98 Accord will not start
 

I have a 98 Accord with 156K on it that will not start. It turns over just fine. Battery seems fine and starter seems to be engaging fine. Problem started about a month ago, where it would randomly have trouble starting, but would only need two tries to get it going, again that did not happen every time we tried to start the car. It only happened a couple of times in two weeks. And then, after having just driven the car, it just didn't start again one day. I had a friend come over and check it out. He said, the fuel pump was engaging, the spark plugs were pulled and cleaned, and they sparked just fine. We decided to try changing the ignition relay, and the car started up the first time. We drove it the last two weeks, with a bottle of Techron in it, and it ran just fine. All of a sudden, after having just driven it and shutting it off, it will not start again.


I did hear a sound in the dash, random with the A/C off, when starting the car, that sort of sounded like a fan motor or something catching maybe. Could be unrelated, but the only other thing I can think of.


The timing belt was replaced at Honda about 40K ago. Alternator was replaced at Honda 60K ago. I do not believe the plugs, wires, distributor etc have been replaced. I bought the car a year ago with a 1" folder full of maintenance records from the previous owner, and a slipping trans. No other issues since I purchased the car.


I will say, I am a woman and not familiar with cars aside from filling them with gas, changing the oil, and checking tire pressure. I do not have a trusted mechanic or a bank full of money, however I am willing to learn and do work myself, but I need any advice to be basic or come with plenty of explanation. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated by myself and my daughter who is hoping the car will last through college.

This happened to me a handful of times with my previous Honda. Once at work, once at best buy, and once at mcdonalds.

It would startup and drive fine and then the next minute I had to try 3 or 4 times to get it to start. One day I called a friend to come give me a jump when it happened at Best Buy. I go to hookup the jumper cable and the negative battery cable was loose!

Now just looking at it you would have no idea its loose because it wasn't like it was dangling around in there. It was just resting around the terminal and I took it for granted. Just that little bit of play was enough for it to make a solid connection sometimes and then not at all at others. When I got close it wasn't tightened down snug enough. I tightened it up and never had the issue after that.

I would unplug both battery terminals, clean them properly, even if they don't look dirty do it anway, and re-connect them.

Other than that, maybe a faulty ignition wire or something?

98 accord will not start
 

I put a new battery in it today, and it cranked right up. Not sure if this is going to fix the problem, but I have started the car three different times since replacing the battery and all is well for now. Only time will tell.

Good Luck!