Bob#455

This is a really inconsistent problem and I'm going to try and give as much detail as possible, so please bear with me... First things first: Currently about 40k miles, car has been tracked hard about 15 times in the past 2.5 years, oil changed every ~3500 miles, spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, were changed at 30k miles. I'm running a Hondata S100 which was dyno tuned for my setup. Here is the timeline of events:

Feb 7th 2004 - I'm driving to Buttonwillow going about 75 mph on I-5 and the car all of a sudden loses power. I give it gas but nothing happens, the car is steadily slowing down, and all of a sudden there is **** hitting the ground behind my car and sparking like crazy. The car regains power. I get a good laugh when a realize that part of my catalytic converter has just broken loose and worked it's way out of the exhaust system. I never got a CEL for the cat due to running the Hondata.

Feb 8th 2004 - The next day at 7 AM I drop the b-pipe and cat at the track and pound out the remaining material in the catalytic converter. The car is noticably louder and has a nasty raspy tone, but otherwise runs fine. After some really hard driving during my 4th session of the day, the car starts to hesitate during the cool down lap. I don't know how to describe it other than to say that it felt like the car wasn't getting gas. It did this a couple more times before I got off track. I parked the car, cursed the Hondata thinking it was the source of the problem, and put the stock ECU back in. I start the car, it revs fine and idles for a good 5 mins, then I turn it off.

Not long after, I start the car to go on track for my last session and take a quick spin in the paddock to make sure all is okay. The car hesistates and dies in 2nd gear at about 3k RPMs. I can't get it to start. It turns over, but it seems like it isn't getting gas...the motor sounds like it's bogging as it tries to start. I let it sit for awhile, plug in the evap purge connector under the hood (which was unplugged for the Hondata) and try again. Nothing. I call Austin and Chris who say I should give it some gas as I turn the key. After one or two tries, it fires up, hesitant at first, and then I rev the **** out of it for a minute and all seems fine. I pack up my car and leave Buttonwillow. During the ride home, the car hesitates on the freeway a little bit after about 2 hours of driving and then again after getting back on the freeway after a gas/dinner stop. I was cruising at about 75 mph both times.

*Note that I never got a CEL either with the Hondata at the track or with the stock ECU on the way home.

Feb 9th to Apr 10th 2004 - The car seems to run fine daily driving to and from work and around town with the stock ECU (I get a code 67 frequently, but no other issues). I change the fuel filter in case it was partially clogged and somehow related to the car dying. The Hondata is reinstalled for use at the track.

Apr 11th 2004 - I track the car really hard at Sears Point/Infineon Raceway. It seems to run great for the first few sessons, but after the third session, the car starts to hesitate during the cool down lap. I am able to make it back to the paddock. My passenger notes that my tachometer was bouncing around most of the session (it was bouncing in increments of 500 RPMs as the needle moved towards redline). I remove the distributor cap and check the rotor, which appears to be snug - no excessive play is visible. I fill up the car with gas, top of the oil, and let it sit during lunch.

The fourth session, all is good again. I drive the car hard as usual and it is fine, no noticable hesistation, but the tach was bouncing again. After the session, at the end of the cooldown lap, the car seems to hesitate for a fraction of a second and I hear a small pop/crack from the exhaust...maybe a small backfire? Or maybe just the raspiness of the hollow catalytic converter... I run three laps during the 5th session (I convinced my mom to go for a few laps!), everything runs fine. I pack up and drive home about 40 miles with no issues. The Hondata was installed the entire day, and I never got any CELs. Just the bouncing tach and hesitation during the cool down laps.

Apr 12th to 15th 2004 - I daily drive the car to and from work and around town with no issues. The Hondata is still installed, no CELs.

Apr 16th 2004 - I'm driving to the local movie theater after work to buy tickets for Kill Bill Volume 2. The car hesitates a little while cruising in 5th and 4th gears. As I am about to turn onto the street the theater is on, the car hesitates and dies. I'm still moving about 20 mph, so I pop the clutch with the car in 2nd gear a couple times. I starts and dies right away both times...I try to give it gas but no response. It sounds like the motor is bogging. I let it sit a few minutes and try again. No luck. I walk to the theater and buy tickets for the movie, get back to my car and try again. No luck. I call my dad and he brings me my stock ECU about 25 minutes later. I plug in the evap purge connector and then switch to the stock ECU and the car fires up, hesitant at first, and then I rev the **** out of it for a minute and all seems fine (just like at Buttonwillow). I get a code 67 again due to the cat. I drive home and park the car, slightly perplexed by the problem.

Apr 17th 2004 - I pick up Chris to go to the local shooting range. The car drives fine the way there. On the way back, it hesitates a couple times. Luckily, I make it home. The stock ECU was still in the car, the only code I got was a 67 for the cat.

For those of you that are still reading this, thanks a lot for your time. Based on the research I've done so far, it seems like the ignitor might be going bad and causing my problem. Plugs, distributor cap and rotor were all changed 10k miles ago and I have never gotten any CEL other than 67. The fuel filter was changed last weekend. Does anyone have any idea what the hell is going on? Could it be something other than the ignitor or should I start there? The car is still under warranty, but I'd rather not take it to the dealer and let their monkeys play around with it. Also, they will very likely try to blame the problem on one of my modifications and charge me up the *** to fix it. Thanks a lot for your help guys!

P.S. Sorry for the long post, but I was trying to capture how inconsistent and sporadic the problem is.

rated_r

could be a crank sensor

Austin

Bob...I stopped and saw Lawrence on Thursday before I headed down to Buttonwillow...my 4 month old copper plugs were used up, dropped in a new set of plugs and I gained 9whp That may be a contributing factor to the popping(Marsey said that happened to him on the SC car when the plugs were dyning.

Austin

Bob#455

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Austin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bob...I stopped and saw Lawrence on Thursday before I headed down to Buttonwillow...my 4 month old copper plugs were used up, dropped in a new set of plugs and I gained 9whp That may be a contributing factor to the popping(Marsey said that happened to him on the SC car when the plugs were dyning.

Austin</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the observation Austin...I knew I should have just gotten the stock Platinums

jeff652

iTrader: (1)

austingetty2: thoughts on this? https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=836466
hybridautomotive: reading
hybridautomotive: $50 says it's the ignitor
austingetty2: lol
hybridautomotive: the ICM as the helms calls it
hybridautomotive: change it
hybridautomotive: that'll fix it

Bob#455

Thanks Jeff, I was hoping to have someone confirm my suspicions before I went to the dealer to buy a new ignitor.

YellowCRXSi

Could be a problem with the main relay....shutting off the fuel supply.