I've got a 2000 Accord with the 2.3 ULEV-VTEC engine and auto trans.

This issue only happens when it's been sitting in the heat of the day (over 85 ambient temp- it happens more frequently as it approaches 100+) and usually if it's been sitting and hasn't run for several hours. I live in a very dry but quite hot summer climate.

Here's the problem:

The engine will start and run perfect in the morning. When I will try to start it in the afternoon to go home it will either barely idle and chug along for just a moment before dying or it it will just crank and not fire at all. The past few days it's been 105 outside.

If I let it sit, it will eventually start right up and run perfectly as though nothing happened. If it's in the 90's, it might start right up after sitting for five minutes, sometimes fifteen minutes, sometimes half an hour but when it's over 100 it will not start and I just have to call for a ride home and later in the evening when it's cooled into the 80's I go back it starts right up.

After this happens there is never a code and the CEL doesn't set. It did this same thing last summer too but not as bad and I never found a cause or a cure. Our winter months average in the high 40's to low 50's and it runs fine for all those months.

I've been trying to run through all ideas and am perplexed. It seems odd that the under the hood temp from sitting in a parking lot would be a problem because I can drive it all around and the engine heat doesn't seem to create a problem. It's just the ambient air temperature.

It's a black car with black interior and it gets very hot inside. Is there anything in the interior that could be causing this? What about the electronics that read the key chip? How does that function? It has done this problem with two different keys.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. We still have two months of 100+ heat this summer.

 

maybe the main fuel relay..

do all your lights come on and do you hear the fuel pump prime when your getting the no start? (this is done when u turn your key to the II position)

 

Do you mean all the instrument lights?

To be honest I never do hear the fuel pump on this car like I do on others. I'll try it tomorrow morning when it's cool and listen carefully to the sound and them compare it to the afternoon when it heats up.

 

yes the instrument cluster lights. the CEL in particular. it should light up for a few seconds while the fuel pump primes.

 

When you first turn the key to the II position, the bulbs on the gauge cluster run through a check. The check engine light should turn on for 2 seconds, the seat belt light, oil pressure, etc. When that check engine light turns on, the fuel pump should prime. Listen carefully, because it is a faint whirling sound that comes from the back seat.

If that sound is present when the car will start up, but not present when the car will not start, then you have a classic main relay problem.

You can repair the relay if you know how to solder, or you can replace the relay.

Search viIZ8k60awY on YouTube. That is a video from ericthecarguy on how to fix the solder joints.

Copy the link below into your browser, to show you where the relay is located. The 98-02 is shown on the bottom of that page.
techauto.awardspace.com/mainrelaydefine.html

 

Thanks everyone. I found the relay and resoldered it. I purposely left the car out in the direct sun all afternoon (104) It was unbelievably hot inside when I got in. At 4:00 it fired right up. First time in a week and a half that it's started in the heat of the day. I'll keep it close to home over the weekend and see how it does but hopefully that was the extent of the problem.

I could hear the pump and the relay this morning when it was still cool. The pump is very quiet unlike my old Dodge Caravan. As getting to and checking the relay was simple enough I didn't wait until it got hot today to test it again. I just went for it.

Makes sense that the residual pressure from the fuel system would be enough to fire the engine for just a moment one time and then it would die.

Thanks again.