Ok, I’ve been having this problem for about 3 weeks so far. I can’t get my teg to start. It turns over and acts like it wants to start, but doesn’t. I first checked the pgm-fi relay, and replaced it, but that wasn’t it (I also tested both the old one and the new one and they both checked out ok, so I apparently didn’t need to get the new one.) When that didn’t do it, I checked to see if the fuel pump was working, it apparently wasn’t, which led me to believe the fuel pump was broken. Since I had been planning to install a higher flowing pump anyway, I went ahead and did that. Now it turns out the stock fuel pump was ok, it just wasn’t getting power from the pgm-fi relay. So, figuring I’d probably solved the problems anyway, I just wired the pump directly to a fused cable to the battery temporarily, and bypassed the two conductors for the fuel pump from the pgm-fi relay. The fuel pump worked great and ran great, and definitely was pumping fuel through the rail and filter and everything (I also changed the fuel filter as well), but again the engine still won’t start. I already checked the ignition system, and the distributor, coil, and ignitor all checked out ok, as did the wires. Now I didn’t actually check the spark plugs to make sure they were sparking, but they were just replaced by the acura dealer less than 200 miles ago, so they should be fine, and I did remove them to make sure they were ok. I haven’t done a compression check yet, but I tend to doubt that is the problem since the engine was just fully tuned up by acura less than 200 miles ago, and they said everything was fine, and I haven’t driven it at all hard or anything since then. So right now I’m pretty confused as to what my problem is. The battery has enough juice as well, it’s a new battery and the voltage read fine, and I even put a 100 amp booster on the car to help out just in case. All the fuses seem to be fine as well. Anyone have any ideas what might be preventing the engine from starting? I don’t have anything other than an intake on the engine currently, so it shouldn’t be mods affecting it. Acura also changed all the fluids less than 200 miles ago as well, if that matters (I doubt it does). I have the helms manual as well, but haven’t had a ton of time to read a lot through it. I’ve read through most of what I thought the problems were with, but since the car’s still not starting, I’m stumped. I’m going to check to see if the injectors are firing at all tomorrow, in case maybe that’s it. Any other ideas as to what the problem might be? The ECU isn’t showing any codes either (if only it were, might make it easier).
Is your check engine light on when you try to start the car? When you out the key in to the on position, does the check engine light come on then turn off or does it just come on and stay on?
The check engine light just comes on then turns off like it usually does when I turn the key in the ignition. It doesn’t stay on (if it did, I’d be happy, at least then I’d have a clue as to what’s wrong).
Hm it sounds like the making of ignition though, how odd. When my car did the same, it turned over just to the point where it wanted to stay on, but then would die. It was because the rotor inside the distributor was missing the screw that holds it still, so when the shaft spun the rotor did not very well. Just something to think about I guess if you haven’t checked it out.
Ya, I checked that too, I did make sure the screw was in place, and it is. Thanks for the suggestions! It is strange, it does act like it wants to start, just doesn’t.
Check resistance on spark plug wires?
Clogged cat. converter?
ECU fried and died?
No power to starter?
Clutch starter safety switch?
Does the motor turn when you try to start it or is it just dead? Does it make any sounds at all?
It turns over great when I try to start it. I just checked the injectors, cylinders 2 and 3 injectors are clicking when cranking. I just pulled a plug to check for excessive fuel and what not, and the plugs look great and there does seem to be fuel. If the ECU were fried, I’d tend to think nothing would work, like no lights come on on the dash or engine turn over, am I correct? How do you check for spark at the plugs? can you just plug them into the wires and crank while one plug is out? I read that I should use a tester, which I’ll probably go buy shortly, but pulling one out and cranking with the plug in the wire while out didn’t seem to show any spark. The wire resistances read fine, I forget what they were, but they were within spec. It’s also a factory acura rotor and distributor cap that was replaced with the fluids less than 200 miles ago, and it looks fine. Damn, this is getting annoying…Oh, and would air in the fuel line or something like that possibly be the problem? I do hear a slight hissing in the engine compartment when running the fuel pump, sounds like it’s coming from near the fuel rail, on the transmission side of the engine. I’m not sure if that’s normal or not, since I’ve never tried to listen to it before, and it’s kinda hard to do that since the pump only usually runs when the engine is about to start or running. As for the cat, the car has a little over 90,000 miles on it, it’s a 1990 RS, I tend to doubt that’s it, but I might try replacing it in a while since the heat shield rusted off and I was going to get a higher flowing cat anyway. It’s an automatic too, so it’s not a problem with the clutch, I also checked to make sure that it was in park, and used the shift lock to move it around, then try cranking, and it only cranks in park, so I’m pretty positive that it’s in park. I may just have to take it to a shop (my dad did offer to pay for the repairs, but I’d like to do them on my own for the experience.) Thanks for the suggestions!
Oh, and I just checked all the important fuses again and they’re all fine.
So the car hasn’t started since this problem began, right? Do you suspect the starter? How about the exciter cable on the starter?
I don’t suspect the starter since it cranks the engine great, it turns the engine over with plenty of speed. What exactly does the starter exciter cable do? The starter definitely seems to be getting plenty of power. This problem just happened all of a sudden. The first indication something might be wrong was that I had to pump the throttle a teeny bit to get the car to start the time before it stopped working. When it failed to start the next time, I figured it was the pgm-fi relay was broken, so I replaced it, then I did the rest of the stuff when I couldn’t get it to start again.
Well the same thing happened to me. Mine was intermittent though and the PGM FI MAin Relay fixed it. Later, when I relocated my battery-my starter got fried because I didn’t run a ground from the chassis to the tranny(long story) Anyways, mine did the same thing-would crank all day but wouldn’t turn over. Ended up being the starter. Just something to consider.
when it first broke were you driving adn it shut off? or did you come out in the morning and it wouldn’t start? if while driving did it feel like someone reached over and turned the key off? or did it feel like you ran out of gas?
you said u were getting fuel to the rail and replaced the fuel pump. and the inj. were openin. so fuel is getting there. compression is good . and ignition checked out ok? is the cai clogged or blocked+ you said that when you first started to notice the prob. you had to keep your foot on the gas to get it running, the only thing that that would do is let more air in on initial start up b/c all it is is an air pedal. have you ever had it stall at a traffic light or when you put a heavy load on it. if so it may be a idle air control motor or clogged passage ways ?
if it felt like you ran out of gas when it died look for a fuel related prob. /vaporlock?
but if it felt like someone turned the key off then chase down something ignition .
ignitor/
i’m not sure whether tegs use an optical distributor or not but if its not creating a signal it will not start? do your cam seals leak? sometimes the cam seals leak an oil goes into dist. and it has an LED in it that it looks at through a wafer to create a signal if oil blocks those holes that the LED must shine through then you won’t have any ignition. sorry i have to get to work now i’ll check later to see how your doing. good luck
It just stopped working. I was using it one day, then the next day it just wouldn’t start. It didn’t die while running fortunately, it ran great. I parked it for the night, and then when I came out the next day it wouldn’t start. Ya, I thought it was weird that it started when I put my foot on the throttle since all that really does for the most part is open the throttle plate more, which wouldn’t help much. I don’t think anything is clogged. I even disconnected the intake just in case and tried to start it. I didn’t think though to check to see if there is suction on the intake, I might check that in a bit. I’ve never had it stall or idle badly or anything, it’s always run quite well, which is what kinda surprised me when it just stopped working. What else could possibly be clogged do you guys think, vacuum lines or anything, would those affect anything?
I’m wondering if it’s the spark or something, since I didn’t see a spark on the plug when I pulled the #2 cylinder plug out and cranked the engine. The cam seals aren’t leaking at all, there isn’t a drop of oil on the block or anything (I’m amazed at this, since everyone says the cam seals tend to leak pretty easily.) The distributor was nice and clean inside too, and the rotor and everything looked in good shape. I’m gonna test the plug wires again, see if maybe they don’t pass this time. Thanks for all the suggestions! Maybe I can eventually figure out what’s wrong…
Have you checked the ECU to see if you’re throwing a code?
Ya, I did check the ecu, and no codes, that’s what’s really annoying…maybe the ecu has a problem, I dunno, I’m gonna check the ignition again, maybe I missed something. Thanks
try the coil, and make sure the cap is ok. i had a problem with my car, the caps little bouncy metal tip thing was inserted wrong and caused the coil to corrode to one day when the car wouldn’t start… it sucked i was in the middle of the street, thought i had hydrolock, anyways. stick a screwdriver in the spark plug wire on the plug side (the long end) and if no spark comes out and you’ve checked all the other parts(ignitor,plugs,cap,rotor) then try a new coil that should do the trick…
i h8 electrical problems
rocky
I just bought a new cap and rotor (even though acura said they replaced them, the rotor had a fair amount of carbon on it, and the cap contacts were a bit worn). I put them on and still got no spark with the spark tester, so I tested the icm and coil again. The icm tested fine, but the coil tested kinda shaky. I couldn’t get a primary resistance reading this time (i did originally), and the secondary resistance was jumping between 7k ohms and 20k ohms, so I’m guessing now it’s the coil. How much does a new coil usually run? I was planning on getting a msd ignition anyway, with an external coil, would it be a good idea to get that now or is the factory coil pretty cheap? I’m gonna check with acura tomorrow on the price, just wondering if anyone knows off hand. Thanks for all the suggestions!!! I think I may be able to get it running again!!!
not too bad when i bought one for my crx, it was about 25-30 dollars. i didn’t get it at honda though, i got it from oreilly, i don’t buy electronic stuff i can buy at a parts place from honda they are too darn expensive
hope its that(coil)
rocky
Ok, cool, that’s really cheap, I’ll probably just try to get a stock one then, then get the ignition in a month or so, and get other parts I need now. I really really really hope it’s the coil…i’m running out of things it could be 
… Thanks again!