92 Honda Accord starting problem -- sometimes won't crank

Greetings from one of the many long-time lurkers. Could I please impose
upon the group to help me with a problem?



My daughter has a 1992 Honda Accord sedan, 145K miles, 5sp, which within the
last month or so has been having some odd problems starting.



At random times, and with no apparent pattern, the starter sometimes doesn't
crank. All the warning lights on the dash remain lit, all the other systems
in the car seem to have full power, and all other indicators appear normal,
but the starter just won't crank. But then if you release the key back to
the "Run" position, and then immediately turn it again to the "Start"
position, then the starter will crank and the car will start right up, no
problem. It doesn't do this every time - maybe once out of every eight to
ten times when starting the car - and there's no pattern that I've yet been
able to isolate as to when it will do this. Every other time the car starts
fine.



The battery is new, the ignition switch has been replaced, the clutch
disconnect switch checks out okay, and as far as I can determine the main
relay seems to be functioning properly (at least it passes all the tests as
described on Tegger's website, and I always get the three "distinctive
clicks". Plus I know that it has been replaced at least once on this car,
about six years ago.)



So far the car has never failed to eventually start, but I worry that it
might someday leave her stranded. My next thought was to try and search for
a loose ground somewhere (but where to start?), or pull the starter and tear
into that, but I would welcome any other ideas the group may have. I have
searched the archives but have not found anything very useful.



(I should add that I had just recently performed a major timing belt service
not long before the car started doing this, but I'm hard pressed to find any
cause-and-effect relationship, because I did not touch anything on the
electrical or ignition systems.)



Thanks in advance,

JimC in Redlands

JimC wrote:

> The battery is new, the ignition switch has been replaced, the clutch
> disconnect switch checks out okay, and as far as I can determine the main
> relay seems to be functioning properly (at least it passes all the tests
> as described on Tegger's website, and I always get the three "distinctive
> clicks". Plus I know that it has been replaced at least once on this car,
> about six years ago.)

Solenoid.