Honda Accord 99 won't start in hot weather

Maintenance/Repairs
,
1

On occassion,my car starts and immediately stalls and won’t restart for a period of time. This almost always happens in hot weather, when the car has been sitting for a while. (Only once did it happen in cool weather.) One dealer could not replicate the circumstances therefore could not fix it.

2

Check the fuel pressure relay. Honda has had issues with this!!!

3

Use the Search button, above. In the Keyword space, put “Honda stalls”. You will get lots of good hits.
To make it short, your symptoms indicate a faulty PGM-FI Relay (aka the “main relay”).

4

Yup! It’s the classic main relay problem that Hondas of this era suffer from in hot weather.
In fact, this problem is such common knowledge that I would question the expertise of a mechanic who is not familiar with this problem and how to easily remedy it.

The main relay is under the dashboard, in the area of the steering column. If I recall correctly, it is a small black box. Replacing it should fix the problem.

5

I’m in agreement with the others. The main fuel pump relay is a likely cause of this problem. The relay is under the dashboard, and can fail when subjected to high interior heat, such as when the car is parked in the sun.

6

Thanks all for your help!
How hard is it to do it yourself? I have a die-hard Mustang driver in the house, he’s pretty handy with that car. I thought I would try a mechanic and just go ahead and replace the fuel pump relay switch and clean out the idle air control valve for good measure.

7

I had a 98 Prelude and the same thing happened to me. I live in Florida, so summer time is rather humid and sticky and I had stalling issues during hot and muggy weather. I took it in and it was repaired while under warranty, and I don’t remember what the issue was but the dealer was great in taking care of my issues at the time. Good luck.

Gregory
Support autism awareness

8

I purchased the fuel pump relay switch at the dealer, but the old one was very hard to get off, so I paid a mechanic to do it. That was exactly the problem. The car starts better all the time now. Very disappointing that two different dealers professed to know nothing of this issue. Thanks everyone for your help!