The past 2 mornings it's been about 37-39 degrees Fahrenheit. it's a 2001 Accord V6 3.0, it will crank and engine will try to run but dies shortly. It has a full tank of gasoline, I thought it was a fuel pump so replaced it, it ran fine to my 45 minute trip to Walmart to test battery, it checks good. than drove back home, it's run through the whole winter which was colder. This morning it would not run. replaced alternator, but now it's 52 Fahrenheit outside and it ran okay, started weak. I have no idea if it could be the spark plugs, injectors, or what. it restarts fine once it gets running. please help missed work for past 2 days

*edit at work I left my dome light on for 4 days, it's LED, but I find it too much of a coincidence I had this problem right after. I think walmart tests batteries incorrectly. I think replacing battery is my solution. I do not trust walmart right now

 

I'd advise to not replace parts that you haven't verified are broken. You are wasting money replacing a working part and more importantly, some cheap aftermarket parts can fail out of the box or fail quickly and will complicate the diagnosis. If you still have the original fuel pump and alternator, keep them and don't throw away as you may need to reinstall later if the new part fails.

Has any work been done right before you had the no-start or did you fill up the gas tank right before you noticed this problem?

What do you mean by the car started weak? Is the electric starter motor not spinning the engine fast enough, or does the engine run rough when you let go of the key?

Start with the basics and scan for codes. Most parts stores can do this as a free service. Hopefully the code will give you a hint on what is going on.

When you first get into the car, turn the key to the II position and do not try to start the car. Listen for the fuel pump to turn on for about 2 seconds while the check engine light turns on for about 2 seconds. Turn off the radio and blower, etc. The sound is a faint buzzing/whirling sound from the back seat. Let us know if that sound is missing or not missing when the car will not start.

 

I did fill up the gas tank to full, the fuel pump was only $10 or so so no worries there. the alternator I already had for a few years, it was a reman and I paid for a new one so they let me keep it. The only other thing I did was add ATP into the transmission, about half the container. it's used to stop the leaks. if it was aspark plugs which I replaced a few years back with oem I should have gotten an engine code which there are none. So I know it's something that doesn't throw a code. Can fuel injectors just be bad in the cold mornings? I think not. I just got the battery replaced. walmart supervisor said it passed battery testing , which I do not believe. I looked it up, passing cold cranking amps does not mean a good battery every time. if it was bad gas why does it only affect the engine in the morning? So I don't think that's it

 

Let us know about the status of the fuel pump priming when cold in the morning.

Gasoline can stratify at colder temperatures, meaning water can separate from the gasolines at colder temperatures. Draining the tank is a pain. The shop manual states to remove the fuel pump and hand pump the tank. You may be able to siphon the tank from the fuel fill line. If you can get the car to run when temps warm up, try using as much gasoline as possilbe, then refill the tank. You can also try using some fuel stabilizer and it could help.

 

Assuming battery is fully charged and cranks engine properly ,,you said ( it will crank and engine will try to run but dies shortly ) how fast does car die after starts, immediately as soon as you release the key?
if so try holding the key in the start position see if engine stay running , if it does, it's a bad ignition switch
I totally agree with PA never replace parts till you properly diagnose the issue , no need to throw money away

 

When I replaced the fuel pump I did hear the pump whirring because I ran the engine to make sure it worked before screwing the fuel cover back on. It's only 37 Fahrenheit. It's no longer cold enough to freeze the gas, plus it went through 2 decades of winter with no gas freeing problems that I remember, not like this.
I actually think I figured it out I just bought double iridium spark plugs NGK off Amazon and then I stumbled upon a few injector articles and I heard that leaking fuel injectors will make the car hard to start in the morning, well this car is like 25 years old. Injectors have never been touched by me. So it must have a leak. I don't know if it's an O ring, or if I can just clean it or if I need to replace it completely , and with Oem or is there something cheaper? I missed the last 2 days of work. I make $400-500 per day driving so I had to try swapping parts. I could gripe about $100 but I lose 4x that much money by trying to be methodical. Financially I'm on a time crunch. I have PTO that covers it but they cash that out end of the year so I do lose money plus I could have used that for a vacation

I did think to myself after filling the tank that this car goes through fuel quick plus it does seem to run a little kinda wimpy. It's a V6

 

It dies right away as if it just used up it's last drop of fuel, or as if it's battery source quickly was depleted. That's why I swapped out the pump. Almost like a bad ECU. Gave it throttle and nothing until I keep trying. But it doesn't roar like it used to. It's the fuel injector, it's leaking, it. Plus Iately I keep telling myself gas is so expensive and this car seems to go through it fast. I don't know anything about fuel injectors though I don't know how they fail, how they leak, is it OEM or can I buy aftermarket? I've never replaced them before but I've done timing belt I've rebuilt and removed a five-speed automatic transmission I've done water pump Etc so I can do this I just have no clue what I'm doing yet

 

Nothing in your response describes how you proved the injectors are leaking. You may do the work in replacing the injectors and still might not solve the problem.

I'd recommend taking your car to a shop to get a diagnosis. This will save you time and money in this case as your root cause is not obvious.

Injectors can fail due to corrosion or debris from the fuel tank. The fuel injector has a pin that holds back fuel pressure. When the cylinder needs fuel, the engine computer supplys ground to that specific injector and the injector opens to spray fuel into the intake valve on that specfic cylinder. Fuel injectors are not a common failure point on hondas, so I'd be cautious in replacing them on a hunch..

 

Easy way to tell if injectors are leaking and causing the issue, put key on to prime fuel pump, pull plugs out and see if they are fuel soaked ( wet)
if they are wet car might not start or run erratic because is too rich

Just thought of something I had same issue once before car being too rich upon starting and would not start it turned out to be the ECTS ( engine coolant temp sensor )
you might want to chk that out ,,The amount of fuel getting injected into the engine is critical at the moment you start your car. If the air-fuel mixture is faulty,
you might find your car difficult or impossible to start.

 

I risk the car not starting. I live in a place where there is a repair shop but it's shady, I have used them before and they charged I think $100 to remove 3 exhaust bolts. The next nearest town is 45 minutes away. I ordered the refurbished injectors for $120. Cost of diagnostic and tow truck would exceed cost of what I paid plus $54 for spark plugs which I might keep anyways unless they're fake. The symptoms of leaking injectors matches my symptoms of no start in the morning. This car has 260,300 miles. Also I had questioned why I was going through gas so much. Symptoms do match. I could just replace the seals on the injectors but at the mileage I think it'd be better just to get the refurbished ones because I'm pretty sure that they're not nearly as many miles as mine