Little bit more information about the car. Miles and other info may contribute to the diagnosis.

I'm still a little fuzzy on whats happening. Will the car always crank but sometimes it won't turn over? Have you checked your starter? If the car is cranking then its not the starter. In which case, are you getting all three things elements of combustion when you try to start the car (oxygen, fuel, and spark)? How is your compression? Do you smell gas when it trys to start? Sorry about all the questions but the problem seems a little vauge.
~Ben

 

No problem.

It's a 2000 GSR with only about 90k. I've checked spark and it looks good. I also hear the fuel pump turn on but I understand that is not a definite way to know if the engine is getting fuel. The starter is fine and the battery is always charged.

Basically the car will turn over but won't fire. When the car sits for a few days it will run just fine.

Can the distributor slowly go bad?

 

No problem.



Can the distributor slowly go bad?

Yes I just had this problem.(my car only has 70k miles, first time changed something in the distributor) It was the ignition coil. If you have a multimeter, run an ohms test and check resistance between primary and secondary coil. If not that, maybe a tooth on the flywheel broke off? Did you check your timing belt? Bad ECU signal maybe, and check your grounds also.

 

check the battery voltage when cranking. you may have a parasitic loss somewhere. It also could be a bad O2 sensor, dumping too much fuel at cold start. Kinda like when you prime your lawn mower too much and you have to wait for the fuel to dissipate before trying again...

 

Interesting.. I never thought of a bad 02 sensor. Is there any way to test the 02 sensor? I'll check on this as well.

 

Quote: RuskeR on Dec/05/06No problem.


Can the distributor slowly go bad?


Yes I just had this problem.(my car only has 70k miles, first time changed something in the distributor) It was the ignition coil. If you have a multimeter, run an ohms test and check resistance between primary and secondary coil. If not that, maybe a tooth on the flywheel broke off? Did you check your timing belt? Bad ECU signal maybe, and check your grounds also.

Did you have the same problem? Would the car just not start sometimes than eventually just fix itself?

 

oh yeah, are you throwing any codes???

 

Almost the EXACT same problem as me. I have a 94 gsr and only recently have i had this problem. one day i got out of class and was in hurry to get somewhere (cuz i was already late) and my car would turn over so i paniced and didnt know what to do. So i just sat in my car and i pressed my alarm (oem) on and off and tried to start again and it started...ionno if that helps but it helped me...could be a coincidence though?

 

I don't have the OEM alarm but rather an aftermarket one. I've wondered if the aftermarket alarm could be the problem but I wouldn't know where to start with that since I had it installed.

 

Update:

Happened again and I was able to get the car towed to Honda to have it looked over.

Turns out it was the Immobilizer system. Acura told me this system will work or not work.. it's not something that will be intermittent. So I crossed it off my list of possibilities.... but Honda said this was the problem and it can be an intermittent problem. So, a $61 part is all it needed.

I'll update this if for some odd reason that wasn't the problem. Thanks for the advise.. hopefully this thread will help someone in the future.

 

i have this same exact problem. my cel light is one and it says it's the primary o2 sensor. the only thing is that i have already replaced the catalyic converter and the o2 sensor less than 40k miles ago. What could be causing the 02 sensor to go bad so quickly?

 

...can be an intermittent problem. So, a $61 part is all it needed.

What part did they replace? Do you have a part number?

 

bad o2 sensor bad alt maybe even a coil i had a problem with my coil.

 

When the car didn't start, did you have a green light shaped like a key that flashed in your gauge cluster?

 

could your aftermarket alarm have caused your immobilizer to go bad? that could a possibility someone didn't bypass the immobilizer the proper way.

 

When the car didn't start, did you have a green light shaped like a key that flashed in your gauge cluster?

one time the green key was flashing and wouldn't shut off. This is an obvious reason why I thought it was the immobilizer. I spoke with an Acura tech on the phone and he still didn't think this was the problem because the car would eventually start if I disconnected the battery for a day or so.

 

could your aftermarket alarm have caused your immobilizer to go bad? that could a possibility someone didn't bypass the immobilizer the proper way.

It's a possibility. I don't know too much about alarms in general so I wouldn't know how to check. I do know that unhooking the alarm from the battery will cause the car to do nothing when you turn the key over.

The main problem was the car would turn over but not fire. Damn immobilizer works so good not even the owner can drive it.

 

my car is having the exact same problem and i can't figure it out.

It has also been happening on in the cold months. It happened once 2 years ago. I had it towed 90 MILES to the nearest acura dealer (under warrenty) and it fired right up when it got there. They said probably the alarm.

Happened a few weeks ago, so i had it towed to circuit city and they said the alarm does not tie into the factory's immobilizer in any way. I told them to just take it out and make it exactly like stock. Car would not start. We talked about who closer around town could fix it and a friend of his came out and the car fired right up.

If you could find the part number of your paper work like casey said, it'd help me out a bunch! We can't the problem because everytime it goes anywhere a dealer or place to service, it fires right up. Very unpredictable problem that's only happened 4-5 times in 4 years i've had it.

My car had this problem before i owned it as well according to the service records. They replaced the ecu and i suppose that stopped the problem for a while.

 

man, that sounds like a crap load of headaches... i'm actually glad my car doesn't have that.

 

sounds like your distributor cap is not sealed and moisture is getting in. Take off ur distributor cap, makes sure there is no moisture in it and then put it back on and seal it with some kind of gasket maker.

 

Man hope mine is not the Immobilizer system, cause mine does the same thing too. sometimes it would start fine and sometimes it work just crank and not start. But push starting seems to make it work, me i think its my IACV. (MY HAPPENS IN COLD, AND SUMMER) I still don't know.

 

Yeah, I'll check my paperwork when I get home. Like I said it was only a $61 part.

Have you noticed the green key symbol flashing when your car does not start?

It was also just routine maintenance but I replaced:

fuel filter
dist cap
rotor
plugs

This would oNLY happen during colder wet months.

hpracing007: I hear your pain man. I've had it towed to honda once when it wouldn't start and sure enough when it got there it started just fine. Annoying as ****! Luckily they were really cool about it and didn't charge me but I was out a few hours doing this.

 

My reply goes out to anyone having similar problems

 

I wonder if its just an integra thing because my Accord has the immobilizer system and its a 98 and I never had a problem. I do see the green key flash in the cluster. I wonder whats up.

 

honestly its moisture under the cap. When you leave it, the water evaporates and it starts fine. Seal the cap and it will be perfect.