car will not start and gear shift levet will not move. After ~15 min lever will move and car will start in neutral

Asked by patrickjc Apr 06, 2013 at 06:40 PM about the 1999 Honda Odyssey EX FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Car will start when cold. After driving for a short time and turning off the car it will not restart and the shift lever is
stuck in park. After sitting 15-20 min the shift lever becomes movable and the car will start in neutral. Lately the
engine will do this while driving, the engine just shuts off, but will start again as described above. Last Summer we
had the engine replaced with a rebuilt one (engine bearing failed) and the rebuild has ~15K miles on it.

2 Answers

By now you ought to be on your third car battery....check the voltage and perform a load test (if so equipped) but basically if more than five years old is the source of you disappointment~ ....also clean off the ground lug leading to the chassis/frame and to the engine, and wirebrush the terminals to assure the delivery of a solid 300 amps cold cranking power!

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10

When you say it won't start, does it turn over fine but just not fire? If that's the case I don't think it's the battery or ground but I could be mistaken We have had our 01 Ody die while driving & not restart. Usually waiting a few minutes & it will start fine. It's only done it a few times & I've only been in the car 2 or 3 times, so it has been hard to troubleshoot. Tonight it did it & I wanted to try something I found to see if it was the ignition switch. I tried to take it out of Park but it wouldn't budge. I'm not sure if that was the case in the past because this was the first time I had tried that. After waiting 15 minutes or so, it started fine & went into gear. After doing some more reading, I think I am going to pull the main relay & look for cracks in the solder.

1 people found this helpful.

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