Hey there everyone,

This is my first time posting, so I will try and make this as clear as possible lol.

Ok I have a 1998 Honda Accord, 4dr, 2.3L, LX. Car has right around 150,xxx miles on it. Last year I had the transmission replaced (after sitting for 6 months).

Ok so now that you know a little about the car, let me get to the issue at hand. I have been having issues getting the car started after is has been sitting. This mainly occurs in the morning, after the car has sat all night. I go to start the car, and it will not start. It will turn over, and every once in awhile I can feel the engine jump like it is about to start but it doesnt. As weird as this sounds, I have figured out that this only happens when the cars sits for 11-12+ hours with out running. I can go to work and work for 10 hours and the car still starts right up. Then if I get home at 4pm, and do not start the car until the following morning (around 5:45am) then thats when I have the issues. It will take sometimes 10-15 minutes of trying before the car starts, and once it does start the car has to sit for about 10 minutes for the RPMs to get up. Once it finally starts the RPMs are very low, and if I touch the gas peddle the car dies again. But it will normally start right up.

Earlier this week I thought I had fixed the problem. One morning it wouldnt start at all, so I took my wifes car to work. After work still not luck. So I went to the autoparts store and got a new main fuell relay (upon researching online, this was one of the answers that kept coming up). I got home, plugged the new relay in and what do you know, the car started right up. I was happy I thought I had fixed the issue. I drove the car for a few days with no issues.

Then the problem came back. Car was parked in the drive way for 13 hours. When I went to start it before work, it just kept turning with no start (just like before). So now I am once again stuck with this issue. I have also found online that clogged EGR valves could possible cause this issue, or maybe the fuel filter (the fuel pump does kick on for 2-3 seconds with key in the ON position). So this is why I have come to you guys. Has anyone else had this type of problem and successfully fixed the problem?

I would greatly appreciate any feed back I can get.

Thank You ahead of time!!!

 

If you can catch it failing to start, at a time when you can check things; it'll help if you can decide whether it's lack of spark vs. lack of fuel.

(just because the fuel pump runs, doesn't mean the injectors are firing)

It's good to verify the fuel pump runs, because that rules out the main relay which is a common problem.