If you have not driven a 1991 Acura Legend in a year and now it won't start but you replaced the battery and it cranks and you checked the fuel filter and you're not getting fuel is it a bad fuel pump?

Answer 1

Where are you checking to see if you are getting fuel? I am checking for fuel at the inlet to the fuel filter. Do I need to check fuel pump relay and fuses. Where are they located? Also the fuel gague in the dash shows empty, but I know i have fuel and added 5 more gallons. still gauge wont move. Thanks When my legend sat for over a year the fuel pump went bad. When you turn on the key(but don't try to start) you should hear the fuel pump run for a couple of seconds to pressurize the fuel system. This will occur every time that you turn the key off and back on. If you listen closely you can hear this from inside the car, and definitley can hear when standing at the rear, outside of the car. If you're not hearing the pump then either it is bad or you have a ground/voltage supply problem. you can check the voltage/ground at the connector under the fuel pump access panel in the trunk. Also suggest that you drain the tank and put in fresh gas if it has been setting for a year. Just remember gasoline and electricity don't mix well! I'm sure this is an old question, but in case anybody stumbles across this entry because they're having the same issue, here's another answer: It's quite possibly your Master Relay (sometimes you'll see this referred to a the Main Relay, it's the same thing). Honda/Acuras have electric fuel pumps. When you turn your key to the Run position (one position before Start), after a couple of seconds the Master Relay turns on. You can usually hear this as a click that comes from under the dashboard, to the left side of the steering wheel. The Master Relay does two main things, as it's really two relays. The first thing it does is power on the ECU, the car's computer. After the ECU properly initializes, it activates the second half of the relay. This is what provides power to the fuel pump. If the relay isn't working properly, the car won't start because there's no gas being sent to the engine.

If you drive the car all of the time, you'll see the problem creep up on you. Usually it'll start fine in the morning, and will start fine when you leave work. But if you stop off at a store for 5-10 minutes and jump back in the car, it won't start. By the way, this usually starts happening in the summer rather than the winter, as the problem is heat-related. If this starts happening to you, you have to realize that once the key is in the Run position the fuel relay will never try to click on again (as the ECU is already running). So, if the car won't start, turn the key all the way to Off. Wait a few seconds, then turn it to Run and listen for the click. If it doesn't click, repeat the process. Eventually you'll hear the click, and then when you turn the key to Start it'll fire right up. It can also happen like the original poster said where he hadn't driven the car in a year, and over that time the solder joints have failed. (Not starting your car for a year is a bad idea for many reasons. If it's going to be sitting for a long time, start it every two weeks and at least move it 50 to 100 feet or so (even just back and forth in your driveway a few times), as you'll save yourself a lot of headaches with bearing problems down the road. Oh, and pour a bottle of fuel stabilizer into the tank too, as otherwise the gasoline will gum things up as it gets old.) The problem is caused by bad solder joints inside the Master Relay. The fuel pump portion of the Master Relay gets pretty hot in use, and over many years of getting hot and then getting cold, the solder joints eventually start to make intermittent contact. The hotter it is, the bigger the problem (which is why it usually happens in the summer and when you've already been driving the car for a while, as both of these things make the relay hotter). There are two solutions: 1) Buy a new Master Relay (seems like they're about $50-$75), you just unplug the old one and insert the new one; or 2) fix the original one. If you own a soldering iron, this is a piece of cake. All you have to do is pull the Master Relay out of its socket and take it to a good work area. Pop the metal cover off (just pry at it with a screwdriver) to expose all of the solder connections. Now just take your hot soldering iron and touch each solder connection until the solder melts. As soon as it does, just move on to the next one and repeat. You don't need to add any solder, you're just reflowing what's already there. When you've done them all, put the metal cover back on and put it back in the car. It should last you another 15-20 years, which is most likely longer than your car will last at this point.

I had this exact problem on my 1993 Prelude a few years back, and I fixed it myself as described above. (I also fixed the one on my parent's 92 Accord.) Now that the weather's warming up, I've seen a few indications that the same thing is starting to happen with my 93 Legend Coupe, so I'll be doing this again soon.

As I mentioned before, the Master Relay is located underneath the dash, to the left side of the steering wheel (on my Prelude...I have to assume it's in the same place on the Legend, as the cars are remarkably similar). If you get your head down in the pedal area and look up, you should easily find it. It's a gold-colored metal box that's about 3" long x 1" deep by 1.5" tall, and it's plugged into a socket. It's the only thing that looks like that under there. (Remember, if you're laying on your back on the floor looking up, it'll be on the right-side of the steering column from your perspective.) I highly recommend fixing it yourself for free if you have a soldering iron (a fairly hot one...these are big solder joints) and the skills. Otherwise, just buy a new one. Either way, it'll last you for the rest of the lifetime of the car. Just don't pay a dealer/mechanic to do it, they'll charge you hundreds of bucks. And if they're disreputable, they'll say it was a bad fuel pump and charge you for that too.