Almost left stranded! Main relay? Distributor?

[CrunkRuffRyderz]

Hi I have a 93 accord and the car has been giving me intermittent issues. I realized I was getting oil in the spark plug holes after the car had not wanted to turn over after pumping gas. waited about a minute, checked all connections and it fired up but wanted to stall. I got it home and turned it off and on again and it fired right up and acted fine. next time I turn it off and on it stays on for 30 secs then dies. so then I changed air filter, fuel filter, the spark plug tube seals and the ones under the rocker arms and spark plugs and no more oil on spark plugs but still gives me the same issues. the car ran fine last night after driving it for aprox 25 miles. gf took it to work at 7 am and ran fine. go to start it at 3pm and it cranks but doesnt fire up. pushed it into shade and waited 10 mins, almost started. tried again after 2 minutes at wide open throttle and it fired up and drove home fine. I heard a main relay can cause this under hot temperatures but I also hear the distributor clicking and that is as far as my knowledge goes so far. I was told to replace main relay, distributor cap and rotor and spark plug wires. should I try that first or do I need a new distributor?

also check engine light didnt turn off for 10 seconds when putting key to ignition. usually it takes about 3 seconds for it to disappear

[dj_ender]

Sounds like your ignitor, or coil, is getting ready to go out. Give this a try: http://www.justanswer.com/honda/1j98...ybe-month.html

[CrunkRuffRyderz]

It seems that persons issue is their car won't start at all. I'm afraid I might misdiagnose it if there is spark because it is intermittent. I also disconnected one spark plug wire at a time from the spark plug and the car still ran after trying all 4 with the remaining 3 still connected of course. I will still try the spark plug test but they are new plugs with about 75 miles on them and it ran fine until it was in the heat. (sounds like my girlfriend haha) And the car has 226k miles by the way

[Fleetw00d]

You shouldn't necessarily need a new distributor (although I had one with all the insulation cracking in the wires). As mentioned before, an ignitor (ignition control module) inside the distributor (on the bottom inside when you remove the cap, four wires with spade connectors) is the likely culprit. My 93 LX and a 92 I sold had similar problems.

If you used too much anti-sieze on the plugs, that can be an issue. The 92 I sold still ran poorly with a new ignitor, plugs, distributor. I used my timing light on each plug to show me that they were firing inconsistently. When I pulled the plugs a second time, they seemed to have a lot of dirt/oil on the threads (affecting the ground from the plug to the head). Cleaned the plugs and the spark plug holes in the head as best I could, then reinstalled with only a little anti-sieze - solved my problem.

[CrunkRuffRyderz]

I actually have not put anti seize on the plugs yet, because I was having issues with oil going in the spark plug holes, so I feel I should test the car out for a few days and then go back and put anti seize on the spark plug threads.
What I've tried so far was take out the main relay and look at the solder points and sure enough at least 2 were cracked and each solder point had a burnt orance ring around it and in the green areas (excuse my lack of proper terminology), had orange burn like marks in random areas. I swapped out the main relay and so far so good, but then again the issue I've been experiencing has been intermittent so I will monitor this and keep this thread updated.

[Accord problems]

i have a quick question . is there oil in the dizzy ?

[CrunkRuffRyderz]

From what I see there isnt any oil on the dizzy. I have driven the car for the past 2 days with no issues so far and the real test is going to be tomorrow when my girl takes it to work in a hot area of town. That's where the issue had most recently happened so I figure if we simulate the exact same conditions with simply swapping the main relay and then it does not give us any more issues, then we should have solved the problem (hopefully). And that distributor clicking I have only noticed sometimes when the car is cold. I will continue to update the status as time progresses even if the issue does not come back. Most people who say they'll update don't but whoever can find this thread useful later on should have some sort of closure to asses their own issues on their car

[SilverShadow]

In my opinion, the main relay was the problem. I bought a 91 coupe and as soon as I got it home...it never wanted to start again. Back in 07 I did not know anything about cars. So the guy I bought it from and I changed the dizzy 3 times. Nothing. Then I got on a Honda site and read and asked and learned about the main relay. Well I got a spare one and put it in...opps...it came from a Civic. Didn't work. So I spent the money and got what belongs in there. That was 2007. We still have that coupe and it has never failed to start. Other problems yes, starting...no.
You don't have to see the cracks to know it's faulty. They may be so small only a magnifying glass is needed. And as you saw from my story...You MUST use the one made to go in the car..that is a must. Hope yours is the right one and new...$20 -30 bucks is cheap compared to the tows or time wasted waiting for it restart. My 2¢

[SEgirl]

When my had similar problems, it turned out to be the main relay.

[SilverShadow]

When my had similar problems, it turned out to be the main relay.

Yup! Now original poster, go to the store and get a NEW main relay for your car. Make sure it is the right #
Looks like this example but that photo is not the correct # I think.

Good luck

[westsideaccord]

I wouldn't buy new, just because they usually charge a lot for these electronic parts. I would head down to the local auto wrecker and grab another used one from a smashed up accord 90-97 they are all the same so I've found,
The igniter chip takes about 5-10 min so get a few of those and the wrecker won't charge you more than a few bucks. I have a dozen distributors, but the only thing I've seen fail is the cap/rotor and the igniter chip, especially when oil has been on the spark plugs,
Between main relays and igniters that is the absolute most common cause of non running issues with Honda/Acura. Oh and running out of gas or dead batteries haha.
I still don't see why cb7tuner has no image hosting for thumbnails, I would love to be able to take a pic of these parts, instantly, unless I'm out of the loop.

Still love this site, been here for a few years now, got me through some tough situations and some fellow members influenced me a great deal as well.

[oni_cb7]

Are you losing coolant at all?

I had this same issue that I kept chasing. Tried everything. Spark plugs, wires, distributor, fuel filter, spark plug tube seals... ended up being a seeping head gasket that was causing other issues.

This isn't necessarily your problem, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Check compression. Pull the spark plugs (what condition are they in). I hope I am wrong.