Hi Everyone,

I joined this group out of desperation! I am the "designated repair person" for my girlfriends daughters car, I have a carport and hence the user name. My real name is John, and I drive VW's mostly. Anyways, who cares right? This is Accord talk.

So the daughters car died on the freeway, we towed it home. The next day it fired right up, so off she went to work and it died again, towed home again, then we drove her car over to our house where it just died and would not start. I thought it was the fuel pump, so I took that out and got a Bosch fuel pump at Napa, used all the old parts and car actually started up and ran for about 5 minutes, and stalled out, died.

Then I started reading here and watching you tube videos, checking for fuel, spark, I noticed the battery was way low, and starter was sparking when cranking over, so put a rebuilt starter in from o'reillys, we have some money to spend on the car... Then still no start, didn't think that would do much.

I figured coil, ignition switch, or main relay, then also thought ignitor, or ICM, so ordered new coil, new ICM from Rock Auto last week. After a shipping snaffu I got the parts today, put the coil in and tried to start, no start. So took cap off swapped out the ICM, one of the distributor cap screws stripped out, went to local Napa(they did not have a coil, or ICM, and were a bit pricey) guy at counter gave me a nut, bolt and washer, and said thank you for coming in today! (I didn't tell him about the Rock Auto parts) Sometimes they will tell me to look online if they can't find the right parts.

Well anyways, I put the ICM in there and pow it fired up! I was so happy... Oh my god! I had worked on this car all of labor day weekend trying to figure it out, tested the ignition switch, it tested fine. (*Had been replaced at dealer for recall) Located Fuel Pump Relay and took that out, it looked fine no cracked solder joints. Guys at Napa would not sell me the relay or ignitor, told me to keep troubleshooting, look for spark, sold me some spark tester's.

I think Texas Honda replied to some post and said test the black and yellow wire, it seemed as if it was the coil or the ICM... So I swapped out both.

Pretty sure it was the ICM, then after all the troubleshooting I had a few loose plug wires, and a misfire and CEL was flashing. Checked all the wires, light quit flashing yet is still on.

So there you go. My question now is why did the Ignition Control Module go bad? Just time? (215K) Maybe car is getting too hot?

Not sure... About ready to return the car to the daughter. It fires right up, I think I should put better plug wires, new cap, new rotor, it has new plugs yet not NGK.

I am thinking all stock or high quality stuff. Napa seems to have high quality parts. They did not have a cap or rotor last Saturday, or wires, I have to order it all.

So car is running, just going to be surfing the site for more clues and see about the CEL (not flashing anymore) At least it drives and I can go to Oreilly's or Napa to have it checked for codes. Any advice or tips appreciated but just saying thanks for the clues I found by joining this forum.

I had 12 Volts on Black and Yellow wire, and on the Blue Wire as well on ICM connector with key in the On position, yet not cranking position.

It said somewhere to change coil and ICM together, at the same time.

There was no spark on crank, I was afraid it might be the Computer. So started with ICM and coil. Got lucky, but needs more work I think.

I'll drive it to Oreilly's and check the codes. If any...

Hope people enjoy the story. It was the ICM that kept it from starting. 1999 Accord EX v6, Cranked over would not start, No Spark...

 

I got my parts from Rock Auto, replaced the coil and tried to start up, no start. Replaced the Ignition Control Module started right up!

Had a few loose plug wires, had to recheck everything, but that was it. Hope it helps someone else. A real mechanic probably would have replaced the control module right away, and coil is supposed to be replaced together at the same time. Probably means distributor is getting old as well.

Anyways, going to sell the car soon, and just wanted to let people know what the problem was.