hi all, i need help diagnosing this mystery problem. my 98 accord EX 4 cyl. v-tec is currently sitting in my company's parking lot.

a few months ago, i got a CEL, i checked it and it was a P1259 (v-tec solenoid). i cleared the code, and have not yet replaced it at this point. then i noticed that i was losing a little bit of coolant each week, but not anything major. i checked for leaks, but there werent any.

i started thinking i had a blown head gasket so i kept checking my oil to see if it got frothy, or bubbly, or milky, but it always looked perfect. i also kept checking for any white smoke or a burning coolant smell from the tailpipe, but i never observed any.

the temp gauge has always worked and still does, no codes for it either, and ive never experienced the car overheating or anything like that.

i am currently getting no CEL's and my scanner is reading no codes. my battery is at 12.5v, and when i turn the key in the on position, it powers all of the lights and radio and all the electrical gadgets just fine.

with the engine cool, i opened the radiator cap and tried to turn the engine over to see if the fluid would bubble up and out to see if any combustion gases were finding there way through the cooling system which would mean that the head gasket was blown. a little bit spilled out, but im not sure if it was from gases bubbling up, or if the spill was caused by the engine trying to turn over.

ive replaced a head gasket on a few cars before so im familiar with the symptoms, but this one seems close to call. i used to have a compression gauge but i cant find it so i cant check the compression at the moment.

any ideas!? do you think its a blown head gasket? could a dead v-tec solenoid cause the engine to not turn over!? im completely lost being that this is my first vehicle with v-tec so im not sure what the effects of a bad v-tec solenoid would be. i know its the only thing that has ever caused a code to get thrown.

please help accord gods! im arranging to leave my accord in my company parking lot until the weekend and then i may rent a car dolly to bring it home for repair. im trying to prep myself on what ill be fixing. thanks in advance!

if you need any more info that might help you give a better guess to this, please respond, and ill be checking this post every few hours. thansk again.

 

oh yeah, i forgot to mention how it sounds when i try to start the car. it sounds like it turns over for about a half a second and then just dies. hope this helps a bit.

also, my temp gauge has always worked properly and ive never got any codes for it malfunctioning, nor have i ever had the car die due to overheating. ive never had any overheating issues at all with it. also, the car showed no weird signs that it was going to die before the problem happened. i drove it to work, drove it to the gas station at lunch that day and it ran perfect. then i get in it to go home and boom, it wont start.

 

Sounds more like a dead/bad battery......what are the volt readings when you try to start it? Either way, most parts stores will test batteries for free....start there.

If it tests fine, be sure the cables are clean and tight

 

man, that would be really awesome. i tested the battery with my multimeter and it was reading 12.2-12.5 with the key out of the ignition, and the radio and lights still work. i bought a new battery but didnt bother to try it since i still had lights and power in the car. should i try it anyway? also, the cables and terminals were corroded and had all that frost on them. should i go back tomorrow morning, try to clean up the cables, and try the new battery or would this be a waste of time? thanks for your opinion.

 

Not sure of the age of the battery in the car now.....IMO, if it is 4~5 years old, put a new one in it.....either way, clean the connections, and try again......at rest a battery can read "fine" but if something inside the battery is bad - bad cell,ect - then under load it will not work....load being something like trying to start the car. Again one of the reasons to test the volts when trying to start the car.

 

Agree w/ poorman. Sure sounds like a battery, starter (less likely) or connection issue to me.

I'd take the new (charged - right?) battery out there, with jumper cables, hook it up via the jumper cables, and hopefully just start the car.

 

thanks for all the help fellas, i went out to my company parking lot at lunch today and started fiddling with the car. i cleaned off the corrosion on the battery cables which there was quite a buildup of, and then i tried starting the car. no luck, it would sound like it was going to come on and then die. so i tried pumping the gas pedal and turning the key and it sounded like it was close to coming on. then i just put my foot down on the gas pedal and it started! but as soon as i let off the gas pedal and let it idle, it would immediately die. i tried this over and over, and finally i got the car to come on and hold its idle. i drove it around the parking lot a few times and when i put it in park again the idle went real low and the car almost died again. i came back later on after my day was over and it fired right up and i was able to make it al the way back to my garage.

it was a success and i didnt even have to get it towed. my question now is, what should i be looking to repair so that this doesnt happen again? is it something with the idle? ive got all saturday morning to figure it out, suggestions and opinions are very much welcomed. thanks again to all who chimed in.

 

When you turn the key to start the car, does the starter spin the engine at the normal rate? Or is the engine not firing up (running on its own where you can release the key)?

How many miles are on the spark plugs? What brand did you use?

How about the distributor cap and distributor rotor?

If you turn the key to the II position, but do not try to start the car, can you hear the fuel pump turn on for about two seconds while the check engine light does the bulb check? This is a faint buzzing/whirling sound that comes from the back seat, so turn off the radio, blower, etc... and listen carefully.

 

the starter sounds normal while it cranks, we bought the car from my gf's aunt and it had recently been tuned up at that point (92k miles), it had new spark plugs and wires all NGK brand. ive never taken the cap off the distributor so i dont know what the rotor is looking like. when the key is in the II position the fuel pump sounds good to go and i have full power to the radio, windows and fan/ac.

the car seems to be running ok, but i noticed that when the motor is running and its in park, the idle seems inconsistent. thanks for the help!

 

You can try cleaning the throttle body (butterfly plate & inside of TB bore). Then look for a post by me about setting the BASE idle. Sticky thread at top of Gen.Tech. has links to popular DIY threads, & base idle is one of them.