Yes, most seasoned Honda owners have heard of it...... it's known as the dreaded Honda main relay........ it's located under the dash, way up in the top left corner. It can be reached by skinny people with long arms rather easily. This shoddy design causing dry joints in the solder has been the bane of many a Honda owner's existence. Rest assured, you can replace it or repair it easily enough. No need to sell the car.
You can do it yourself or have someone do it for you. Due to the fact that I don't like hanging upside down under dashboards and feeding my arms up and into really small places next to all kinds of sharp pieces of metal (at least it was like that in my 1992 Accord) I just took it to my mechanic and had him replace it.
The only odd thing I'm finding about your case here, is that main relays don't show their arse until warm weather. The soldering/circuit board develops the dry joints over time and when the temps warm up, the board material expands, the dry joint area expands with it and contact is broken and presto, the car won't start. MARK THAT -- Aus_Prelude. You're in Australia, it's summer there. AH! Never mind. It's so freaking very much winter here ........ it's like -6'C here...(20'F)
Sounds exactly like what you are experiencing though. Starts fine when it's cool out in the morning or the car has not been driven. Once things heat up, outside and inside the car, expansion happens and the car again won't start for a while or not at all until maybe the next day.
Now, like I said, you have options. ASSUMING it is the main relay. You can remove it, crack it open and resolder the old unit, OR you can remove it, buy a new one, and plug it back in. My personal suggestion : go new and go Honda. The most it's going to set you back is around 40-50 bucks, if that.
1) One of the definitive checks to find out if the relay is the problem is listening to the car when you start it. There are three clicks and usually one of them, the last one, is missing if the relay is bad. If you hear all three, then the relay isn't the problem. You'll hear the clicking coming from up under the left side of the dash/steering column area. If the relay clicks correctly but the car still doesn't start, then start looking somewhere else, like checking the fuel pump, ignition and other sources.
ORDER OF CLICKS : *turn off radio, fans, close doors and windows - do this in a quiet environment.
Turn ignition to ON (but not to START): Click 1
Check Engine light goes off: Click 2
You now turn the key to START: Click 3 right before the starter engages and the engine fires.
This third click is usually the one that you won't hear. If you don't hear this third click, then the car won't start which means it's most assuredly the main relay.
2) If you want to attempt this yourself, first disconnect the battery just to be sure that you don't fry any part of your Prelude's electrical system, etc.
3) Find the main relay, it will be a small, gray box attached to a metal bracket or the fuse box or the steering column. It might be black too. It should read "RELAY ASS'Y MAIN and have MITSUBA printed above that. Typically, it sits behind the dashboard up and to the left of the steering column in a section slightly up and behind a large section of wiring for the fuse panel. In my car it's back up behind the hood release....way the hell up there. VERY annoying and difficult to reach.
4) Once you've located it and released it from any mounts, unplug it from the base and pull off. If you do this and replace or repair the relay, don't get lazy and use a lock-tite twisty thing to hang it back up. Do it the right way. Re-attach it the same.
5) Pop the new relay into place by gently gripping the relay connector base and firmly pushing the relay into it without touching the solder components of the relay or the connector wiring. Check that the fit is secure, as current running through a loose relay can cause the relay to overheat or the outer casing to melt.
That's my method, a method of words.
Below, I have given you two really great links with images that will show and tell all you need to know. I have to give the owners due credit for having the info on their site. One day I will get around to making a sticky for this repair on Prelude Driver, as it is a very common Honda problem and a lot of people ask about it.
Mad props to
http://www.tegger.com and to MarkLamond.co.uk ! Both of these sites are very helpful and well done.
Excellent link: Instructions and images .... VERY helpful.
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/mainrelay.html
Second excellent link: Instructions, images and how to actually repair the old unit if you choose.
http://www.marklamond.co.uk/tech-honda/ ... -relay.htm
Make sure you click the images on the pages provided via the links I've given above. The images enlarge and are very high-res to show you what exactly you're looking at.
Good Luck!
~ Josh