[95 Accord VTeC] Engine turns over, butdoesn't start

[5thelement]

Morning All,

Three days ago my wife drove her 1995 Honda Accord EX with the 2.5L VTeC engine home from work. It was getting late (about 9PM) and all seemed fine to her. Well, the next morning on the way out the car refused to start. Its a garaged-kept car with 95% of the miles being highway.

When she turns the key the engine turns over with relative ease, but nothing in terms of of engine trying to start occurs. Being that she didn't have the time, I had her take my vehicle to work (I carpool) and the next day she had her Accord towed to the dealer.

Well, the dealer after half a day of looking at it determined it was the main relay that was the problem and put another on it. The explained that the contacts on the main relay tend to go bad and when the car heats up the is poor/no electrical conductivity through said main relay.

My only problem with this is that the car was cold that morning as it sat in a cold garage. Any ideas? They now think its the electrical-portion of the electronic ignition and I've given them permission to take as much time as needed to let the car 'bake' in the sun, today.

My wife the very paranoid and methodical about the maintenance on her cars. She always has the dealership service department perform all routine and accelerated routine maintenances for her. She is aggressive in promoting early maintenance activities like timing belts, CV boots/joints, etc., etc.

Her 1995 Honda Accord was bought new in June 1995 with a manufacture date of May of that year. Some of the recent unexpected (and certainly out of warranty) repairs include driver's door window regulator (failed twice; 2x$400), ABS (failed twice; $600 and $1450), transmission engage safety switch, climate control head, etc.

I'm at the point where two years ago the unexpected maintenance costs was $1K, then last year $1500, and now this year +$2K. I have nicknamed this care the 'Nickel & Dime' car as it alone is keeping Honda in business. Should I just trade this car in?

[93hybridaccord]

Man that blows. It kind of sounds like it was the main relay. I replaced one on my girlfriends friends car. It had been sitting all day long, she went outside to start and nothing. Anyway, it could have totally gone out somehow. I mean if it works now after they replaced it, then that would appear like it was the problem. As far as the car goes, ditch it and get something else if you can afford it. With how much you seem to be spending on it, you could have had a nice down payment.

[SiGNAL748]

the way things are going

i'd say trade it in

[5thelement]

I do not think I'd get anything for this vehicle if I trade it in. I might have a little better luck if I sell it privately, otherwise I just know I'd get less than $2K out of it. Wife is already looking at new vehicles and will be test-driving some on Friday.

BTW, I discovered late on Friday that my second ABS repair was not a requirement, because I was told that there is no ABS component that can fail and jeopardize the regular braking system. This came out from my nickel & dime discussion with the service writer.

I informed him that this is not what we were told early last year and we were told that the regular brakes had been compromised AND a new component was required to make this vehicle drive-able again. That was a +$1400 repair. With this latest revelation, which was confirmed by the service manager yesterday, I no longer trust Lanier Honda in Buford, Georgia, nor the product in general.

For the first time in 8-years my wife, a very trusting person, no longer trusts her Accord to start. She is now resolved to getting a new car, which will not be an Accord, nor a Honda. This is really too bad. I mean, if one cannot rely on the product nor the dealer's service department then there is no trust. I'd be just as bad off, or rather the wife would be' buying a Chevy--and I hate GM!

Sorry, I do not mean to be label-knocking as we did considerable research in 1995 looking for a very reliable vehicle. Just got her Honda back and it will sit in the garage until its sold. Oh, I asked the service department if they had measured the voltage on the battery posts and on the battery terminals to make sure sufficient 'voltage' was reaching the electronic ignition and they said no. What the heck kind of 'troubleshooting' do they consider?

[SiGNAL748]

something's gone seriously wrong with their service department.

I would usually say get another honda..but since you can't get decent service for it, get a Toyota

Trust me on this, my family has owned only Hondas and Toyotas. My Grandpa owned an 82 (?...well it was 80 something) Tercel, and it ran over 300k miles before it took a shit (Of course it was well maintained) and now he owns a 01 Corolla. My dad owns a 95 T100, running 276k and strong, (Major Tune up due soon...You must be thinking..how in the world did he rack up that many miles!? - well he commutes to work everyday, Salinas to Santa Clara, again well maintained). My mom owns a 94 Camry @ 167k, not a single problem.

I'd suggest for your wife a Camry, New Or Used, doesn't matter (as long as it was maintained correctly but the previous owner)

[5thelement]

While the wife was looking at the Camry Solara SE V6 with floor mats and no other options, the cheapest price I could get from 6 online dealerships and two dealerships we visited in North Georgia were $22989. That's a full $1K OVER MSRP. I even tried CarsDirect and believe it or not the Accord Coupe V6 could be had for $1K under MSRP.

But, because of the dealership service department being untrustworthy (Bobby, their Service Manager, refused to talk to me this morning when I wish to confront him about the lie their service manager forwarded on the last ABS repair). Honda products are now banned from my household. Damn shame, too.

With all of this the wife and I are probably going to go off the deep end and get a BMW or Mercedes and try them on for size. I can get below-MSRP on both of those options or well above-MSRP on a Toyota Salara. Wife wanted a G35 Coupe, but that was when we had planned for a February purchase when our finances were in a better shape (budget-wise). Essentially, no down-payment when we had hoped to put $6-8K down.

I would warn anyone living in the vacinity of Lanier Honda to question the integrity of the Service Department and they service manager. I so feel like getting an attorney, but it'll end up my word against their word. What a sour end to our Honda relationship. Sorry, I don't mean to bitch, here. I really thought Honda was more of a company than what we are experiencing.