intermittent hard starts' 89 LX

[dcjjp1]

My '89 LX has been having some quirks lately with start ups. It will turn, die, sometimes 2-3X, but mostly it will fire right up. I have also had it also "miss" and catch itself while driving (only once) and continue on with no difficulties. Sprayed carb cleaner thinking it may be that (couldn't hurt I suppose) Decided to replace some key things...

New battery
both fuel filters
spark plugs/wires
distributor and rotor

Only had this issue in late fall/winter, never in spring and summer.

Thoughts? Ideas?

[Dr_Snooz]

Does your tach needle bounce around when starting the car?

[MessyHonda]

have your checked the timing?

[dcjjp1]

tach doesn't jump at all. Will have timing checked. Hadn't done that yet. I will have my friend check that this weekend.

[dcjjp1]

Took it to a mechanic to inquire, he says possibly the fuel cutoff relay? It starts (after several attempts, now more frequent) so he didn't think fuel pump since it will eventually start up and run. He is going to look at it tomorrow. Does only FI Lxi have main relay? This is a pain in the ass.

[dcjjp1]

Mechanic can't replicate problem starting. He noticed the tach not working (never had that problem in all the time I've had the car) and recommended either ignition switch (@$300) or the fuel cut off relay ($150) either he stated may or may not fix the issue.

I'm not handy in this aspect and rely on someone to do the work. Ideas?


WTF!

[Buzo]

Mechanic can't replicate problem starting. He noticed the tach not working (never had that problem in all the time I've had the car) and recommended either ignition switch (@$300) or the fuel cut off relay ($150) either he stated may or may not fix the issue.

I'm not handy in this aspect and rely on someone to do the work. Ideas?

WTF!

I'm going to offer you a $0.01 USD solution.

The coil has an internal resistor that gives the Tachometer and the Fuel Pump relay the signal to operate. If that resistor goes bad, the signal is not received by the fuel fuel pump relay and it will not send fuel to the engine.

- buy a 2.2 kOhms resistor at radioshack and put it in the coil for testing, if everything works but you don't like the resistor in there, buy a new coil.

Let me find the picture where I explained how to add the resistor...

http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?76975-Tach-works-when-it-wants&highlight=resistor+coil

[dcjjp1]

Buzo,

Even if does it intermittently? It's not all the time.

[POS carb]

I don't mean to pull this off topic but I have an MSD canister coil in mine (carbed) and I just attached both blue wires to the - and both blk/yel to the + years ago and everything works normally
Are you sure the resistor is necessary?

[Buzo]

Yes, mine was intermittent when I did the fix. I was a 55MPH in the highway and the tacho went to zero and back every several minutes. The pump was "direct" from the ignition sw to the pump, otherwise I would have the same failure mode as yours.

If it worked without the resistor then it means that there is nothing inside the tacho circuit that would ground the signal. So I guess you can go ahead and connect the blue wires together. (Instead of the resistor, just put a little piece of wire).