My son has a 95 Honda Accord, not sure of engine, but it has an auto tranny. He has been having trouble with starting lately. Some times when he tries to start it, it just turns over but does not start. He has found if he puts it in neutral, pushes it 2 or 3 feet it will start right up. Is there some kind of safety switch he might be tripping by doing that? If I am not mistaken autos have a safety so they wont start in any thing other than park or neutral.

I think you may have something else other than the safety switch going on. The reason i say this is that the safety switch on the tranny will not let the engine crank unless it is in park or neutral. I would start by verifying that you have fuel and spark and then go from there.

There will be a neutral safety switch, should be on the base of the shift lever if its an auto. If he plays around with the shifter without moving the car will it sometimes start?

  scummins said:

I think you may have something else other than the safety switch going on. The reason i say this is that the safety switch on the tranny will not let the engine crank unless it is in park or neutral. I would start by verifying that you have fuel and spark and then go from there.

I would have to agree with you. The starter turns just no engine start.

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  diesel4life said:

There will be a neutral safety switch, should be on the base of the shift lever if its an auto. If he plays around with the shifter without moving the car will it sometimes start?

He is going to give that a try next time it happens. It does not happen often, starts fine 100 times then bam no start.

Ahh, a neutral safety switch will prevent a vehicle from even turning over. Sounds like he's got a little gremlin somewhere if its that random...

I think pushing the vehicle and it then starting, is just coincidental.

  Rogan said:

I think pushing the vehicle and it then starting, is just coincidental.

I would have to agree, just cant figure why rolling would made a difference. It has never happened when I have been around. Shoot it has a distributer, points and a coil. Have not dealt with those in a long time.

'95 is OBD1; shouldn't be points. should be distributor, but electronic ignition.

I wonder if it isn't a fuel pressure situation, that maybe once in awhile it drains off pressure (like a FPR failing?) and initial cranking is waiting on the electric pump to get fuel up. the 'push the car' is just a waited time, and the restart is after fuel has been coursed through the lines.. Speculation, but it sounds legit ;)

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Further thought:

When it does it they need to check for spark. If it has spark the fuel main relay may be the cause (going bad). If no spark probably a bad distributor. It's a fairly common issue in older Hondas.

  Rogan said:

'95 is OBD1; shouldn't be points. should be distributor, but electronic ignition.

I wonder if it isn't a fuel pressure situation, that maybe once in awhile it drains off pressure (like a FPR failing?) and initial cranking is waiting on the electric pump to get fuel up. the 'push the car' is just a waited time, and the restart is after fuel has been coursed through the lines.. Speculation, but it sounds legit ;)

I've never looked in it, my son says points, but he could have the module mixed up for points.

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Further thought:

When it does it they need to check for spark. If it has spark the fuel main relay may be the cause (going bad). If no spark probably a bad distributor. It's a fairly common issue in older Hondas.

I told him next time it happened to pull a plug wire and hold it in his hand while some one cranks it. Not so sure he went for that one though.

Well, he'd have his answer. :-)Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

That he would, but I would love to hear the phone call.

That's going to be either a carb. or fuel injected. If its fuel injected I would put a fuel pressure gauge on the rail and see if the fuel pressure is coming up right away or lagging. Pump sucking air? Filter pugged up?

  Mopar1973Man said:

That's going to be either a carb. or fuel injected.

Seriously, YOU said this... in public?? Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

  Mopar1973Man said:

That's going to be either a carb. or fuel injected. If its fuel injected I would put a fuel pressure gauge on the rail and see if the fuel pressure is coming up right away or lagging. Pump sucking air? Filter pugged up?

I leaning toward electrical, like spark or if the fuel pump is electric maybe there. Since it is so intermittent I would not think a clogged filter or fuel line leak, but you never know.

Well, I made it home and it crapped out on him. I went over to his house and sure enough no spark. So we took the distributor cap off and The contacts the rotor button sends power to were all pitted up and the rotor button was pretty well gone also. Replaced both and it fired right off. Appreciate the help and all is well.

  dripley said:

Well, I made it home and it crapped out on him. I went over to his house and sure enough no spark. So we took the distributor cap off and The contacts the rotor button sends power to were all pitted up and the rotor button was pretty well gone also. Replaced both and it fired right off. Appreciate the help and all is well.

I have a son that has an 89 Honda Civic and one that has a 90 Honda Civic and they both eat up the distributor cap and rotor on a regular basis. You can sand down the cap contacts and the rotor end and keep it running for awhile. But they take a new cap and rotor nearly every year or two.

The rotor button was kind of strange. It looked 2 thin layers of metal with a synthetic layer sandwiched between them. The last rotor button I messed with was solid.