Questions and Answers

Accord Has Starting Problems Q. Vincent, You have a great site and great insight. I have read every single article about Honda cars, no-start conditions, main relay and others. I seem to be having the same problems but even more of a problem is finding an honest mechanic in NYC. I thought maybe you can enlighten me and steer me in the right direction.

Please bear with me if I don't use the correct terms but I'll try my best to communicate my problem.

I purchased a 1989 Honda Accord last year and have put over 12,000 miles on it, basically short trips (about 10 miles a day for commuting purposes). The car runs great once it is on, no sounds, no smells, nothing. An occasional loss of power while accelerating but nothing major, I can deal with that.

My problem is intermittent. It actually stopped for a while but it came back. It begins with a hard start, taking a couple of tries to turn over. Now the car is not turning on at all. It'll start for a moment if the battery is charged but it dies after 5 feet of moving. I had purchased a new battery in January. Turned out to be not powerful enough so I was able to get a stronger one.

Like I said before, the car started running fine after the battery was changed and a grounding wire was replaced connecting the starter to the battery. The starter was replaced in September. The alternator and starter have been checked and they are fine.

The problem seems to happen when it's humid or raining (not that we've gotten enough rain in NYC this year but whatever it is, it makes the car act up). Again, hard start and no start. After reading your articles, I've narrowed it down to two things - either an ignition coil or fuel injectors.

Spark plugs seem to be fine. Thoughts of a relay do cross my mind only because the car was sold to me with an added feature, they connected the fan directly to the battery so once the car is on, the fan goes on immediately. I assume it probably had an overheating problem. I want to trade-in the car for something bigger but can't trade-in something that doesn't work, right? Can you please help me?

Thank you,
Maria

A. Well Maria, you're close with the ignition system. When a car does not or is difficult to start in damp and rainy weather, the reason is most often the distributor cap, distributor rotor and ignition wires. When these parts get old, they develop cracks and when the air is wet, the spark jumps everywhere except where it's supposed to.

What you can do is start the engine and with a spray bottle, spray water on the cap and wires. I'm willing to bet you'll see sparks and the engine will start stumbling and maybe die.

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