The car is 93 Accord with 5 speed standard trans. I've had the coil replaced twice during this time. The last time was 5 months ago so I'm kind of leaving that part out of the equation. The car seems to stall while driving on the highway for about 15 minutes or 15 miles. It will stutter real quick once or twice and then die. I'm able to push the clutch in and turn the key all the way off and then re-start it while still coasting unpowered. If I don't switch the key all the way off, it will not restart. Any ideas? Fuel pump? Since this happens 3/4 into my commute I'm unsure if it will do it again after 15 more minutes.
I checked my Haynes Repair manual and it states the following information: Engine Isssue #6 Engine Starts but Stops Immediately:
Loose or faulty electrical connections at distributor, coil or alternator.
Insufficient fuel reaaching the fuel injectors.
Vacuum leak at the gasket between the intake manifold and throttle body.
I could not find a listing for the exact problem that you are having. It's my guess that #1 is the most likely cause of your problem. In addition, there may be a "short" in the electrical wiring running to or from the distributor, coil or alternator. Shorts are hard to locate since they can only be found when the wire is shorted out at the time of the test. I should also note that the distributor, coil or alternator may be defective. Jason
Having to turn the key off and back on suggests the ECU is deciding the engine isn't running and shuts off the fuel pump as a safety measure (standard in modern cars). It may be deciding that because the engine dies. Another possibility is that the engine is dying of fuel starvation and with pressure bled from the fuel rail it won't figure out the right mixture in time. One more: the ignition switch may be failing and only moving it all the way back to off will patch it up again.
The crucial question is whether the engine is dying because of fuel or ignition problems. The driver gets two good clues: if the tach drops like a stone and the power disappears like you flipped a switch the ignition is going away. If the tach follows the engine speed as it fades, and the power seems to sag to nothing instead of lurching, you have fuel delivery problems.
One final thing: if it acts like ignition and the warning lights don't come on until you turn the switch off and back on, you can bet it's a bad switch. (Outside chance it's a cracked connection inside the battery, but the switch is the way to bet.)
Start by reading over
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and see if anything rings a bell. It is a very good bet the problem is one of those mentioned; actual fuel pump failures are rare in Hondas, for example. Since the coil has been replaced twice we can pretty much rule that out. That leaves you with three classic trouble areas: the Main Relay (fuel pump relay), the ignitor and the ignition switch. As the driver you probably have enough clues now to decide on a course of action. Good luck! Mike
It could be so many things, but next time it happens note if the idiot lights on your dash come on. If they do not come on when it stalls, I'd check the ignition switch.
Mike, Thanks for your very informative link and post.
In responce to your querry on the tach and dash lights, I do remember the tach dropping like a stone and the only dash light that came on was the 'Check Engine Light'.. After I turned the key all the way off and then back on, the remaining dash lights came back on, and the tach resumed to follow the engine RPM, as long as I had the clutch engaged of course. Do these symptons still point to the igniter or maybe more so towards the coil?
Could be somebody forgot to replace the heat-sink compound (just like on a Pentium processor) on the backside of the ignitor and it's overheating now that the weather is warmer.
I replaced the ignitor and and took it out for a little ride around the block, about 20 miles, and it ran without stalling. However, I will need to take it for a couple of rides since there were days when it wouldn't stall out. But it is a good sign so far. The new ignitor was slightly different as it had its own heat sink attatched to it. I just added a few more lock washers to take up the extra space on the screws so that they wouldn't protrude out beyond the bottom of the heat sink. Also, when I opened the distributor cap to get at the ignitor, I noticed that there was oil inside the cap. Seems like the seal from the distributor and the engine head is leaking. This might have contributed to the problem also. Is this seal easy to fix?
The ignitor is a good suspect, if only because it is fairly inexpensive and is about at the end of its life expectancy. (I don't know why they often seem to fail after a decade or so, but that seems to be the track record.) If the problem returns I would focus on the ignition switch, especially with the lights not coming on until the switch was cycled. Now your ignitor should last the rest of your car's life and won't strand you somewhere by failing altogether.
I haven't had direct experience with the distributor failing, but others have. I will leave that part to them.
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