Hi guys.

Bought a '00 car just over a week ago and had problems starting the damn thing.

Every morning it's started fine, but later in day green key would either come on briefly with the relay chattering, or not at all. The engine would turn over but not fire up!

Honda said it would be main relay so replaced that. It would still chatter briefly then go out and engine start or it would work fine every other time.

The relay was replaced just before the weekend has has behaved itself ever since until today - car started this morning, drove to gym, started again, drove to work - went to start it after work and green key clicked on and off very quickly (chattering) but just went out. Tried again, no green key at all. Again, engine will turn over but not fire up.

Spoke to Honda who said they couldn't do anything unless it won't start when i get it to them. This is a difficult situation because if it wouldn't start in a morning at least they could spend all day trying to find the problem, but as it seems like an afternoon'ish problem they'll not have much time left during their working day.

This is driving me CRAZY now!!

If it starts in morning, i'm driving it to Honda who can keep it until it plays up again.

Beginning to wish i hadn't sold me 3000GT now!

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

P.S. I'm UK based - whether that makes any difference or not?

Thanks.

 

I'm going to venture a guess that it's a problem with the chip in your key communicating properly with the ECU. I would be inclined to think replacing your key and having the ECU programmed (sadly, at the dealer) to accept the new key would fix this.

I could be wrong but it really sounds like a communication issue to me.

 

Thanks.

I considered this so tried using the spare key but still fails to start?!?!

Would this suggest it not being a key issue?

 

Been doing some searching and sounds like it 'may' be one of the following .........

- Faulty immobiliser circuit board?

- Duff car battery? (will get it tested tomorrow first thing)

- Problem with key(s)?

- Fob battery needs replacing? (worth a try?)

- Faulty starter motor? (doubtful as it turns over consistently)


???

 

I'm just an apprentice tech at a dealer but I had an ap1 come in with the same problem (got towed in) it ended up being the immoilizer reciever (ring around the ignition cylinder. It was an easy fix. I'm not saying that is your problem but thats what i'd lean towards....

Keep us posted.

 

[QUOTE=Sinister,Jul 23 2007, 07:19 PM] I'm just an apprentice tech at a dealer but I had an ap1 come in with the same problem (got towed in) it ended up being the immoilizer reciever (ring around the ignition cylinder.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

No green light at all this morning so it's on it's way to the dealer right now.

I'm glad it won't start now - at least they should be able to diagnose the problem.

Grrrr!

 

 

It sounds like it's part of the immobilizer system freaking out. The key fob/remote isn't part of the system so changing the battery will probably not make any difference whatsoever.
Assuming it's part of the Immobilizer system and you have tried different keys already something in the car is probably failing. (I know that's genius)
The only components (excluding keys) listed in the service manual are:
-Immobilizer reciever unit
-ECU
-Fuel Supply System
An interesting note in the service manual:

"Large metal objects, key fobs, and other transponder keys can interfere with the immobilizer signal. If an intermittent problem is suspected, remove the ignition key from the key ring"

It's interesting because you said the dealer is having trouble getting the car to do it, and you said it's intermittent.
Since you noted it dosen't seem to happen when it's cold: I have heard stories of motherboards/circuit boards with intermittent failures that only appear when warm. The explaination is that when the board is cold any hairline fractures in it's traces are constricted together making contact completing a circuit, when the board heats to operating temps it slightly expands seperating any fractures on the boards traces and breaking a circuit. I have never seen it first hand, but supposedly this is one cause for a board the freaks out when it's warm.
At any rate the troubleshooting section for the Immobilizer system in the manual seems fairly straight forward. The dealership should be able to fix it fairly quickly I would think.

 

Hopefully ..... when they get around to it

I called them earlier and they said they 'may' get around to look at it today.