Wheels KeepTurning

We have an intermittent starting problem that will go away for months at a time, then return for no obvious reason. Conditions:
- vehicle is "cold" in garage
- Dash lights up normally when ignition turned to "start" position
- No audible click from starter solenoid
- No starter motor
- Multiple off-on cycles of ignition switch eventually results in starter motor kicking in and engine starts normally
- next start attempt is generally problem free whether car is hot or cold
- New battery and positive battery cable end, definitely not a power issue

1996 TL 3.2 with nearly 200,000 miles. I am assuming this is the starter relay since everything else in the car seems to work normally with ignition in On or Start positions. If the solenoid clicked and the starter motor did not operate, I would be going for the starter motor, but there is definitely no click from the starter solenoid when the car fails to start. Assuming contacts in relay are burned and need replacement. Hours of looking online has failed to produce a photo or drawing that shows the location of the starter relay other than it's in all the "stuff" in the driver-side footwell. How do I locate the starter relay? Also, it looks like nobody stocks a replacement starter relay in spite of other far more obscure parts being readily available. Any suggestions for where to look (Rock Auto, Auto Parts Warehouse and a few other places seem to not list a starter relay in spite of having many other TL parts).

thoiboi

love your troubleshooting! very thorough! if you're lucky, you may just have bad solder joints in the relay and a reflow of the solder should fix it.

Main relay i believe it's what it's called:

39400-SZ5-A01

OEM Acura TL 1996 CONTROL UNIT - CABIN (V6) parts

Wheels KeepTurning

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate the link.

But that drawing doesn't help locate the starter relay... just like every other drawing or photo of that part of the car. I did see something referring to wire colors connected to the starter relay, I think I will look for that. The way the relays in the foot well are installed, they are a major b-i-zitch to remove. The connector is on top and is easy to access, but the relay is held in place securely (or so it seems anyway). So I was planning to just unplug the old relay, plug-in the new relay and use wire ties to hold it in place. But without being certain what the part is called, or which of the relays it is (there are a handfull of them in the footwell), it's difficult to know what the story is. I may try the OEM Acura Parts people to see if they can confirm that the starter relay is the "main relay". At least I'll have the right part then and it may be fairly easy to identify the relay connector once I have the relay.