QuestionQUESTION: I have a 1988 Accord that will not start all the time. It cranks fine but will not start. It you jump it it will start most of the time. It is not the battery. It is new and charged. The car will start and run most of the time. but then you get in it and can crank on the thing till it runs the battery dead and it will not start. Some of the time it will be runing and just die and will not restart. I know that it is getting spark, and has gas in it.
ANSWER: Anthony, there are 3 things your car requires to run. Fuel, air, and spark. Other things follow in line with these. Timing is the biggest problem maker for these Accords. Make sure that your coil is working properly as well. Do you have an LX (carberated) or an LXi (injected)? If it dies while running like, out of nowhere, I would suspect the fuel delivery/management system is the malfunction. Not uncommon, but, if I had to guess with what little information you have provided - fuel pump is the culprit. How many miles are on the car? Any recent repairs done lately? When was the last tune-up performed? Please be more specific and include as many details as you might consider relevant. For example, when you loose engine power do your lights stay on in the dash? Or do they completely fail? The more details you provide - the better diagnosis I can give you. Let me know with a follow up ok? Best of luck to you...
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QUESTION: Sorry, it is a LXI(injected). When it runs it runs good, so i do not think it jumped timing. It has 200,000 plus on it, but the moter was swaped out 40,000 ago. It has new plugs and wires on it. I know that there is spark at the plugs and the coil. When it dies the lights still work on dash. I removed the cover plate over the Fuel pump. But i can not hear if it is running or not when you turn on the key. It should run to prime the system when you turn the key to where the car would be running, but not hitting the starter? Can you hear the fuel pumps on these cars?
I tried spraying fuel in the intake it did not work, It still would not start. But when i tried 30 min later it started fine. I can start it 10 times in a row then it will not start. If the coil is not puting out the right voltage can it couse this kind of problem? Becouse i know it is putting out a spark even whene it in one of its non runnig fits.
AnswerFuel pump can be heard with 'key on' position. Remove the 3 screws, holding the plate, under rear seat. Put your hand on the cover plate at the gas tank. Fuel filter should be replaced as well. Unless you have a funky alarm installed with ignition kill or fuel kill, i am 80% sure this is the fix. Plus the car has 200K. Should be replaced at 120K regardless. Distributor cap and rotor has been replaced too i assume? Coil is good as long as you got spark at #1 plug wire.
