Starting problem that defies all reason

[Not like a rock]

Every day for the last week I haven't been able to start in the morning. The engine turns over, the battery light flickers, the battery does not weaken and all my lights ect. are fine.

I tried a portable jump start kit and it did nothing.

When I get a boost from my roomate, the car starts immediately, no hesitation and runs fine for the rest of the day, but will not start the next morning. Last night I disconnected the battery to make sure that the car was not draining it somehow, and when I connected it this morning, it still would not start.

So I assumed that there was something wrong with the battery and bought a new one. It still won't start. So something must be wrong with the car. However, once I get a boost, it runs fine for the rest of the day, and I have to turn it off and on like 15-20 times a day because I use it for delivery driving. It only has trouble when it has sat overnight.

In conclusion, the car loses its ability to start over time, independant of the state of the battery, but can only be started by boosting the battery.

WTF?

[NXRacer]

sounds like you might not be making solid contact on the starter. How old are your wires? that might be a problem. Or something in the starter loses connection (maybe internally) over night due to whatever reason.

[Blkblurr]

Check for corrosion on the battery cables at the point they contact the battery posts. Your car is harder to start in the morning due to being cold. It should therefore require more current through the battery cable. The jumper cable bites the battery cable on the outside of the connector and not where the battery touches it. Hope this makes sense.

[Not like a rock]

I checked the battery cables and they are clean. it shouldn't be a problem due to cold, because the car still wouldn't start at 11:00 today in the sweltering heat with a new battery.

So I walked to school and came back at 3:45. On a whim I tried again and it started LIKE NOTHING WAS EVER WRONG. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

[Vanilla Sky]

nah man, you've NOT BEEN taking your crazy pills...

check your starter solenoid... it could be going bad...

[mouchyn]

so, do you have a "no start" or a "no-crank" situation?

if you have a "no crank" situation, it's either the battery, starter, cables connecting the two, or your ignition.

if you have a "no start" situation, it could 100 different things. first thing i would check is the "main relay." those will allow the car to start or keep it from starting with no reason at all.

[A20A1]

When you jump started did you ground the negative or connect it straight to the battery... you might have a bad ground wire, like the one that connects to the thermostat housing.

[AccordEpicenter]

i second the ground wire check... Then just replace the starter, i bet its either a starter or a ground wire issue

[Not like a rock]

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't replaced any parts because the car ran fine since the last post up until yesterday. In addition to not starting in the morning, I would have to wait for 5-10 minutes after shutting it off before I could start it again (pain in the ass when doing delivery driving). If I didn't wait long enough, it would fire up to about 1500 rpm then die, and if I hit the ingnition again after that it would exibit the original problem.

So today I experimented and while it was turning over but not starting, I gradually pushed down on the gas pedal. When the pedal was almost all the way down, the car started.

Before I go ahead and replace the "main relay," starter (the second starter since the problem occured), coil and ground wires, can anyone offer any insights based on those descriptions.

btw, the car is EFI, the fuel pressure is stong, and when boosting, I did it with the negative directly on my battery post (clamp).

thanks guys.

[POS carb]

sounds like a bad main relay or loose ignition coil + and -

[AccordEpicenter]

sounds wierd... but replace your dizzy and see whats up. Ive heard of wierd wierd shit like this happening when carb dizzys get flaky.

[Oldblueaccord]

[QUOTE=Not like a rock]Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't replaced any parts because the car ran fine since the last post up until yesterday. In addition to not starting in the morning, I would have to wait for 5-10 minutes after shutting it off before I could start it again (pain in the ass when doing delivery driving). If I didn't wait long enough, it would fire up to about 1500 rpm then die, and if I hit the ingnition again after that it would exibit the original problem.

Thats sounds like when my main realy went. it fire for a split second.


wp

[Blkblurr]

Main relay sounds like. The contacts on it may be corroded and not allowing currnent to flow well through them. If you have poor contact, they can heat up after use causing even worse problems with resistance. the reason it may start with a jump is that your voltage is much higher during a jump because the other car is running. the higher voltage can get through the bad relay contacts easier.

[Versanick]

It's not carb. so don't worry about the dizzy. Sounds possibly like an idle control problem. I don't know how the 88-89's work in terms of idle controls, but it seems as though fuel is not being properly delivered when cranking, and then is later. I can't figure out how, upon being warmed up or having already run for the day that things could be fixed though...

Does anyone who knows more about the idle controls have any input as to if the EACV stuff could be a problem??

[lostforawhile]

did you push the clutch to the floor also? i had problems with my clutch switch before sometimes when i tried to start the car it wouldn't start until i pushed the clutch a couple of times. turned out the clutch switch was out ofadjustment. wierd problem had the same symtoms. the key switch can also go bad somtimes heard of other people having this problem turned out to be keyswitch.

[Not like a rock]

I searched about the main relay and found that other ppls description points to that being the problem. but.. while I'm waiting for someone to get home and boost my car, I also discovered that one of the blue wires from the coil is grounding weakly. it is consistent, but weak.

it is the blue wire on the connector closest to the firewall. there is a black/yellow wire and a blue wire on the same plug, and the blue one is grounding. I'm not sure if it is supposed to be grounding or not. I looked at the shop manual, but I suck at reading electrical diagrams and I'm really not sure about this one.

it isn't the wire that goes to the distributor to ground.

thanks for all your help, guys. maybe I have a couple of different problems. and now the car does this regardless of temperature outside.