Had this problem for a year with my 96 Accord EX 4 cyl. Vtec 5 speed, was a random problem, but got to the point of not trusting it so it's been sitting in the garage for 8 months. The fuel pump kicks in when it wants to. But yesterday when i couldn't get it to kick on I hooked up my cheap little B&D code scanner it showed no codes, "BUT" the fuel pump kicked on and It started up. Tried this several times and it worked. Is it a code it's clearing.....or what? I replaced the fuel circuit relay and the clutch pedal safety switch just in case last year, but neither helped. Any help would be appreciated, as I don't want to have to carry around my scanner forever.

 

You should post this in the "General Tech Help" to get more responses.


I think you already answered your own question-most people probably would pull the fuel pump instead.

 

I'll move it over to Gen.Tech.

 

The issue could be the fuel pump is not getting power upstream, or the fuel pump is faulty.

You have to drop the fuel tank to get to the pump. There is an access panel in the trunk near the back seat when you can use a volt meter to verify you have power the fuel pump. The yellow (or maybe yellow/black) wire is the power wire to the fuel pump.

 

Thanks for getting me in the right area guys. I should add when this first started happening if I slammed the clutch pedal to the floor a few times it would start. That's why I put the couple parts in that I did, figuring one of the two was possibly the problem. Me slamming the clutch pedal probably was just enough to jog the fuel pump. Only worked for a few weeks though.

 

Just an old poor guy giving some info - without much background on the car. Has the intake ever been removed for any reason (head gasket, ect).

When a code reader is plugged in, it provides a ground "path" back the the PCM. So if having the code reader plugged in will allow the car to start vs not plugged in and no start.......you have a bad ground to the PCM. Easy test, code reader plugged in = car starts vs no code reader plugged in = no start.

For the 5th gen (94-97) 4 cyl accords, the main ground for the pcm (g101) is on the drivers end of the intake plenum - check it to be sure it is clean and tight.