What would cause a 1990 Honda Accord to seize up after a minute of driving and not restart?

Answer 1

Please provide more details this subject is far to broad to give all the reasons. Please clarify. , EzForJesus

The car ran fine driving to work, I left it in the parking lot for three hours, came out, tried starting it and about 30 seconds later the engine died. It will crank but won't turn over. Interior electrical is good, batt. is good. Also, it was very hot that day and the car was sitting in the sun.

1988-1994 Honda accord and civic have a defective main relay. they have bad solder joint and are temperature sensitive. it is located under dash upper left of steering column. it is marked "main relay" available after market(napa etc)

Supplement to this answerThese relays are REALLY expensive, and quite often just pulling the card they're on (there are two of them on there--one powers the fuel pump, the other the fuel injectors), resoldering all the joints and reinstalling the card fixes the problem.

How to tell if the Main Relay is the problem: go somewhere real quiet. Open the driver's door and sit on the ground real close to the dashboard, so you can hear this thing--it's quiet. Get a helper to turn the key to "On." This is what you should hear, and why:

The instant you turn the key to "On"--one click. This is the fuel pump relay activating to pressurize the fuel system.

About three seconds later--one click. This is the fuel pump relay turning itself off. When the car's not running, the fuel pump shouldn't be either--if you got in a wreck you wouldn't want gas squirting all over the place.

When you turn the car to "Start"--one click. This is both relays kicking in, and they'll stay latched until you turn the car back off. Fuel pump on and fuel injectors on is the default condition for a running car.

If you hear all three clicks, the Main Relay is fine.

ANSWERVAPOR LOCK! It happens all the time to older Hondas, especially in hot weather. Simply unscrew the gas cap, let the gas tank suck the fresh air in to equalize everything inside and allow the fuel to flow, put the cap back on and you're on your way.