Hello All! I've gotten plenty of advice from here as a lurker, but now I've joined the club! I have a 94' Accord that I use as a commuter, and it now has a problem that I couldn't "google" fix. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What happened when I went out to head to lunch today was, It wouldn't start, turns over fine but wouldn't start. This happens from time to time with the Texas heat. I have changed the Main Relay (grey box under the dash) and it doesn't do it as often but still does, I just have to tap it a bit. Well tapping didn't work this time, and I think I have another problem...

I noticed that I have no powere (dash lights, radio etc) at "ACC"position, and no power at "ON" position (AC, other dash lights, radio), but when I turn it to the "Start" position, those all expected lights come on, it turns over, but it wont start, and when I let the key go (sending it back to "ON") all lights go back off.

Now I know enough to know (I Think) that because I have no power at on, I'm not getting power to the fuel pump or injectors, but my questions is, is this signs of a bad ignition switch? And if it is, is there a way to bypass so I can at least start it to get it home to work on it...

 

It does sound like a flaky switch. Is it possible to keep it running by holding the key a bit; not allowint it to spring quite all the way back to the "ON" position? Not for driving, but for confirming the bad switch.

I don't have a 1994 wiring diagram, but it has to be a circuit that you can complete back of the switch somewhere. But I don't know which wire colors are which.

I'll move this over to General Tech, which is a better place for this kind of question.

 

I apologize for posting in the wrong area, but yes I wanted to let others know what I found. I did confirm a bad switch by using the technique you suggested after work yesterday, and considered making the 25 mile commute holding the key, but I thought better of it and found a wiring diagram instead to "hot wire" the ignition on.

The wire colors you wasn't from the switch are White and Black/Yellow (very thick gauge wires) When these 2 wires are shorted together it's equivalent of having the key in "on" position. If you are going to Jumper them together (which I recommend since you will have to pull them apart when you park it) make sure you use an equally thick gage wire. I didn't and used a smaller gauge wire, it was so hot when I got home the rubber was melting off, so there are a lot of amps going thru them (which explains the thick gauge wire @ the car).

Hope this helps someone else, no I at least have a work around until I have the time to replace the IGN switch.