Starting problems

[Underdog]

Hey guys,
I'm depressed right now. My car will not start. Here's the deal. I got back from Canada and installed my new short ram air intake, everything is hooked up fine. THe problem started when I went to start the car, it would turn over, but not start. I had actually had the problem before once , but it eventually started up again. Anyways, I kept trying to start it until it finally did start ONCE, and the intake sounded really nice...but that's not the point. I turned it off, and as luck would have it, it didn't start up again. So I had my neighbor come over to look it over, he's a mechanic. He looked through it, and found out my spark plug wires were SHOT. So today I went and picked up new wires and some new spark plugs (i gapped them at .040 which is within factory specs). I got it all back together, and turned it over, but, as luck would have it again, it wouldn't start. My neighbor and I checked the firing order and I had that all right. He also checked to make sure we were getting spark from all the wires, and we are. He checked the battery level just in case, and tried to jumpstart it as well, but that didn't do anything. So I was wondering if anyone had any idea what's going on. My neighbor says it's getting fuel and stuff too. I'm not a mechanic so I'm trying my best to explain, and I've sure been learning a lot these past couple days. The one thing he wants to check now is if maybe the timing is off, like the timing belt is stretched. Here's the other problem, he can't find the timing marks. He printed out a diagram of the engine where it showed where the timing marks were, but he hasn't been able to find them yet, so he can't check the timing. Any help on that too? Thanks for any help, I need my car back

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Ok first things first, the timing specs should be on a sticker under the hood. The timing hole may or may not have a rubber thing plugging it. That hole is where the tranny meets the engine block. Look at the far left side of your valve cover and look down and you should see the hole or the rubber plug. Take the plug out and hook up the timing light.


If your timing is off and you had it running it would have run like crap so I highly doubt its a timing issue. I suggest taking it to a shop, b/c from just the little you told me about your neighbor he seems like he likes to throw parts at a car and hopes it will fix it. No offense or anything but that's the way some mechanics are nowadays.

[Underdog]

Well, even I could tell I needed new spark plug wires anyways, they pretty much fell apart when we took them off and were all corroded. Anyways, we looked over it today, and the timing was fine. Somehow it managed to start up again, and we found a major water leak. We fixed the water leak and then filled it up with water/anti-freeze. We let it idle for quite some time and it seemed fine, and when we switched it off and tried to turn it on right away, it turned on. We're not sure exactly WHAT was fixed, but he said that it might've had something to do with being way too hot because there was hardly any water left because of the leak. But, whatever we did, it's working just fine now. The car also starts SO much better with the new plugs and wires. It used to have to turn over 3-4 times before it would start, now it pretty much just starts right up.

[mr eff]

sounds like the main relay to me. if it started right up after idling for "quite some time" and every other ignition system is working, it leads me to believe that it's your relay.

let it sit and get cold, and if it cranks without starting, try banging under your dash, behind the coin box while cranking. sometimes this will jar the relay's connections and make contact and start up. very technical, i know, but it's a quick litmus test.

chris

[Underdog]

False alarm people, false alarm. I drove it to our cabin about 30 minutes away, came back about 6 hours later, and it didn't start. Relay makes sense then. i want to die

[k-roy]

Lucky for you the main relay can be fixed for verry cheap.
Read this: http://www.markl.f9.co.uk/howto/elec...main-relay.htm

[mr eff]

be sure to bang harder next time

chris

[Underdog]

Yup, it's the relay. Went back to the cabin today, didn't start. So I then tried starting the motor, and while it was turning over, I hit by the coin box once and it almost started, 4 more hard hits and she was up and running. Amazing... I know people who could re-solder it for me, but for some reason my dad wants to buy a whole new one. How much do they usually run? He's paying for it at least.

[rdn]

don't!!!....resolder the one you have and you'll have a brand new relay!!!....in europe they wanted to charge me 100 bucks...i guess it's 30-40% cheaper where you are...but still!!...

i re-soldered mine for more than one year ago, and no probs since then!

[$40089'accordproject]

My car dont start some time so i sprayed starting fluid in it and it started right upbut it only dose it if i let my car sit for more than a day and night

[Underdog]

I didn't have a soldering iron, but my neighbor had one at work, so he brought it to work and re-soldered it for me. Starts up perfect every time now.

[mr eff]

i just bought a factory replacement relay for 50something dollars. i don't have midget hands, so i couldn't actually get up into the dash and replace the thing, so i just unhooked the wireharness and mounted the new relay somewhere more accessible.

chris