My husband’s 1999 (manual transmission) Honda Accord has suddenly gone from a very reliable vehicle to a very big problem. Last week, he experienced problems while driving in fourth gear going up hill at around 45 MPH. The car essentially stopped pulling him up the hill, so he went into third, and got nothing, then second, and got nothing. It took a few tries to re-start the car, which then started idling at lower-than-usual RPM’s. He revved the engine a bit, gave it a test drive, and was able to get to his destination without any more problems. The next day, at about the same place in the road, he experienced something similar, but this time, he revved the engine to increase the RPM’s while in fourth gear and was able to make it through without any stalls. This morning, however, his car did not start. The engine will turn over, but it is not engaging. It does not seem to be an electrical problem, since the engine is turning over. No warning or “check engine” lights have come on at this point. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Thanks so much!
Yup. He may have a dying n(now dead) fuel pump, with too little life left to supply enough fuel to get him up the hill…especially in 4th gear at 45mph.
Any shop can diagnose and repair this post-haste. First they’ll prbably check for spark, then they’ll probably check the fuel line pressure.
Post back with the results.
I think mountainbike is on the right path but keep in mind that distributor is a common failure point on these vehicles so if the fuel system checks out and you are still having trouble I would look at the distributor next.
It could very well be the FI main relay. It is actually a fairly common failure in Hondas.
Here’s how to diagnose and fix it: http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html#mainrelay