Ok so here goes. This is my first forum post ever and I mean ever not just here. Please bare with me. About a month ago my 1997 Honda Accord 4 cylinder with california emissions decided not to *start one (COLD) day. I noticed the tank was pretty empty and I filled it with some gas I had in the garage for my lawnmower. Still no *start! I get my gasoline for my car at the local indian reservation (its super cheap there) and some rumors which have been floating around for years state that the indians gas is watered down. SO my next logical step was to run down and grab some Dry gas from the local Quickie mart. I put it in and booooooooom! (ok not boom but I felt that way) cause it started up and ran like a raped ape. I got my gas from the expensive place downtown and added another can of Dry gas. It started no problems for the whole tank worth of driving about a week. I allowed the tank to run down to just below a quarter tank and decided I would try the Indian gas again. I added a can of dry gas and a can of fuel injector cleaner directly before I filled it up. It got me home and back to work the next day! That night it was about 10 degrees outside and sure as poo it wouldn't *start when I got out of work. I got a ride home and a ride back in the next day. I put another can of dry gas in the tank before going into work. Low and behold when I got out (the weather a lil warmer)= it started right up. Now I'm thinking it may not be the gas at all it may be the weather. So a few days go by the weather is not necesarrily warm but not freezing either and the cars running fine. Bam cold ice storm rain at night froze in the early morning and guess what the car don't *start. (I forgot to add "not *starting" in each and every case means I turn the engine over and it cranks but will notstart sometimes firing or chugging like it wants too,eventually killing the battery so I have to jump it.) This is getting frustrating at this point but I call for a ride to work and home and when the day is done I walk up to my car sit down in the seat put the key in and (a lot warmer out now) it fires up runs like a rat trapped in a cage with a circularrunningwheel. At this point I'm really believing that thecold weather is 100% the cause of my situation. WELL WOULDN"T YA KNOW. Two days later the weather is warm for around here like 40-55 degrees, Rain and the car won't start. Next day same thing. Today this morning it's still raining I go out and try to start it, no luck. This time not even trying to fire for two days in a row just rolling over. I grab my girls car hook it up for the jump (cause I ran down the battery again) and try I few of the things I had read on these forums. LIKE A. I checked the wires (LOOK LIKE NEW) sprayed them down with WD40 made sure I had spark nice bright blue spark from each of the plugs. B. made sure the fuel pump was kicking on. C. double checked the check engine light (nothing out of the ordinary comes on and shuts off when it's supposed too) D. just a as a precaution I pulled the distributor cap to check for corrosion or where. None of the above worked! Now I thought I might be jumping the gun but my next step which I read here in a previous forum too try was too hold down the gas pedal while trying to start. It took about 90 seconds to two min. but finally a chug chug chug but still no fire. I give it a rest and let both cars batteries recharge for five or ten then go at it again with the gas pedal to the floor. CHUG CHUG CHUG, same time frame but getting closer and closer to start I can here her she's trying like a two year old boy on a stool after a cookie jar. Finally the third try chug chug chug chug chchchchchchh brrroooom! Down to Autozone I go. Unfortunately early in the morning they have a couple of stockgirls there and no mechanics that really know what's up. (not that girls can't be mechanics just that these two are braindead to the universe) So I buy some gumout two cans and put one in the tank. Thinking that because the weather had changed and it still did it again perhaps the fuel injectors are gummed up. I am at a loss and will be looking for more Ideas if this occurs again. Please post any info. that you think would help. ALL of that is the information that I can think of! I've read six or seven forums. Please help me I'm not really sure what my next step is.

 

Alright ..... I understand your frustration. There's a lot here and I'm glad that you looked for answers before posting this. First you need to put the car info in the signature because I have a feeling that this thread may get long.

You sprayed WD40 on the ignition wires??? You were supposed to spray water to look for arcing. No big deal, just make sure you wipe the WD40 off of them as well as you can.

Some first run ideas: How old is your battery and oil? Is there a chance that the oil is much heavier than specified? Have you had the battery tested .... might be starting to die, but doesn't explain failure to start while hooked up for a jump (did you give the helper car gas while jumping it?). If you can verify that the oil and battery are good, I'd move on to Seafoam, Marvel Mystery oil and Lucas gas treatment.

 

OK, I'm not really sure how to put the car info in the signature? I read one of the posts and a guy said if you live in an area where it is wet or raining and damp and moist that you can't really test by spraying water since the engine is probably covered with moisture already and since the WD stands for Water Displacing and that is what WD40 was originally designed for then a person could spray the wires especially if they are cracked and if the car started that the wires were the problem. OIL- I have 5w-30 running in it. It's less than 1000 miles since the last change. It also has LUCAS oil treatment as a partial in the oil because it has 220,000 miles on the car. BATTERY- the battery is holding enough of a charge for me to try turning it over for 10-20 minutes So I doubt very highly that it is that but I will have it checked.

?Seafoam, Marvel Mystery oil and Lucas gas treatment? what does this stuff do for my car?? I have already put some GUMOUT in the gas tank since the last post. Is this a good enough brand or should I try something else??

 

Are you still buying gas from the indian reservation? If so I would stop that right away. They could have a batch of bad gas.
Seafoam is an engine treatment that has been around for many years. Check it out here:http://www.seafoamsales.com/products.htm. The site should describe what it is supposed to do better than I can. I have a couple of cans of it in my garage now, but I haven't used it yet.

 

Ok so it has been a few days since my last post. The update goes as follows. As far as weather- well lets say it went from florida's bad weather warm wet and rainy to NY's bad weather below freezing like -4 degrees and snowing. GOOD NEWS my 1997 accord has started everyday since I posted the last post about putting GUMOUT in the gas tank. I also filled it with HIGH OCTANE fuel (just the expensive stuff from the gas station) when the tank got to about half full and used another can of GUMOUT. I am pretty convinced it is the fuel injecting system getting junk in it and being gummed up. It's not a 100% sure answer but as long as the car keeps starting right up I will continue buying the expensive fuel and gumout. NO MORE INDIAN GAS FOR ME.

I would also like to add for anyone reading this forum to help themselves cause they may be having the same trouble to please first check the spark as 90% of all starting problems are caused from this. It is very important to start there. I used a combination of information to find out what the problem might be starting with my all handy HAYNES manual for the do it yourselfer there is no better printed version for your car. AUTOZONE gave me a few pointers as well but be sure the guy you are talking to knows what he is talking about(the best wayis to ask a question you are a hundred percent sure of the answer that isn't a common one, if he answers correctly you should be alright to talk to him).Next instead of just posting on this sight I read several forums and found very similar problems. The process of elimination is the only way to find out what is wrong with your car.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR HELP

 

I wouldn't continue buying high-octane gas. It's a waste of money for your car(not to be confused with avoiding poor-quality gas). I'd avoid sketchy gas stations where there's doubt about how clean their tanks are. That's probably more important than the actual brand of gas.

Fuel injector cleaners aren't real good to use all the time either. Maybe every several-thousand or even every 20k miles.