Hey everybody, I've been fighting this car for a while now, and after I found this little island of helpful information floating in the middle of the ocean of useless crap that is the web, I was finally able to diagnose at least one of my problems.. The main relay had bombed out.

Here's the situation: I had been having problems with the car not starting when it got hot for a while, and obviously the error code indicated the Fuel Injection system (16 blinks). But before I could do anything about that, I was driving home, and the car just died. I got a ride home, and called a buddy to tow the car home. When we went back, I tried to start it just for kicks, and it started, so I drove it home instead. I had to keep the RPM's up pretty high to keep it running. When I got it home, I parked it, and there it sat for about 4 or 5 months until I had the time to do anything with it. So last weekend, when the hub/rotor/wheel/brake caliper fell off my wife's truck, I decided I had better *make* time to work on the Honda... So, I did some researching, and testing, and figured that one of my problems was either the fuel pump, or the ever elusive "main relay." I couldn't find that relay anywhere following the instructions in the Haynes manual, so I got on the net, and found this site. Very helpful information here. I found the relay, yanked it out, tested it, and sure enough it was bad. I almost did a little dance. So I followed the instructions to resolder the joints, and tested it again. This time it was good. Again, almost the dance. I put it back in the car, and hooked up the jumper cables(it had been a couple months after all), and hit the key. After a couple minutes of coaxing, it fired right up. Revved it a few times, and shut it off, then restarted a couple times, then left it running for awhile. Then it died again. No big deal, I was just happy it started at all. Now we get to this afternoon. I started it and let it run for about 20 minutes or so, and then it just died. No amount of coaxing would get it to start again, although it would turn over, and almost start, but then it sounded like it got bogged down, and everything quit(everything meaning no lights on the dashboard, no dome light, no beeping because the door was open) for about a second, at which time it would start cranking again. My neighbor and a mechanic friend of his dinked around with it for awhile and have decided that the sound it's making (kind of a popping sound, almost like a backfire, but not quite as loud) is a result of the valve in the number 1 cylinder not functioning properly, due to the timing being off. Unfortunately we are unable to advance/retard the timing *far* enough to get it set right. The mechanic that was helping said the timing belt is probably missing some teeth...

So, my question at this point is, would it be a better idea to let a pro handle the timing belt replacement, or should I tackle this myself. I'm not entirely without experience working on cars, but I don't have a ton of experience... Or tools... I do have a lead on a shop that will replace the belt for about $80 USD however...

I know that was a lot of reading to do, but I wanted to get out all the info I had on the situation, in case somebody has a different idea of what may be at fault here.

Thanks in advance, and just so you know, in this Kansas boys opinion, you're doing the Lord's work here! :)

I recommend you let a qualified mechanic do it, who has previously replaced timing belts on Hondas. A number of individuals on this site have attempted to do it themselves and failed--usually after a blown head gasket.

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought too.. Let somebody who knows what they're doing take care of it. Also, that way if something gets messed up, like the blown head gasket you mentioned, they get to fix that too... :)
Thanks for your opinion...

And now I have a new question about this situation.. Basically, I took the car in to the shop, and they said it wasn't getting spark, so they changed the distributor cap and rotor, cleaned the contacts on the ignitors and the coil, and got good spark. After all that, I didn't have the money for the timing belt change. They did check the belt and found that it was loose, but still pretty much in time. So I'm waiting until I get some more scratch for the belt and water pump.

But since the car sat idle for about 6 months, and the battery died, and now it won't hold a charge, when I get the battery replaced, how long should it take before the computer resets its self so it runs properly? Or even will it at all until I get the timing belt changed?
Is there a way to get the ECU to reset manually without waiting for it to figure things out on it's own?

I don't exactly have a lot of experience with cars this new... Mostly I try to get cars that are older so I don't have to bother with the computers, but with the price of gas lately, I decided I couldn't afford *not* to fix the Honda so I could park the 1981 Dodge Ram 3/4 ton pick-up... :)
Again, thanks in advance for any help or suggestions. I did find the thread on how to find/fix the Main Relay to be extremely helpful..

The ECM will reset itself, if the negative battery cable is disconnected for 10 seconds. An easier approach is to remove the 7.5 amp. BACKUP fuse in the under hood fuse box for 10 seconds.