99 4cyl accord hard start short trips

I have a 99 accord 4cyl with 155k

The car runs great steady idle no stalling but after short 5 - 10
minute trips is hard to start

wait 1 hour starts perfect

i have put several cans of fuel injector cleaner runs better but same
problem

put a used ebay main relay runs exactly the same

plugs wires / cap changed 20k miles ago

throttle body cleaned recently

no engine codes


I am leaning toward the coolant temperature sensor under the
distributor but I hate to just keep guessing and throwing money at the
problem. MY guess is that the computer is getting a cold engine
reading from the bad sensor and too rich mixture. Any thing that I
should check / clean before I throw more money at this

thanks

Check the ignition coil. It is known for failing only after
warmup for some time until it is completely dead.

"Ray" > wrote
> I have a 99 accord 4cyl with 155k
>
> The car runs great steady idle no stalling but after short
> 5 - 10
> minute trips is hard to start
>
> wait 1 hour starts perfect
>
> i have put several cans of fuel injector cleaner runs
> better but same
> problem
>
> put a used ebay main relay runs exactly the same
>
> plugs wires / cap changed 20k miles ago
>
> throttle body cleaned recently
>
> no engine codes
>
>
> I am leaning toward the coolant temperature sensor under
> the
> distributor but I hate to just keep guessing and throwing
> money at the
> problem. MY guess is that the computer is getting a cold
> engine
> reading from the bad sensor and too rich mixture. Any
> thing that I
> should check / clean before I throw more money at this
>
> thanks
>
>
>

On Dec 27 2008, 7:53*pm, "Elle" > wrote:
> Check the ignition coil. It is known for failing only after
> warmup for some time until it is completely dead.
>
> "Ray" > wrote
>
>
>
> > I have a99accord4cyl with 155k
>
> > The car runs great steady idle no stalling but after short
> > 5 - 10
> > minute trips is hard to start
>
> > wait 1 hour starts perfect
>
> > i have put several cans of fuel injector cleaner runs
> > better but same
> > problem
>
> > put a used ebay main relay runs exactly the same
>
> > plugs wires / cap *changed 20k miles ago
>
> > throttle body cleaned recently
>
> > no engine codes
>
> > I am leaning toward the coolant temperature sensor under
> > the
> > distributor but I hate to just keep guessing and throwing
> > money at the
> > problem. MY guess is that the computer is getting a cold
> > engine
> > reading from the bad sensor and too rich mixture. Any
> > thing that I
> > should check / clean before I throw more money at this
>
> > thanks- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -



Thanks

you were on the money the coil was bad with hidden discoloration from
Aching on the back side. I did not OHM test it yet.

I bought a used distributor on Ebay $45 and am now back on the road.
One thing I learned the hard way is that do not use the distributor
bolts to muscle in the distributor or you will / may break the tabs
like I did. Luckily I just swaped the good parts into my old
housing. I discovered that if you turn the distributor rotor 180% it
slides in nice so no need to muscle it in to fit.

2nd tip if you are unsure of spark plug wiring go to ebay either for
sale cars or engines that fit your car and look for the best pic of
your engine. I found this much easier to understand than the clilton
book

Ray wrote:
> On Dec 27 2008, 7:53�pm, "Elle" > wrote:
>> Check the ignition coil. It is known for failing only after
>> warmup for some time until it is completely dead.
>>
>> "Ray" > wrote
>>
>>
>>
>>> I have a99accord4cyl with 155k
>>> The car runs great steady idle no stalling but after short
>>> 5 - 10
>>> minute trips is hard to start
>>> wait 1 hour starts perfect
>>> i have put several cans of fuel injector cleaner runs
>>> better but same
>>> problem
>>> put a used ebay main relay runs exactly the same
>>> plugs wires / cap �changed 20k miles ago
>>> throttle body cleaned recently
>>> no engine codes
>>> I am leaning toward the coolant temperature sensor under
>>> the
>>> distributor but I hate to just keep guessing and throwing
>>> money at the
>>> problem. MY guess is that the computer is getting a cold
>>> engine
>>> reading from the bad sensor and too rich mixture. Any
>>> thing that I
>>> should check / clean before I throw more money at this
>>> thanks- Hide quoted text -
>> - Show quoted text -
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> you were on the money the coil was bad with hidden discoloration from
> Aching on the back side. I did not OHM test it yet.
>
> I bought a used distributor on Ebay $45 and am now back on the road.
> One thing I learned the hard way is that do not use the distributor
> bolts to muscle in the distributor or you will / may break the tabs
> like I did. Luckily I just swaped the good parts into my old
> housing. I discovered that if you turn the distributor rotor 180% it
> slides in nice so no need to muscle it in to fit.

indeed - the tabs are offset to ensure the distributor remains timed to
the cam. you shouldn't have been able to even begin to "muscle" the
thing...



>
> 2nd tip if you are unsure of spark plug wiring go to ebay either for
> sale cars or engines that fit your car and look for the best pic of
> your engine. I found this much easier to understand than the clilton
> book
>
>
>