Hi, I have a 1990 Honda Accord EXR, auto. Very well-maintained by the previous owners and I'm trying to keep that up. An occasional problem has turned into a serious problem and I'm checking to see if anyone can help diagnose it.

For the last month or two I've had problems starting on hot days when the car has been driven for a while. Perhaps once a week after having driven the car for a while I'll stop and then have trouble starting up again. Only sometimes though, mostly it works like a charm. It usually starts very easily with no foot on the gas, but when it doesn't [after it is well warmed up] it takes a few minutes to half an hour wait for it to get going: waiting solves the problem temporarily. However, yesterday waiting didn't work! I came back an hour later and still no go. I checked the lines and there is no evidence of leakage. The next morning: still no go. The last time was different in that I started it up and had it running, next I depressed the brake and shifted to D4 and it instantly died and hasn't revived since. So, is this likely a fuel filter problem [I feel confident replacing it myself] or a fuel pump problem [in which case I'll have to get it towed to a shop], or something else like the article here suggests.

Thanks, Stephen and I'll let you know how it gets resolved.

 

For your car 2 things come to mind;
first is the main relay might have cracked solder joints on the circuit board, that stops the fuel pump from running.
second, when you start up the car, warm engine condition, turn on the key and wait for the CEL to go off. You want fuel pump to build full pressure, or the injectors spit a drizzle of gas, instead of an easy to ignite fine spray mist.

 

Turns out the coil went which took out the ignition module. The intermittent start problem was fixed by replacing the main relay and is apparently a well-known problem with these Accords.