j894

Another thing worth mentioning is the ignition switch problems, especially for the 1998-1999 accords (in the steering column). The electrical contacts in the switch are known to wear flat/wear out and cause intermittent stalling problems while driving. My '99 would do this at random and it seems like it was misfiring then would stall (all gauges went dead and all dash startup lights came on), sometimes while coming to a stop and other times while driving in town or going down big hills (scary)

There was a recall on some '98-99s because of it, although my '99 had the problem and my VIN wasn't on the recall list.

You can take the ignition switch out to check if the contacts are bad, it takes about an hour and a new one is around $30 on rockauto.com if it ends up being bad. Some people have also said that applying/removing pressure on the key while the car is running/acting up can get the symptoms to change too if that is fact the problem.



Also regarding the weird idle, I also had idle surging problems after cleaning my TB and could find no vacuum leaks or any other issues. By accident I discovered that gunk got in the tiny hole of the MAP sensor (above the TB) in the process of cleaning. After removing the Map sensors and blowing a little compressed air through the Map sensor port on the intake the problem was resolved.

Hope this helps.

holmesnmanny

The next time it does this pull over and use a multimeter to check your battery voltage. I'm wondering if maybe you have battery connection issues or something of the sort.

Check your ground and positive connections. Check around the posts for a small amount of corrosion buildup. Check the alternator connections.

themiz816

This is driving me crazy!!! My wife drove the car on a 4 hour round trip had no problems. Then she stopped at walmart, and at the next stop sign it stalled. She HAD to push the gas to get it to start and it took several times of trying in order to get shift it into drive without it dieing. After she finally got on the road, the car was fine the rest of the way home!!!

I remember seeing someone talk about bad grounds, but cant find much on it. Does anyone know anything about this? where they're at, what to look for, how to fix them?

Any other ideas?

themiz816

My wife is out of town with the car (it had been driving better) so I havent been able to look at the grounds. Is it just at the location of the battery and the alternator? I thought i read somewhere that there is one underneath the engine somewhere.

And about the ignition switch, I read about that issue at one point so I tried to wiggle the switch while i was driving and it never really did anything. If its only $30 i may end up replacing that sometime just to see what happens.

eagle458

Thanks to everyone who's been posting on this!

themiz816

Ok so after another long drive (4 hours), the car started acting up really bad at then end of the drive when we started hitting stop lights. I have done my best to check for bad grounds and good connections at the battery and found nothing. Its really odd how the problem usually only happens after a fair amount of driving and many times it will go away by the next stop light.

Also about 3 hours into the trip a CEL came on. I went to the auto parts store to check the CEL and its a p1259; vtec system malfunction. Can anyone make sense of how this code could relate to my problems or what I should replace next???

PLEASE HELP!

holmesnmanny

first things first, check your oil level

Chris_McCartney

Maybe replace gearbox oil while you're at it! Unless you know it has been done recently?!

themiz816

Well, the oil was 3.5 quarts low even though i've never seen a drop on the drive way and the car doesn't smoke. I just did an oil change myself about 2 months ago. Crazy. Only thing i could figure, is that the car only leaks when its moving and maybe it drips on top of the engine and i dont see any smoke. Still, doesn't make a bunch of sense to me.

I didn't have a bunch of time to hunt down this leak so I took it into the mechanic.
He said he replaced a oil pressure switch that appeared to be leaking (sounded like it was near the vtec solenoid or part of it. This got rid of the CEL and the car seems to be running fine FOR NOW. He said it does make some sense that this pressure switch would cause erratic behavior because it causes the engine to speed up and slow down at times. Idk....I hope it works this time. Good news is he only charged me $145. Thats cheap as far as I'm concerned.

themiz816

car seems to be driving ok. But CEL came on again and this time its is p0304 "cylinder 4 misfire" and p1399 "random cylinder misfire.
Maybe if it burns a bunch of oil it fouled by spark plugs...? I'm gonna look and see if they're black. I just replaced them a month or so ago.

holmesnmanny

What that mechanic said doesn't appear to make any sense. He may have replaced the vtec pressure switch, not the oil pressure switch. There are o-rings in the vtec solenoid as well as the o-ring where the vtec pressure switch meets the vtec solenoid.

Regarding the misfire, you should try cleaning out your egr system...egr valve and ports and see if that fixes it.

themiz816

I've actually clean out egr ports and even replaced egr valve already. The weird thing this time, is that i never noticed a misfire. It idles kind of hard, but no sputtering, etc.

DeadlockRiff

Has anyone one thought to check the lock up clutch solenoid?
It only occurs when the car warms up in which the solenoid will only operate when the engine and transmission are both up to temperature. Which if in first gear, if still engaged it'll bring the engine down to the same speed as the transmission (read: 0mph = not spinning). try throwing the car into neutral every time you go to slow down below 15mph. If it doesn't occur, there goes your problem my friend.

themiz816

ok well you might be onto something. I went to get the codes cleared at the autopart store today and there was one more code (kill me now). I hope its related but it may not be. P0706 "open in transmission range switch circuit."
Probable cause: a. open or short circuit
b. poor electrical connection
c. faulty transmission open range switch

Not sure if this matches up with what your saying. Also, I have popped the car into neutral before because I HAD to in order to give it gas and brake at the same time to keep it from stalling. It didn't change anything.

I havent found many other people that have struggled with p0706. I'm curious if open circuit in transmission could be the "bad ground" that people keep talking about.

wwolf771177

Maybe half a year ago I noticed my car didnt want to start. I soon figured out by "hammering" the fuel pump I would wait until I heard it turn on then successfully turn the car on. 2 weeks ago the cars rpms would drop sooo low the engine shut off. I took off the iacv and saw it was real dirty. I cleaned it out and that solved the low rpm drop. Now my car has shut off lime 4 ti.es while im drivi g like 40 mph so I tjink my fuel pump is dieing. It shuts off then I gotta pull over and hammer the pumo until it turns on. I bought a new fuel pump and ill install it Friday. Heres a pic of my dirty iacv.

ZeeVe

Sorry for reviving an old post, but I have the same problem with my 2001 Civic. The car shuts down after 25 minutes of driving and kicks code P1457. Did your stalling issue come back up after the mechanic changed the oil pressure switch (as you called it)? I'm just as desperate here for answers. Thanks in advance!

themiz816

No problem. That was the worst three months of my life. I dont remember what p1457 is but if you have the same problem as me thats not good news. I think mine ended up having ppor compression in one of the cylinders. I ended up having to replace the engine. I think what happened is internally it was burning a lot of oil. A few times on long trips it burnt all the oil and then damages the exhaust valves. Ive reasoned that the stalling issue was related to this but possibly just sticking valves from thw excess of burnt oil.
I had no idea my car was burning oil until I found out it was empty again. No smell, no drips, no smoke...

If I were you I would definitely do a compression test FIRST. If its the engine you want to know ASAP.

themiz816

Actually...looking back the p1457 was a separate isolated issue that I was able to fix long before the engine replacement. It was the canister vent shut valve which is a common issue on the yr of accord. Im not sure the civics have evap systems, do they?

ZeeVe

Thanks for the update. I feel bad that you had to replace the engine. Well, I don't think it is quite my story though. The car is slightly over 160K and I still use 10W30 full synthetic oil and change every 5k. I usually down only by 1qt.
Civics have all pretty much identical parts and are similar to Accords (canister, purge solenoid and vent valve its all there).
I don't mind replacing it all, I just read some posts that it didn't really solved the problem of shutting engine off while driving. The 1457 code is usually gone after a little while and kicks in when the car dies. It does even faster when AC is on.
I'm really perplexed.
I heard at least a dozen of reasons why this could happen:
Fuel pump (why only after 25 min. of driving when it's 85+ degree outside?) I drive for about an hour to work every morning when it is cool and nothing happens)
Canister
Valve
Solenoid
Camshaft TDC
Fuel pump relay (behind glove compartment. Not a chance I already changed it - the car still dies.)
Wiring (not sure even where to look for it)
Spark coils
EVAP system overall (leak somewhere)
Ignition ( I really doubt)
Some folks even threw some comments about aftermarket alarm system wiring wrong or radio etc.
ETC

I guess my best solution right now is either sell car AS IS or start randomly pouring money in it hoping that at some point it will be fixed.
My wife says bring it to mechanic, but i'm very skeptical that they will know the solution right away.
So I'm stuck....

themiz816

well here is my two cents from my experience fixing cars and asking questions on message boards. First, always fix the codes first. You dont know of its THE problem, but you know its a problem so its worth a shot. Second, not all of the comments you get will be helpful or make sense. I try to piece together advice from multiple sources. Start tracking down common problems with the evap system in the civic and cross check with the comments youve reveived. Or otherwise start with the cheapest fix (the gas cap).

themiz816

Also I rememer reading that the evap systems are very complex and not for the novice mechanic. If you cant figure it out with a couple cheap parts, id throw in the towell and go to a cheap mechanic. Find someone that is honest, has good references, and preferrably doesnt advertise. Advertisement means more overhead which means more $$$.

toivolaZACK

I have a 1992 Accord that does the EXACT SAME THING. I do deliveries for work, so I drive a lot, and like you said, after driving for about 30 -40 minutes it will start acting up. I actually solved the problem about three months ago, when I discovered that the heater hose was nearly completely blocked at the little valve near the firewall that I guess opens up the heater core...or whatever. It was blocked with that liquid copper stuff for radiator leaks (I swear I didn't put it in there), and after clearing it all out there were no more stalling problems. That also fixed a problem I was having with unusual shifting points (auto trans). But about two weeks ago the stalling started again, altho the trans shifts okay still. I rechecked the heater hose, and the water outlet ports, all is okay. I have replaced the IACV three times with junkyard parts, each time they made my idle surge, so I don't really know if mine is bad or not, but since the IACV does have coolant running through it, I think it may have been affected originally by the poor coolant flow I had from the blockage. I just ordered an intake manifold gasket and plenum gasket in case there are vacuum leaks there. All hoses are okay. Gaskets haven't arrived yet, so we'll see. Good luck with your problem