Intermittent idle problem

[isellpower]

It's a 95 and I just had the timing belt/water pump service done along with the clutch. It has been running fine for about 2K miles (car has 51K on it now). Yesterday I drove it to work and noticed that lately it has taken a few seconds to start, sometimes I have to let off the key and try twice. Both times letting it turn over for 2-3 seconds. I went to leave work and the car would start after 2-3 seconds of turning over, but it would only idle for 2-3 seconds then die. It would then start right up again only to die 2-3 seconds later. Giving it some gas upon immediate start up would have no effect, it would still die. After 4-5 times doing this it started up and ran and idled fine. Any ideas fellas? I'd like to try and fix it myself. Thanks.

 

[drew]

your search term is "main relay"

good luck

Drew

 

[isellpower]

your search term is "main relay"

good luck

Drew

After searching berfore posing my question I thought that also. Are they expensive? Hopefully I can get one locally.

Thanks, I'll let you guys know it that works.

 

[davidf]

$60.00ish. Many repair theirs but they can be ordered. {2 days for mine}.

 

[Jett]

Are they expensive?

The problem certainly sounds like the main relay. They aren't that expensive but you can repair it yourself for free and it is easy to do. Take it out, remove the circuit board inside, reheat all the soldered pins with a soldering gun (which repairs the cracked joints), put it back together, and reinstall it. Also, it isn't the kind of thing that is a temporary fix that will fail again in six months - mine was done seven years ago and it is still working fine. I would rate this job a "1" on the difficulty scale. (1 = So easy that even I could do it!)

 

[isellpower]

My friggen local stealer is charging me $80 each for the main relay and ignition switch and another $20 for next day air. After posting I left work and the car started for about 1 second and died 3 times. It then started right up and I drove it home 30 miles with no issues at all. I got home and was backing it into the garage and killed it :tongue: tried to start it and had to try 2-3 times. After it managed to stay running it never died again. I let it idle in the garage for about 20 minutes. While running the idle appears to be steady also. Just in case I also ordered an ignition switch. I will replace the main relay and test it out so I can let you guys know if that was it or not.

Any links to where the ignition switch is? Is it under the drivers side dash? Anybody got any pics? Thanks for all of the help guys. I have a guy who wants to come look at the car so I can sell it and buy an 02.

 

[drew]

It takes 10 minutes to do a quick repair the MR...

Your ignition switch is just fine, though I would put it in the trunk as a spare.

Both the MR and ignition switch are temporarily field replaceable requiring no tools.

 

[isellpower]

It takes 10 minutes to do a quick repair the MR...

Your ignition switch is just fine, though I would put it in the trunk as a spare.

Both the MR and ignition switch are temporarily field replaceable requiring no tools.

My next question was weather or not I could change either one out on the fly. Thanks for answering that.

 

[isellpower]

The main relay is behind the passenger seat side panel. In another thread someone posted that it is in backward and upside down. Here is a pic of it for you guys that have to do this at some point. I have already removed the bolt. Mine is a 95. The car started and ran perfect, better than ever actually, but now I've got a darn EPS warning light that came on. Anyone with any ideas on that thing?

 

[Briank]

but now I've got a darn EPS warning light that came on. Anyone with any ideas on that thing?

You need to pull the code, if it's a 22 I can fix it.

 

[isellpower]

You need to pull the code, if it's a 22 I can fix it.

Do I have to take it to the dealer to have it pulled?

 

[Briank]

Do I have to take it to the dealer to have it pulled?

No, See http://www.nsxprime.com/wiki/Trouble_Codes

 

[Jett]

now I've got a darn EPS warning light that came on. Anyone with any ideas on that thing?

The first thing I would try would be simply to pull and replace the clock fuse, which resets the EPS (seriously). Sometimes that is all it needs and it will be fine for months.