I have the a very peculiar problem with my 1998 base model Prelude. When it is cold/dewey (have not been able to rule out either as it has been both wet and cold in Florida for a while) the car will not start and has no spark.
When the vehicle warms up in the sun, it will start just fine. Also if I leave the vehicle garaged at night, it will instantly start in the morning.
- Checked all of the grounds on the motor several times
- I have been through 3 distributors and two coil modules.
- Checked the wires in the distributor as described in the Helms manual to check for continuity or a short
- Cleaned out the IAC as well.
- The vehicle has a new CKP/TDC Sensor, as well as, a new timing belt and water pump.
*Please note this is an H22A that I installed about 2 years ago and it is OB2
Well I get a very strong turnover when I attempt to start the car. I am assuming that a bad ignition would mean I wouldn't even be able to try to start the vehicle?
I do get the light key light flash when I stick the key in the ignition, does that indicate that the computer recognizes the key?
The only thing that changes seems to be the absence of spark in the cold?
Sounds like a similar problem with the early 90s accord main relay. However, it is opposite because the accords would not start when it was hot but would after it cooled down.
It does look like the 5th gen has a similar relay, but don't know if that could be the cause or not. Some people are saying that if you hear the fuel pump then that relay is good, but it might be worth looking into.
When your car is running, let it sit idling, pop your hood and spray around the plug wires and dist. cap and see if your car starts to idle funny. And by idle funny, I mean misfire.
__________________ JHNNY
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Replaced main relay and ran a LED test on the Ignitor.
The main relay replacement was a bust and the car did not run. As for the ignitor test, it was inconclusive. The LED merely dimmed during the test. Has anyone run the type of test in this link below? Is the LED supposed to completely go out? Maybe I have a faulty signal from my ECU?
I have a brand new distributor cap and rotor as well as spark plug wires. I have checked both of these for faults and shorts and have found nothing so far.
Thank you for all of the responses thus far. I guess I will continue in the morning. I am not sure if the ECU has been shorted from a mishap about a month ago. (All fuses have been checked and are in working order.)
I'm having a very similar issue to yours right now but I haven't been able to conclude its lack of spark due to living alone. When the temp is 50 or below it will crank fine but will not start. However it is manual and I can bump start down my steep driveway. I too have replaced plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil, icm, etc with no luck and was going to swap the main relay today. Please let me know if you come to a conclusion and I will do the same
I tried the main relay as well. I have narrowed down the fault to inside the cabin of the vehicle by leaving it in the garage and just warming the inside. I still have not found a faulty wire or relay yet. Try putting a small space heater inside the vehicle (keep and eye out for fire!!!) and then try starting it once it's warm inside. That will at least tell you if it's in the engine bay or not.
As for any conclusions. I am thinking the Tach wire. When my vehicle starts very cold I can sometimes get a very poor run with no tach indication at the dash. Then suddenly it will rev up and idle perfectly as if some connection warmed up.
I tried the space heater and no such luck. I originally thought leaking fuel injector but as temps dropped down into the 20's this past week it wouldn't start after sitting outside for 2 hours. I suspect the CKP/TDC but really hope thats not the case. Is there a way to test them without digging half way into the motor?
Yeah you'll have to get the lower cover off to get to the CKP/TDC sensor. You could try clam shelling the cover if you had a Dremel. Would make it easier in the future. I am trying to figure out how to do that currently. But there is some evidence that the CKP/TDC sensor can have a no spark/ no start according to a few Chevy forums I read.
That sucks it wasn't in the cabin. I am in the process of tracking down my Tach wire as this is most suspect. I get little or no tach reading and the car will run very rough for a bit. Then the tach will suddenly come to life. Does this sound familiar in your case? I think I have a bad connection under my dash and the heat helps this for me.
I have no issues with the tach. On a cold morning when I first try to start it, it will cough and then continue cranking with no start. When I keep cranking the smell of gas becomes very strong so my theory is that a sensor is telling it to spray more fuel than it needs and its flooding. I just haven't arrived at the conclusion of which sensor.
As for your issue I would call up honda and see if you qualify for the ignition switch recall. Before I had mine replaced it would shut off going down the road. Sometimes it wouldn't shut off even when I took the key out and luckily could just stall it out with the clutch. If nothing else it should be a free replacement
I get that same smell as well, but I believe it's just the fact that the injectors are throwing fuel in and not able to burn it. A sensor should throw a could, have you tried cranking for more than 15 seconds to set the check engine light.
I will check on that ignition switch. If I can get a cold morning I might try heating just that to see what happens. Thanks for the heads up. Did the CKP/TDC turn up anything?
Apparently I should re-read my posts before posting.
*A sensor would throw a code... (Sorry about that).
Update for the day. Heated all of the ignition components with a heat gun. No change. I am slowly localizing the problem to somewhere underneath the dash.
I was on a wild goose chase with the ignition system only to discover that my "weak spark diagnosis" was due to a cheap harbor freight spark tester. My latest theory is that one of my sensors is causing too much fuel to be sprayed into the combustion chamber. This is then washing down the walls and causing low compression. Hopefully this hunt leads somewhere. How is everything coming in isolating the problem under the dash?
I suspected leaking injector as well that was washing out the cylinder and causing low or no compression until one morning I unplugged the ECT sensor and managed to get the car to start. The senor is new so I don't expect that to be the problem but it would tell the ECU to add even more fuel when unplugged. I feel like I'm getting further from solving the issue everyday.
I finally fixed my car. The problem was that my valves were too tight. After testing compression and it reading about 25 per cyl I decided to check them. I've heard of valves getting loose over time but not tighter...oh well. Regardless after adjusting the car fired up instantly
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HNNY
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