1997 Honda Accord EX wont start

I recently had several of the 97 Honda Accord starting problems discussed above including quotes of several hundreds of dollars to replace many parts of the electrical, starter and ignition systems it was a very frustrating experience that had a very simple answer. I changed my keys to the second backup key that I had never used and to my amazement all the startup problems went away. In discussions with a key locksmith he pointed out that Honda makes its keys out of a soft Aluminum alloys and the ignition key mechanism is a case hard steel, over time the steel wears down the soft key and slight misalignments with the key develop that result in multiple confusing startup problems. Immediately upon this discovery, I had the locksmith make me several copies of my never before used backup key, all of which work great. The result was a cost of $25 for the new duplicate keys, compared to the estimates that I had received for hundreds of dollars potential cost for major repairs. Try my solution, I hope it works for you !

Is it a automatic or 5spd.?

If it's a 5spd. It could be the clutch start safety switch. It's located on the clutch if you look down in the floorboard with a flashlight push the clutch in with one hand while looking to see if the switch depresses all the way in. Try putting it in neutral with the E-Brake on. With one hand or foot press the clutch hard and start the car at the same time if no, use your hand so you can see it actually touching the circuit.

If it's a automatic here the list to check off to lead you to the problem.

1.) are you possibly out of gas?

2.) with it quiet, turn the key to the on position, listen for a humming sound, if you don't hear that it might be your fuel pump the humm will be coming from the rear flip the key to position 2. And it will be a quiet humm for about 2seconds. If you hear a humm go to next.

3.) pull a spark plug wire off and lay it against metal have someone crank the car, if you see a spark move on, it's not that

4.) so, at this point, just so you understand what your trying to achieve. With a car, you need A,) spark, B.) timing C.) Fuel , & fuel pressure. D) water to keep it cool

Unplug your negative battery terminal, 30 sec. Plug it back up and try it.

5.) Check all of your fuses, there's 2 fuse boxes 1 under the hood, 2.) inside either on the kick panel to the left of the clutch, maybe under the steering wheel or behind the glove box.

6.) does the motor sound any different when trying to crank it? Maybe like its turning faster check for a missing belt

Erica

First remove distributor cap have someone turn engine over if rotor doesn't spin it's the timing belt.If it does chances are it's the igniter in distributor(these cars are known for it)Its cheaper to replace with complete after market distributor than just Honda igniter.Easy fix,with cap removed

remove two bolts retaining dist.note which direction rotor is facing replace with rotor in same orientation when installing new dist .Also check electrical plug count the pins so you get the correct distributor (I believe they can be either 8 or 12 pin )9 outta 10 times this is the culprit! Lookin around 100 bucks https://www.rockauto.com/

I hope by now you have it fixed, however most likely the starter is going bad and has become stuck. A short term remedy to get you home in this situation would be to get someone to try and start the car while you take the handle of something and strike the starter motor.

I've seen twice a honda accord that looked like a fuel pump problem turn out to be the ignition. They fall apart internally, you can generally get them to go ahead and start (or restart if it died while driving) by wiggling the keys a bit then try again

I am not very familiar with honda,but sounds like it could be that the mass air sensor is bad or has a piece of debris on it, most cars run at startup for a few seconds then switch over to the computer and at this time if the computer thinks there is not any air coming into the engine it will cut the fuel, this sensor should be mounted in the air intake close to your air filter box.

My 1995 Honda Accord was doing the same thing, it ended up being my ECM module aka the computer for your car under the glove box, and I had that replaced and my car has been running perfect since.

Had a similar issue with my 1995 Honda Accord, ended up taking it to the Honda dealership to get a diagnostics ran on it, they found it my distributor needed to be replaced. The Honda dealership was trying to charge me over $600.00 plus for an aftermarket one, but one of my good friends that has an autoparts shop sold me one for $150.00. I replaced it on my car and my car had been running good for the past 4 years now.

My 1995 Honda Accord was doing the same thing, I took it to my local Honda dealership paid $75 to have them diagnostic the issue, it ended up being my Distributor needed to be replaced, the coil inside of the distributor was going bad that’s why my car would run for like 20-30 minutes then shut itself off due to the coil getting to hot. You can buy and aftermart one from O’reailly’s autoparts, carquest or Napa. Two years ago it was raining really bad and my car wouldn’t start, my ECU went out and that needed to be replaced. Your best bet is to take it to the Honda dealership have the to check it pay the $75 because they will say you need other things and have it towed back to your place, but the Distributor and install it yourself. I hope this helps.

When my 1995 was having those same issues even after I replaced the Distributor, it ended up being the ECM the needed to be replaced. The best option I can tell you to do, is take it to your local Honda dealership, have them to run a diagnostic on your car and find out what it is, that’s what I did. My local Honda dealership tried to tax me saying I need over $1,300 worth of work don’t when it was way less then that. So take it into the dealership spend $75.00 for a diagnostic and then you will have a list of things they will tell you that needs to be replaced but you can save a lot of money and do the work yourself or with a friend.

My 97 Honda accord would also cut off while I was driving...turns out I had to replace the ignition switch. Works fine now

Replace the distributor cap because it could be cracked that may be why your Honda Accord is not working that’s what is wrong with mine it does not crank and hot weather or it will not crank and rain if it is a warm day it Hass to be cold it will run all the time no problem

This is not an answer just a suggestion try looking for a vacuum leak. It would cause you car to stall without anything crazy being wrong with it

It sounds like the coil inside your distributor is causing it, that happened to my 1995 Honda Accord and I had to replace my entire distributor with a new one, don’t go to the dealership they will tax you for $596.00. Go to your local Autozone or O’reilly’s store for around $150.00 or less.

Wow, this has been over a few years now and I still get alot of posts/answers. I don’t know if I posted it, but yeah it was a distributor. I had it fixed shortly after this post. The only thing I didn’t understand is why it doesn’t come up on an obd? I was told it just doesn’t scan for that. Lol. Well it sure seems like it should!