at the fuel rail line / past the fuel filter?
Do you have another ECM to try?
How do you get it started?

[Richhard]

I don’t really know if I have fuel at the fuel rail but I believe so because sometimes it starts sometimes it does’nt, so it can’t be a clogged fuel filter as it would never start… I think. I have an other ecm but I think it’s a p13 because it’s on my other cb7 which have an h22, will it work with the f22 ? I’m not too confident with that one either as it’s been sitting for a very long time.

[ukemike]

I don't think the p13 ecu would work, or at least not well. The intermittent nature of the problem suggests a spark issue to me, but you said you have spark. If it were a clogged fuel filter, I think you're right, it shouldn't be intermittent and it should also cause problems with acceleration. You 93 should have the separate coil, which I believe are more reliable than the in-distributer-coils that are in the earlier cb7s. I wish I had something more useful to contribute.

[Richhard]

Yesterday it started and I drove about 100km without any problems good acceleration, perfect idle it ran like a brand new car which technically it is (124000km). When I came back home I tried to shut it off and restart a few times and it worked every time. Today… well that’s it, crank and no start, attempted 10 times with pauses and nothing to do with it. I tried another ignition switch and it didn’t fix the issue. I’m out of ideas, any thoughts are appreciated at this point, and yes you are right the ignition coil is separate from the distributor I changed it two years ago trying to fix that same trouble.

[ukemike]

This seems like an intermittent short. Intermittant problems are usually electric, but that doesn't always mean it is a spark issue. It could be a fuel pump short.

Do you have any aftermarket stuff that is triggered off the coil? like a tachometer? or a trigger for your intake air butterflies? I had intermittent power loss in my race car that was caused by an intermittent short in the trigger wire from the coil to my aftermarket tach.

Or maybe intermittent short to the fuel pump? hmm you said you always hear the fuel pump come on, so maybe not. Fuel pumps make a whirring noise when you turn the key.

Here is something you can try. Get a spray can of starter fluid. When it is not starting have someone crank it while you spray that stuff into the intake. If it starts briefly then, then you were not getting fuel. If it does not then it is a spark problem.

Have you tried to check the codes? I've never done this but there is a jumper under the passenger dashboard or carpet somewhere, i think it is blue plastic. You jump it and a little light blinks. The blink pattern can tell you what error code is recorded.

If you touch a long screwdriver to each injector and then listen, you'll hear it clicking if it is working.

The only other thing that occurs to me is that failure to start is always because of missing fuel, spark, or air. It's unlikely but it could be air... Check your intake and filter etc.

[Richhard]

I found somewhere that Honda published a bulletin that says some distributor bearings have manufactured defect that makes them loose and could prevent the car to start intermittently. I thought maybe that’s why once it’s started everything is fine … like the centrifugal force keeps the bearing centered and when it’s turning slowly (when attempting to start), it could go off center thus not firing right. Maybe it’s something else related but I liked this theory so I put a new distributor in and it WORKS!! Every time now!! Yeah! Thanks tho for trying to help that’s appreciated.

[Richhard]

Funny fact; the special bulletin stated that Honda will extend the warranty on the distributor to 120000km with no time limit. My car has 124000km, I almost had a free distributor on warranty for a 30 year old car!

[ukemike]

Well you taught us something!