i have been troubleshooting this problem for about 2 days. i have tried replacing the pgm-fi relay with a bran new one from oreilly's. still wont start.so i took the pgm-fi relay back and plugged in the old one(trying to save $) i have jumped the fuel pump and i know i have fuel pressure because i cracked the fuel line at the rail. i know spark is good because i checked with an extra spark plug.i also verified that the #3 terminal on the main relay is hot to supply power to the ecu to turn on the injectors.i replaced the spark plugs with bran new ngk's. but heres the thing: even with good fuel pressure, my plugs arent getting wet. that tells me the injectors aren't working. also i tried connecting my scanner to the OBD port. and the ecu WILL NOT communicate. could the ecu be bad? i'm sure if the ecu is bad, it wont fire the injectors. am i right?do they go bad on these cars? any help would be appreciated. i am new to honda's but not new to cars. i figured i could get some answers here. thanks

ps: it will run if i spray into the intake with fluid.

 

Well it sounds like your close. You have limited it to a fuel issue. You have been flogging it long enough that it seems you may have missed something. I wonder about fuel pressure. Cracking for a little squirt isnt as good as a pressure gauge but I usually just listen for the pump sound. Isnt there a schrader valve on the rail? I know the f22a1 has one and your on a f22b1 I would think it would be there. Autozone loans a pressure gauge. The thing that has me puzzled is the no codes. Do you have a check engine light on? Doesnt this car have both the two wire connector and the odb2 port on it? I read my codes through the odb2 port yesterday and its much cooler than blinking lights. There is a good manual in the diy area but I think this may be what your looking for. I vote pressure/fuse/clog Good luck!

What was the status of this car 5 days ago?

 

From your description, you are not getting fuel into the cylinders. This could be due to lack of fuel pressure, or the injectors not opening.

Unplug the injector electrical connectors. There is a metal clip around the connector that you have to release first. One of the wires to each injector has the same color (red or red/blk, I think). All of those wires should have 12V to ground with the key in the II position, and the engine doesn't need to be running. When you try to start the car, the other wire color should get grounded by the ECU momentarily to open an injector. Using a volt meter to test the power side and a test light for the ground can help determine if the injector is the problem.

 

ok. so i took out the ecu and the pgm-Fi main relay to check for cracked solder joints. i found 2 solder bad solder joints in the ecm. i re-melted the solder and i also popped off the cover on the main relay and re-melted all the solder joints in it. when i plugged them back in, the car fired right up. i could also communicate with the ecm. i have another ecm coming from ebay.(TOO late) but just thought i would update to let everyone know whats up.this was yesterday about 5pm. well i tried to start it in the morning and it wouldnt start again. i removed the ecu and relay AGAIN and re-re-melted all the solder joints. put it all back and it started. i just think i have a intermittant ecu going bad. i will update when i get the new ecu in there. as of right now its starting though.

 

I pulled an ECU at a local pull apart. I thought I remembered the 1997 and the 1996 use the same ECU. My mistake. The 1997 Accord ECU is an OBDII unit. I also need one for a VTEC engine. The one I pulled is not close.

Let me know if the ebay ECU does not work. I will be happy to send you the numbers on the label to see if it is the same ECU. It is a non-Vtec ECU for an automatic transmission. It is an ODBI ECU (if I remember correctly).

I have no way to know if the ECU is good. The connectors all looked good and it was still connected to the wiring harness on the Accord.

I hope this may help.

Sincerely,

 

The '97 and '96 only have the very last letter different. Normally this just means it had a small software update done over the previous year. I gotta think it will run just the same.

The issue is probably either it's not an ex model or it's the wrong year. The '96 and '97 should be identical.

CONTROL MODULE, ENGINE/CONTROL UNIT (CABIN) for 1997 Honda ACCORD SEDAN

CONTROL MODULE, ENGINE/CONTROL UNIT (CABIN) for 1996 Honda ACCORD SEDAN

I suppose it could be the V6 model but I gotta think you woulda noticed.

 

I think your probem is limited to the contactor. When your reflowing are you adding solder or just heating up the contacts? If you get any more grief from the contactor use braid to remove the existing solder and add fresh solder or better, replace the relay and keep this one for a spare. This information is from my experience with flux joints in 5 different hondas. The contactors are a regular, I have been into a couple of tcu for the resistor replacement. My glove boxes have old contactors in them, never used one but kept them there.