We have a 1989 Accord lx 4-door (carburetor with manual 5-speed). Lately we've found it has a starting problem that seems to be related to heat, not engine heat per say but rather outside temperature. If we try to start the car in the daytime heat (which has been consistently 100+ here in the Midwest lately), the engine cranks but won't fire. It seems to be starved of fuel, in fact if we put a tad of gas in the carburetor the car will start up briefly but dies when the fuel in the carburetor runs out. But once the car sits out in the cooler temperatures overnight, it will usually start up by the early morning. Anyone have an idea what could be the problem?
We looked and found that on the LX-i models with fuel-injection, a bad main fuel relay can cause problems once it heats up outside. With that in mind, we replaced the somewhat-similar fuel shut off relay on our carburetor model, but it didn't make a difference. I was kind of relying on this as a school car in a few weeks, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

welcome to the form. Check your float bowel to see if there is fuel in the bowel after engine shut down. does your fuel pump put out good fuel during turn over. spark plugs and wires in good conditon. main relay in good condition. fuel filter if available clean. fuel cap has a good seal.

 

Ok thanks for the info. About a week after I made the original post we replaced the fuel pump, and that seemed to fix the problem. But now the car has another problem: sometimes (usually in the mornings) it will turn over but won't start, and we disconnected the fuel lined by the engine and confirmed that the fuel isn't getting up to the engine bay. But sometimes in the hot afternoon that car can be started once you pump the accelerator some, and whenever we try to start it the hum of the fuel pump can be heard briefly. Any ideas would be much appreciated.