1988 Honda LX that won't start....help!

[oldgold]

Ok, so, I have a problem. I have a 1988 Accord LX with about 235k on it. It has it's fair share of problems but has never not started and let me down......until now.

The other night, the battery light kept on coming on on my way home and I kept on losing power...minute by minute. By the time I got to my hill, I tried to gun it the whole way up but lost all power and had to park it at the bottom. The next day, I tried to give it a jump and it started by turned back off in about 5 minutes. This happened after I put gas inside of it about 2-3 times. I have all power (charged my battery, plus its pretty new anyway), but it doesn't want to start. It cranks and cranks and cranks.......but won't start. It's really starting to piss me off.

I need some help yall.....what could it be? I will most likely end up selling the car but I at least want to get it running first. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

[JFern]

Ok, so, I have a problem. I have a 1988 Accord LX with about 235k on it. It has it's fair share of problems but has never not started and let me down......until now.

The other night, the battery light kept on coming on on my way home and I kept on losing power...minute by minute. By the time I got to my hill, I tried to gun it the whole way up but lost all power and had to park it at the bottom. The next day, I tried to give it a jump and it started by turned back off in about 5 minutes. This happened after I put gas inside of it about 2-3 times. I have all power (charged my battery, plus its pretty new anyway), but it doesn't want to start. It cranks and cranks and cranks.......but won't start. It's really starting to piss me off.

I need some help yall.....what could it be? I will most likely end up selling the car but I at least want to get it running first. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Battery Light turning on means your alternator is not charging and means you were running and battery all the way home (great way to kill a battery, but this isn't why your car won't start). You could have shorted something or blown a fuse i suppose since it cranks (which means the battery and starter are ok). Check To make sure you are getting fuel and spark (spark plug wire tester is easy to do).

It could be a lot of things honestly, you need to do some more testing to track the problem.

[fijisac]

well first thing first, does the car turn over?

do the dash lights come on?

how long has your battery light on for?

check to see if your belt is still there?

(the reason why i asked you this is because on my old 86 Toyota Camry, the belt broke while driving cause the battery to turn on)

take out the alternator and check it tested at a parts store

[oldgold]

well first thing first, does the car turn over?

do the dash lights come on?

how long has your battery light on for?

check to see if your belt is still there?

(the reason why i asked you this is because on my old 86 Toyota Camry, the belt broke while driving cause the battery to turn on)

take out the alternator and check it tested at a parts store

Car cranks, dash lights all come on, and my battery light was on for about for about a day. It was on so long because I thought it was a problem with the cables or something. Definitely my stupidity that I didn't stop and check the problem. I figured that it would eventually go off....plus my car didn't feel any different.

I'll go check to see if the belt is still on too.....

JFern, appreciate the response. Tomorrow I will definitely go and test my spark plugs. For some reason, that seems the most likely. Blowing a fuse or shorting something could be it as well. I forgot to mention, my lights had shorted out on me about 3-4 days ago. I kept on having to hold the switch a certain way to get the lights to turn on. Very unusual and weird...

Any more advice I might need?

[fijisac]

well all i can say is check your fuses, fix your head light problem and hope for the best

[stezie]

A thought might be your ignition coil... try getting yourself a set of electricians pliers.. take out one of the spark plug leads and put a good spark plug into the lead. hold the lead carefully with the pliers and touch the threads (ONLY!) of the plug to an earth and have some one crank it over. you should see a spark jumping in the plug. if it doesnt your iginiton coil or ignitior unit is shot.. bar that hopefully your ECU isnt at fault..

[charliekuney]

Also, before you try anything expensive, pull a main relay from a junkyard and try that. If everything works and your car just won't start, that's most likely the problem. Is it hot where you live? The mains fry pretty easily.