My roommate just purchased a 1989 Accord LXI four door with 135,000 miles on the odometer.

He picked the car up two nights ago and this morning he had trouble starting it at the DMV. He drove about two miles before pulling over because of the check engine light. We towed it to my place and I've been trying to diagnose it.
The check engine light indicated an error #12, the EGR valve. It had already been plugged by the previous owner presumably because of a bad egr valve.

Well, after a little oil (it was a quart low) and a half hour to cool down it started up again and ran rather well but with an obvious vacuum leak surging between 1200-2800 RPM. Removing the #12 vacuum line from the intake manifold and plugging it resulted in a nice and steady idle at ~750 RPM.

Bingo! I thought, now to track down the problem. I reattached the vacuum line and went inside to research. However 20 minutes later, it wont fire again.


Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

 

Sounds like you might have two issues going on.

I see #12 as going to the dist?

When it won't start - is it getting spark to the plugs?

 

Scratch the post above....the manual I have must be wrong.....or the wrong version. Need to do more checking.

Anyway, just went outside and looked at my 89 LXi 2 dr - #12 vac hose goes from the drivers end of the TB to the vapor can.

So, the idle surge could be because of low coolant - check and bleed.

Again when it won't start, need to find/verify if there is spark and fuel.

 

There's spark from the distributor. And fuel is making it to the rail, but I don't have a fuel pressure gauge yet. The timing is spot on as well.

New plugs, new wires. Still inconsistently starting. I discovered the fuel pressure regulator doesn't appear to be functioning properly and is stuck open with or without vacuum. So that's next on the list.

 

We've checked and bleed the coolant.
Using noid lights we've identified proper spark and injection. The fuel pressure is 40psi at prime and is regulated to 30psi at engine operation. Yet we're still having trouble with the car running or turning on while warm but it doesn't have a problem when cold.

 

So the spark at the plugs was a nice blue spark?

This is an LXi - so for giggles check the ecu for codes - it is under the drivers set. Open the little plastic window and turn the key to "on"

Also once it gets hot and dies. Turn the key to off, then to on - does the CEL come on for a few seconds and go off? Also during this time you should hear the fuel pump prime.