Ok, so i have 94 accord with 260K miles. It has a hard starting problem that happens anywhere from 10 min - 4 hours (it happens sporadically but becoming more frequent) after i shut it off and try to restart it. It doesn't do it if it sits over night or if i start it with in a couple min after shutting it off. It was crank fine but will be very hard to start (starts but very low rpm and rough ) and i have to give if gas to clear it out. Seem to be flooding because i will smell fuel (but i could be wrong). I have replaced the fuel filer, fuel pressure regulator, new injectors. fuel pump seems to be turning on and off fine. Once the car is running it runs perfect! Anyone have any idea what could be wrong with this p.o.s??!!

Thanks!

 

Are the spark plugs, distributor cap, or distributor rotor due any time soon? You want to rule out the maintenance items before moving on to other things.

Also, have you check for engine codes? See the common diy thread on top of the gen tech help forum for a link to getting engine codes.

 

Ill check the distributor cap and rotor... and the check engine light isn't on.

 

first off what kind of accord ex with vtec or lx---simple ck----ck for sparks when hard to start ----if you do have have sparks ---ck for fuel pressure---again when engine is hard to start---hook up a fuel pressure gauge and ck fuel pressure...correct fuel pressure must be present all the time---- good luck

 

remove the plugs chk to see if there is any liquid in the cylinders,,,,,oil, coolant , gas etc ,,
Has engine overheated before ?? recently ??
also could be a faulty ECT (engine coolant temp ) sensor ,, i have seen that cause same issue more than once ,,,
but need to diagnose to properly identify the cause

 

If it was a sensor, shouldn't the check engine light, light on? Is the case for a code flash, without the chk engine light coming on?

 

Its a LX, spark is good when this happens. It was starting fine for the past month, now its doing it again. It wouldnt start until I pulled the plugs and cleaned them off with brake cleaner (they were wet with gas) then it fired right up! I do have a slight coolant leak by the thermostat housing. Im guessing that the sensor on the housing is the ECT sensor?? I guess ill try to change that sensor.

 

There are a couple of sensors near the thermostat housing. What color are the wires going to the sensor that is leaking?

 

Maybe not. If the sensor just had out-of-spec high resistance (but not completely open) when hot then the computer would just think that the engine was cold, dumping in too much gas on a hot start. KΩ scale:

 

Its the sensor that sticks out of the side of the housing .. I know the car is flooding because i can smell fuel when im cranking it. Would this sensor cause the engine to flood??