Have a 2000 Accord V-6 with 128,000 miles and has run without problems since new....out of an abundance of precaution, had the timing belt, tensioner, and water pump replaced along with new belts and hoses.....drive five miles home, drove two miles the next day and started fine......then the next day would not start or even begin to catch to start....engine spins but no starting....tried some ether and engine catches very little with a lot of ether....checked fuses and all work.....replaced the main fuel relay with Honda OEM without any different result....pulled the cap off of the fuel pump and saw five pins....a random check shows 12 volts at two of the pins checked ....don't know how to check these five pins and whether more should have power....the fuel pump never seems to run at all when first turning the key...CEL is on briefly when key is turned and then goes out......what puzzles me is that this is a sudden problem and did not happen at all before....my options seem to be to pull the fuel pump and see if it works off the vehicle.....is it possible that the work I had done in some way caused this probelm? only drove vehicle home five miles and two miles the next day, and since then the vehicle will not even begin to start...Anyone got any ideas?

 

Are you checking for voltage when the key is first turned on? The fuel pump is supposed to run only for 2 seconds - while the CEL is on. Then it runs again while the engine is actually cranking.

I don't have a wiring drawing (pin-out for that fuelpump plug) but suspect that some of those wires are for the fuel gauge sender.

Plug it all back in and check for the sound of the fuel pump again. It's not very loud, but having someone listen at the back of the car is a WHOLE LOT easier than pulling the fuel pump out.

If someone chimes in with a fuel pump pinout, you can supply battery voltage directly to that plug with some long jumper wires. Just to verify the pump works, not as a final fix. I'd do that before trying to remove the pump.

 

I know this thread is a long read.....in post #39 I tried to explain the "pin outs" Jim references.

https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/for...t-48102/page4/

 

thanks for the replies....I will try in the next two days to give these suggestions a try and then post again what I found out.....

 

Tried out the suggestions made in this thread and it turns out that the fuel pump runs when the key is turned, at least for the two seconds thereafter....so now I need any thoughts as to why fuel is not getting to the engine...do I start looking in the engine compartment and if so where, or do I start at the pump and check my way forward until I find where the blockage is? What puzzles me is that this is a sudden problem with no indication that it was about to occur...the vehicle ran fine and now it won't even begin to start, and the only thing done recently was the replacement of the water pump, timing belt, and hoses....I suppose that I am lucky that this occurred in my driveway rather than elsewhere, but I need some ideas as to where to begin to trace this fuel delivery problem....

 

You seem to be on fuel.....but spark has not been confirmed......You sprayed either in it and it "seemed" to try to start....so weak spark could give you the same results.

 

Thanks for the reply....So how do I test for weak spark or even no spark? I do recall being surprised at the lack of response to ether and gas sprayed directly into the intake.....my experience has been that a vehicle starts for a few seconds and then dies....this vehicle merely has a minor cough and nothing more then this tactic is attempted.....I will try again tonight and see what response I get to the same tactics...there are no spark plug wires or distributor like in the old days to do an easy spark check.....and the plugs are about four inches down into a cylinder so getting to the plug is not easy but I think I can still test from the cap that fits into the spark plug canal and over the tip of the plug....thanks again for the response....don't give up on me....I will post again with the continuing results of my efforts....

 

Pull one of the "boots" off the plugs and see if you are getting voltage there...BEWARE you do not want to shock yourself, I'd suggest one of the spark testers that can be found in almost any parts store......this site has some good testing for ref: Honda Acura ignition (no spark) troubleshooting tutorial - How to

 

Now I have mixed emotions....tried to start the car the past two days...no response....so tonight, and I can't really explain why I did this, but I put two and one half gallons of gas into the tank, turned the key and the car started instantly, even faster than ever before, probably due to the new main relay switch or whatever....since I did not trust the car I drove it around awhile, about ten minutes or so to see if it would die...it did not....since the gauge was showing almost full, stopped at a gas station and it took less than two gallons to fill up to the very top...so now I don't know whether to trust this car out on the road...will the same problem occur again and I don't even know what cured it? My thoughts are two...first, somehow the pump was not working because of something stuck....and the putting of new gas into the tank unstuck whatever was stuck...I don't know enough about the pump to know if it or its kind gets stuck, and what has to happen to prevent the sticking from happening again....does something have to be removed and replaced or cleaned? Second, does some line inside the tank pulling fuel out of the tank have a leak so that it will only pull when the tank is almost full, because then the leak is below the fuel level? Had this happen once on a GM truck, which died whenever the tank got below half tank......I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this change of events as I am happy the car starts but don't know why it did not before, and I am reluctant to take it far from home...Thanks again in advance for any advice or help....

 

This isn't real common, but I've heard of it before.

The fuel pump has some kind of suction tube that reaches down to the bottom of the tank. It's possible that has come off, or loose, or something like that. So when the fuel gets below a certain level the pump starts sucking air.