OT Help - Anyone in Glenwood Springs CO who knows 1988 Honda?, Son & Wife Stuck on way to SoCal - Won't Start Options

[Tom_T]

On the off chance that somebody on here might be in or near Glenwood Springs CO - & could Recommend a Honda Dealership or Independent Shop who could help my son out on a no start issue from this morning 7/22/17?

Please let me know.

He has a 1988 Honda Civic DX 1.5 with EFI, drove from Denver area last evening, then would not start this morning - nor with push or jumper cables. That's all I know so far.

Being a Saturday, it may be hard to find a shop open.

TIA! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[Valy]

AAA

[wndsrfr]

On the off chance that somebody on here might be in or near Glenwood Springs CO - & could Recommend a Honda Dealership or Independent Shop who could help my son out on a no start issue from this morning 7/22/17?

Please let me know.

He has a 1988 Honda Civic DX 1.5 with EFI, drove from Denver area last evening, then would not start this morning - nor with push or jumper cables. That's all I know so far.

Being a Saturday, it may be hard to find a shop open.

TIA! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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Without knowing more, the "Main Relay" is a likely suspect. Availability at FLAPS is possible....Maybe. It's located under the dash...you can Google it to identify. If it's bad, you have no fuel pump operation. He can quickly check for that at the Schrader valve on the fuel rail....Good luck!

[Tom_T]

Thanx for the input guys.

I'd suggested the typical fuel & spark checks, relays, coil, regulator, injectors, fuel pump, etc.

They did find a friend of a friend who helped him get it going again. He didn't say what it was, so I'll find out more when they get here tomorrow or Monday, & then get it to my mechanic for a going over.

However, when he called the local Honda dealership there in the morning - Phil Long Honda, they told him he had to wait until Monday, even though they were open until 4 pm & most other shops/dealerships would at least try to help somebody stuck on a road trip to at least see if it were something simple & if it really needed to wait until Monday.

To me, that is just piss poor business practice!

I certainly would never recommend them for that type of BS!

PS - Yes Valy, he has AAA with Premier Membership - so he has towing, trip interruption, coverage, etc. - but it doesn't help if the dealer turns him away!

Thanx for your help, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[mgp4591]

If it doesn't respond to the ignition key at all, it's probably the ignition switch. I've done hundreds on recall and yours may be included. Most dealerships would recognize this as a common issue and managed to get you taken care of - sorry your experience didn't reflect that. There's a few other possibilities but after checking the basics, that's where I'd go with the diag. It's less than an hour job easily.

[Tom_T]

If it doesn't respond to the ignition key at all, it's probably the ignition switch. I've done hundreds on recall and yours may be included. Most dealerships would recognize this as a common issue and managed to get you taken care of - sorry your experience didn't reflect that. There's a few other possibilities but after checking the basics, that's where I'd go with the diag. It's less than an hour job easily.

MGP,

Would that be ignition switch recall for a 1988 with over 200,00 miles on it?

Unfortunately he hasn't told me what it was that their friend-of-a-friend helped him fix, & he's not much of a mechanic type - so I'm in the blind. However, it sounded like they did get the ignition switch to work, just no joy - so I think fuel or spark or electrical - but I'm guessing in the dark

Apparently last night they only made it as far as Grand Junction CO, then it quit again, so today he's having it towed to be fixed during the week, & renting a car to continue their trip.

Thanx! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[Dave_Darling]

The main relay is a known trouble point on that generation of Honda. If it's like my 1990s were, it is located behind one of the interior panels to the left of the driver's knee. You may need to remove a change tray or similar part to be able to pull the panel out. (After you've pulled it apart once you can actually replace the relay blind, without removing the panel, but it's much easier the first time to just remove it.)

The common failure mode is that the solder joints on the circuit board start failing. They can be re-soldered by someone who knows what they're doing with a soldering iron.

I hadn't heard of the ignition switch being a weakness in that generation of Civic.

--DD

[Tom_T]

Thanx Dave,

At this point he's left it with Firestone at AAA's recco (not my choice), & went on with their trip to SF then OC in a rental, which should be covered by his AAA member trip interruption coverage, then pick it up fixed next week.

I may eventually get the details from "Mr. Mum"! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

It's always a royal PITA when stuff happens out on the road far away from your own home & the destination.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[mgp4591]

If it doesn't respond to the ignition key at all, it's probably the ignition switch. I've done hundreds on recall and yours may be included. Most dealerships would recognize this as a common issue and managed to get you taken care of - sorry your experience didn't reflect that. There's a few other possibilities but after checking the basics, that's where I'd go with the diag. It's less than an hour job easily.

MGP,

Would that be ignition switch recall for a 1988 with over 200,00 miles on it?

Unfortunately he hasn't told me what it was that their friend-of-a-friend helped him fix, & he's not much of a mechanic type - so I'm in the blind. However, it sounded like they did get the ignition switch to work, just no joy - so I think fuel or spark or electrical - but I'm guessing in the dark

Apparently last night they only made it as far as Grand Junction CO, then it quit again, so today he's having it towed to be fixed during the week, & renting a car to continue their trip.

Thanx! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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Then I agree that the main relay is the issue being that it is the brain for the fuel and electrical system. Hope things go better for your situation from here!