I wanted to share my recent experience with others hoping that maybe it will help someone resolve some similar pesky issues. A little background first. Since owning my NSX (OEM all stock 1991), I have been tickled by the very essence of the car. Because it was used, there were a few niggling issues that I have since tackled. One of the issues that I've had which took some time to resolve was that the car took a long time to start (almost 5X as long as any other Honda). What I mean by this is that the crank time was ridiculously long. All my other Hondas/Acuras (I have five in my stable) start quickly and easily. The long crank times were more of nuisance for it made the car feel less than perfect to me and was occassionally a bit embarrassing when taking a guest for a ride.
The second issue was that I had difficulty utilizing 5th gear at speeds below 50MPH. The car just would seem to bog and want to die. I didn't think much about it and figured maybe 5th was rather tall. Though I did find it peculiar for all my other Hondas/Acuras didn't mind their upper gears at such speeds (including my S2000 in 6th). More on this later.
To resolve the matters, I combed through the many posts here on NSXPrime and they have been invaluable. In particular, what I enjoyed the most were commentary and experiences from others for those seemed to help me resolve the issue by following their thought process and pattern. Consequently, I wanted to share my experience with others.
-One of the first things I did was address the battery. It was indeed in poor condition. I replaced it and cleaned the terminals. This resulted in *some* improvement, but didn't resolve the matter.
-Then I went on to replace the main relay. No difference what so ever. I realize that the main relay serves other purposes, but had it replaced because I was concerned that the contacts might have been less than optimal.
-I subsequently replaced the ignition switch. Wow, this really made a lot of stuff work better. Turns out that my switch was spliced for an after market alarm cutoff. Although start up seemed a bit more brisk, it was still woefully slow and long.
-Replaced the negative battery strap. Now this may not seem intuitive (at least to me). But when I pulled the negative strap off the car, the part of the cable that mounted to the body was rusted. I discarded the old cable, cleaned up the mounting area. Things were better. Lights didn't dim as much during cranking.
-Cleaned the throttle body and used fuel injector cleaner to no avail.
-I then thought maybe the other grounding points on the car in the engine bay might not be quite up to snuff (thought I read something about electrical conductivity with aluminum here on Prime). I thoroughly cleaned all the points. Nothing. No improvement.
-Then I ran across some posts about guys needing to replace their starters. I had never considered replacing the starter for I've never had to replace a starter on any of my Hondas (even with >100K miles) so I didn't think it was necessary. For reference my NSX has just over 100K miles. The two symptoms that pointed me to this were:
- that the overall crank speed was rather slow even though the cabling to the engine bay was very clean & up to snuff.
- someone had suggested possibly including a battery jumper and seeing if it did any better. This seemed a bit strange, but I tried it and it did indeed help startup. The thought, and I don't know how valid it is, is that due to worn components within the starter, it needed some extra current to crank.
At this point, I ordered a rebuilt OEM starter. Strangely what was sent to me seemed to be old, new stock component. I've seen rebuilt starters before and this certainly didn't look like one. It looked new. Regardless, I installed the starter. Viola! The crank speed was WAY better. I disassembled the original starter (though I failed to take photos) and it was indeed worn. The contacts appeared worn down. So in short, my starter was truly worn out. Unfortunately, the crank time was still relatively long, but the motor cranked smoother and faster.
-Then a few weeks ago I ran across this post:
http://nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150837
This was singularly the most important post. What struck me as interesting in his post was how he felt that the car seemed to come alive after a fuel pump change. Originally, I did not consider this component for I had read of others stating that the OEM pumps were solid and never fail. After reading the service manual, it stated that the in-tank fuel pump has a valve that helps to hold fuel pressure so that start-ups are easier. So I attempted a quick test. I turned the ignition on and let the fuel pump prime, turned it off, then on again to prime the pump again. I did this seven times and finally I went all the way and cranked the car. Bam! It started like all my other Hondas. I thought sweetness!! The pump must be the problem. I had the fuel pump, fuel filter (which was only three years old) and all fuel lines replaced (high pressure and fuel return lines).
Immediately, after the replacement, the car was a different animal. Start-ups are just like any other Honda. Now I will admit the first startup after it has been sitting for a few weeks is a smig long though much better than before, and all subsequent starts are quick.
Additionally, the bogging in 5th gear at speeds =<50MPH...gone! I guess the car wasn't getting enough fuel. So it seems that the fuel pump was a culprit all along. I realize that some may ask about what my fuel pressure was before the replacement. I'm afraid, I didn't test that.
What is the moral of this post? Even though the fuel pump might not completely fail, its performance can degrade over time. I have read that the fuel formulations have changed over the years and this may add to the performance degradation of the pump. I will note that I have intentionally avoided ethanol containing fuels, but have in a pinch during long trips had to purchase fuel that had 10% ethanol.
Like many others have stated repeated, our cars our quite reliable and long lasting (going 250K+ without rebuilds) when taken care of appropriately. One simply needs to be cognizant of the the other smaller components that can fail or wear out over time.
The second issue was that I had difficulty utilizing 5th gear at speeds below 50MPH. The car just would seem to bog and want to die. I didn't think much about it and figured maybe 5th was rather tall. Though I did find it peculiar for all my other Hondas/Acuras didn't mind their upper gears at such speeds (including my S2000 in 6th). More on this later.
To resolve the matters, I combed through the many posts here on NSXPrime and they have been invaluable. In particular, what I enjoyed the most were commentary and experiences from others for those seemed to help me resolve the issue by following their thought process and pattern. Consequently, I wanted to share my experience with others.
-One of the first things I did was address the battery. It was indeed in poor condition. I replaced it and cleaned the terminals. This resulted in *some* improvement, but didn't resolve the matter.
-Then I went on to replace the main relay. No difference what so ever. I realize that the main relay serves other purposes, but had it replaced because I was concerned that the contacts might have been less than optimal.
-I subsequently replaced the ignition switch. Wow, this really made a lot of stuff work better. Turns out that my switch was spliced for an after market alarm cutoff. Although start up seemed a bit more brisk, it was still woefully slow and long.
-Replaced the negative battery strap. Now this may not seem intuitive (at least to me). But when I pulled the negative strap off the car, the part of the cable that mounted to the body was rusted. I discarded the old cable, cleaned up the mounting area. Things were better. Lights didn't dim as much during cranking.
-Cleaned the throttle body and used fuel injector cleaner to no avail.
-I then thought maybe the other grounding points on the car in the engine bay might not be quite up to snuff (thought I read something about electrical conductivity with aluminum here on Prime). I thoroughly cleaned all the points. Nothing. No improvement.
-Then I ran across some posts about guys needing to replace their starters. I had never considered replacing the starter for I've never had to replace a starter on any of my Hondas (even with >100K miles) so I didn't think it was necessary. For reference my NSX has just over 100K miles. The two symptoms that pointed me to this were:
- that the overall crank speed was rather slow even though the cabling to the engine bay was very clean & up to snuff.
- someone had suggested possibly including a battery jumper and seeing if it did any better. This seemed a bit strange, but I tried it and it did indeed help startup. The thought, and I don't know how valid it is, is that due to worn components within the starter, it needed some extra current to crank.
At this point, I ordered a rebuilt OEM starter. Strangely what was sent to me seemed to be old, new stock component. I've seen rebuilt starters before and this certainly didn't look like one. It looked new. Regardless, I installed the starter. Viola! The crank speed was WAY better. I disassembled the original starter (though I failed to take photos) and it was indeed worn. The contacts appeared worn down. So in short, my starter was truly worn out. Unfortunately, the crank time was still relatively long, but the motor cranked smoother and faster.
-Then a few weeks ago I ran across this post:
http://nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150837
This was singularly the most important post. What struck me as interesting in his post was how he felt that the car seemed to come alive after a fuel pump change. Originally, I did not consider this component for I had read of others stating that the OEM pumps were solid and never fail. After reading the service manual, it stated that the in-tank fuel pump has a valve that helps to hold fuel pressure so that start-ups are easier. So I attempted a quick test. I turned the ignition on and let the fuel pump prime, turned it off, then on again to prime the pump again. I did this seven times and finally I went all the way and cranked the car. Bam! It started like all my other Hondas. I thought sweetness!! The pump must be the problem. I had the fuel pump, fuel filter (which was only three years old) and all fuel lines replaced (high pressure and fuel return lines).
Immediately, after the replacement, the car was a different animal. Start-ups are just like any other Honda. Now I will admit the first startup after it has been sitting for a few weeks is a smig long though much better than before, and all subsequent starts are quick.
Additionally, the bogging in 5th gear at speeds =<50MPH...gone! I guess the car wasn't getting enough fuel. So it seems that the fuel pump was a culprit all along. I realize that some may ask about what my fuel pressure was before the replacement. I'm afraid, I didn't test that.
What is the moral of this post? Even though the fuel pump might not completely fail, its performance can degrade over time. I have read that the fuel formulations have changed over the years and this may add to the performance degradation of the pump. I will note that I have intentionally avoided ethanol containing fuels, but have in a pinch during long trips had to purchase fuel that had 10% ethanol.
Like many others have stated repeated, our cars our quite reliable and long lasting (going 250K+ without rebuilds) when taken care of appropriately. One simply needs to be cognizant of the the other smaller components that can fail or wear out over time.
