So I have a 2000 Accord 3.0L EX V6 with 165k miles on it. Over the past few months I've been have a strange problem with my car. It typically happens right after I fill up and maybe when drop below half a tank. This situation also never happens on a cold start.

If I'm running quick errands were my car requires to be turned on and off multiple times and my gas tank level is in the right spots (either just filled up or a little below half) when I go to turn on my car it will turn over, sound like its struggling to get gas and then won't stay in idle it will just die. If I'm parked in a convenient place I can turn the car on real quick put it in drive quickly and drive off the car will take off and the problem will disappear and the car won't die on the road.

If not I have to turn it on a few times for it to finally struggle to stay in a rough idle, and then once I can achieve that I can put in drive and take off and the problem will go away.

Also when this does happen I sometime get P1399 but then it goes away. I'd say this problem arises for me about once a week. Any ideas as to what may be wrong?

 

When was the last time maintenance was performed on the car, such as air filter, spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor replacement, etc.? It may be something else; but, not taking care of some regular maintenance items sometime exacerbates a problem.

 

I changed the air filter 3 months ago, put in platinum spark plugs at maybe 80K maybe a little over, I recently cleaned out the EGR port when I got a P0401, I pretty sure I've never done a distributor cap and rotor replacement though...

 

You may want to check the condition of the spark plugs and possibly change them and the distributor cap and rotor. Misfires show up in many of the V6 for your generation Accord. While a lot of people felt it may be related the the EGR port and EGR valve on it, it sometimes still persisted after cleaning the ports and changing the valve. Recently, I read one mechanic's report that he felt it was related to the distributor.

To further explain what I meant when I said not performing some regular maintenance items may exacerbate a problem. A gas engine needs a combination/mixture of air, fuel, and spark. For example, even if it was mainly fuel related, if there weak spark due to worn spark plugs or contacts on the cap or rotor, it make it much harder to start the car or have it running for at more optimal conditions. Although it may even eventually start, your gas mileage and power may suffer.

 

Ok, thanks for the advice guys but this issue has come back once again for me and I'm not sure at what I should look at next. If I'm driving around town making multiple stops this problems happens once during my stops. It occurs when I leave it off for a 10 to 30 minute window. When I attempt to turn the car on it turns over but then just stalls out. When I turn the key to the on position I can hear the fuel pump prime up, but then can’t get the car to stay on. The only way I can the get the car start up again is if I wait another 20 minutes or so for the car to cool down a bit more.

This situation is really random and hard to recreate. Most of the time if the car sits between 10 and 30 minutes while its hot it and will start up just fine. In the past though the CEL would come on when it turned over but just stalled out which has lead me to perform several repairs on it, but in the most recent occurrences the CEL no longer comes on during this issue

I can still get the problem to go away if I can turn on the car and quickly put it drive and hit the accelerator and make the problem go away after about a minute or so of rough idling at the lower rpms. If I then pull off to the side of the road and turn the car off and back on again it starts up just fine.

Repairs I have made over the past 2 years:
1. Replaced spark plugs about 18 months ago
2. Replaced 4 of the 6 ignition coils about 16 months ago
3. Cleaned out EGR port about 12 months ago
4. Replaced the catalytic converter about 10 months ago
5. Replaced EGR valve about 9 months ago

The last two repairs made the problem go away for about 8 months before it recently started happening again. Could this be a faulty distributor or maybe a main fuel relay problem now?

 

Fuel pressure relay issue?

Honda Accord 99 won't start in hot weather - Car Talk

 

Next time this happens try something. Cycle the key several times, off (0) to on (pos II) - priming the pump.

This is a reach but some of these had a vapr lock issue because of the way the fuel line is run. The issue really shows up in the winter months when winter blend gas is being sold.

There is a TSB or service bulletin about this.