Questions and Answers

Honda Accord Doesn't Like Sun Q. Vincent, Good day. I have a 1991 Honda Accord LX sedan, 5-speed manual transmission, fuel injected. Oh yes, it has 270,000 miles on it and I've put all but 17,000 of them on it, great car. Anyway, the past few months it has a few weird quirks that no one can explain (other than old age).

First, if the car sits in the sun all day it doesn't want to start, it reminds me of a vapor lock type problem, what I do to get it to start is turn the key on, run the heater on high heat until it starts blowing cool air. I also take the cap off the gas tank, sometimes there is a whoosh sound as air enters the tank.

The other times the car won't start I've run it for a short period of time let's say a 10 mile trip to the store, run in the store for five minutes and jump in the car, won't start. I either wait about ten minutes or do the same scenario as above and the car will start. I have recently replaced the coil, the igniter, plugs, cap, rotor and fuel filter. The car turns over, initially it acts like it's going to start but acts like its not getting fuel only air, then it just turns over and over and over.

Second, when I'm driving down the high way cruising along, come to a hill and have to give it a little more gas it misses (for lack of a better explanation) if I ease off on the gas it quits the chugging action and seems to catch up. Or if I take a corner in third and don't have a lot of rpms it does the same thing.

Of course when I take my car to the mechanic it doesn't do any of the above. Do you have any idea's? I can hear the fuel pump working when I turn the key on and it only runs for a short period of time. So I don't think it's the fuel pump, but heck what do I know.

I appreciate your time and if you have any idea's I would love to hear them.

Kindest Regards,
Julie

A. There is a very common problem with this year Honda Accords. And that is the Main EFI relay not working when it get's hot. I wrote an article about this: Honda Main Relays that will explain what happens with them. At this point it seems the most likely possibility and it should also take care of your other problem as well.