96 Accord EX: ONLY starts on the 3rd try; Randomly hiccups while driving.
 

My Vehicle: 1996 Honda Accord Sedan EX—4 Cylinder.

Problem: Vehicle only starts on the 3rd try. During the first 2 tries, the vehicle pretty much starts fine but dies the exact millisecond it actually starts. The vehicle also has brief moments of lag while on the road. A feeling that the engine is inconsistent (it basically hiccups) maybe 1-3 times per drive. Usually very briefly and very inconsistently so.

Things to note:
1. Sometimes the car randomly starts on the first try. It seems to happen more when the fuel tank has more gas in it. I suspect the problem occurs more when the gas tank is well-above empty, but just below the half or 1/4th mark. But I don’t drive very often so it’s very hard to tell if this is the case or not. But I will be watching closely to see.
2. This car was taken down LOTS of dirt roads by the previous owner. And it has tons of dirt everywhere. I’ve cleaned it up quite a bit. But there’s still dirt in weird places.

Things I have tried:
1. Removed and thoroughly cleaned the Idle Air Control Valve and Throttle Body with carb cleaner. It’s immaculately clean.
2. When I turned the key to let the fuel prime. Waited about 5-10 seconds. Turned it off, and rinsed and repeated this 4-5 times before the first try. It STILL takes 3 tries. Letting it prime first does nothing to help the issue.
3. The coolant is full, and 100% free of all air bubbles. The temperature gauge never rises above where It should.
4. The battery seems to be great. The terminal connections are clean and very tight.
5. The Air Filter is brand new and clean (most likely super irrelevant but still…)

1. Check for engine codes Your car is obd2 and the connection is behind the ashtray.

Since the car is consistent in not starting, pull a spark plug wire and use an old spark plug or spark tester to see if you have spark when you first try to start the car.
The other option is to spray some starting fluid into the throttle body with an assistant trying to start the car. If the car runs using starting fluid, then you have a fuel delivery problem.

Let us know what you figure out and we can give you some more tests to try pending your initial results.