Major problem after only 3 days of ownership. Please advise!!

It's sort of funny how the Main Relay is an unbiased "killer" covering the full spectrum of Honda/Acura cars, be it a Civic, Integra, or NSX.
 
It's sort of funny how the Main Relay is an unbiased "killer" covering the full spectrum of Honda/Acura cars, be it a Civic, Integra, or NSX.

Correct, funny though, a few years ago my daughter's Del Sol had this issue and resoldering did not help at all. The contacts in that main relay were toast, had to get a new relay, again being 17 years old, no big deal:).....
 
Hey Great News!! Funny thing is this is the second one in the last week, that was discussed over the phone/internet, and both were fixed. At NSXPO 09 I had an NSX die in traffic. Got it off the road, and luckily someone had a spare, I did not even comment just swapped it in 10 minutes and all was well:).

Keep the old one, you can open it up, resolder it, test it, if OK, keep as an emergency spare;).

Regards,
LarryB

Sounds like we should all order a spare just in case...

This seems like a smart thing to have!
 
Come on ken, I never said that was a permanent way to fix it.. Just a way to test of that is the problem and it might help someone if you are stranded. It did me.
And I didn't claim that you said that. I was simply clarifying what was previously ambiguous and unstated, that your tip - a good one - was simply a possible way out of a jam if you're stranded, not to rely on it as a permanent fix. If it gets you home, great! But you'll want to replace the main relay after doing so.
 
Well stuck in the new Main relay and fired right up. Unbelivable. I have to say I was skeptic about that being the problem but you learn something new everday. Thanks alot for the responses and saved my a trip over the barrell at Acura. :)

Blaine

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Yeah, the heat plays a big roll in the relay's failing and the tech's here said the relay mounted in the rear doesn't help either especially since its mounted near the engine which gets pretty hot.
 
Thanks alot for all the responses and the help. It probably saved me a few hours of diagnosis at the dealer.

Prime is on point!!!

Blaine
 
Correct, funny though, a few years ago my daughter's Del Sol had this issue and resoldering did not help at all. The contacts in that main relay were toast, had to get a new relay, again being 17 years old, no big deal:).....

I had a DA Integra a few years back that started having all these cold start issues (if I remember correctly, lol). Hit the relay with a soldering iron a few times and it never had a problem again (at least as long as I had the car).
But goes to show, you may get lucky or not with the resoldering trick. At least, it is a pretty well known issue and can be "quickly" diagnosed and fixed (given you have a soldering iron or a spare on hand, haha).
 
Yeah, the heat plays a big roll in the relay's failing and the tech's here said the relay mounted in the rear doesn't help either especially since its mounted near the engine which gets pretty hot.

The problem is not heat, its vibration that cracks the solder joints. As a design engineer (electrical ) in the telecom industry I encountered similar problems. It occurs whenever a relatively heavy device is soldered to a circuit board and not secured with a strap, hold-down screw etc. My one design failed during a field trial. After the mechanical engineers designed a way to secure the relay, no notable failures in over 30 years.

By the way, my wife's Mercedes SLK had virtually the same failure on a relay board that controls the power seats - reflowing the solder fixed that problem. As a preventitive measure, I reflowed the solder connections on my NSX's main relay a few years back. Under a magnifier, I could see small cracks forming on a few of the leads.
 
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