Mychal71

1999 Accord LX. My girlfriends car shuts off randomly while driving. It happens in town, on the fwy, through parking lots, etc. You will be driving along and then all of the sudden the lights come on on the dash and you realize the car has died. At first it would die and then restart on its own before you even stopped. Now it just dies and you have to stop put it in park and restart it yourself.
When it dies, and you try to restart it, it usually goes "click, click, click" and the dash lights flicker, like when you have a very dead battery. then it will try to start and just stumble for about 2 seconds and die again. That happens a few times, then it starts up and you are fine again. At first it was once every few weeks, now it seems its once a day or so. Car runs great until this happens.
Battery is newer, I've brushed and cleand the battery terminals and ground connections. All battery connections that I checked are tight.
Maybe some kind of sensor or module going out??
Any help is greatly appreciated.

dtapia

i would be looking at the electrical portion of the ignition switch. i know their is a current recall for the ignition switch on hte tl's and cl's for that very reason.
i just checked and the s/b # is 02-031 so contact your local honda dealer this is a free repair.


Modified by dtapia at 7:05 AM 10/6/2008

gqstatus05

Be careful driving it until you get it fixed dude. Make your girlfriend aware of that. That's a scary thing when your car shuts off when you're doing 65 I been there dude.

owinfrey

I had the same problem as the OP described... cutting off randomly until I had the ignition switch replaced. That solve my problem.

Mychal71

What is an "s/b #" ?
And will this be a free repair even though the car is 9 years old and we are not the original owners??

Thanks for the help!!!

91ex

It is certainly not the battery, because if a car is running and the alternator is functioning properly, you can completely remove the battery with no problem. I would look at what these guys are talking about and other electric components. Also, although not very probable with the lights flickering, check distributer and both ends of coil wire. this can cause these types of symptoms. That is the basics.
Also, is your tranny Auto or manual?

YeuEmMaiMai

has the ignition switch recall been done on the car? If not get it done asap and yes they will fix it

FunnyVictor86

i had the same problem in my old 99 ... i broke my trans because of it ... i was doing about 65 the car died and all of a sudden there was traffic in front of me ... so while freaking out i was trying to throw the gear into neutral and accidentally pushed the release button and accidntally threw it in reverse ... unfortunately i didnt know of a recall otherwise i would have gotten it fixed asap and for free and would have avoided a $1600 transmission rebuild ...

gqstatus05

[QUOTE=FunnyVictor86]i had the same problem in my old 99 ... i broke my trans because of it ... i was doing about 65 the car died and all of a sudden there was traffic in front of me ... so while freaking out i was trying to throw the gear into neutral and accidentally pushed the release button and accidntally threw it in reverse ... QUOTE]

That sucks. Crappy way to throw money away.

Mychal71

the recall hasnt been taken care of that I know of. The car is an auto trans.
I'll call the local honda dealer today and see what they say.
thanks!!!!!!!!

Mychal71

Well I dropped the car off yesterday. They fixed the 'ignition interlock' under a recall, but the switch had already been done years ago before we got the car according to the records.

They sadi it would be $300-$400 for them to do it.
I checked the local parts store and they have the switch for $65. I wonder if its something I can do myself or if any special tools are needed??

Thanks!!!!!

91ex

Buddy take a look at your plug wire ends. Nasty? dont get too dramatic yet. The car runs perfectly before this happens? No sputtering or bogging at all? You could also have fuel related problems as well. Loose relay or something. I would check into it before i start going after that swith. It will take you 5 minutes to check spark and other things.

FunnyVictor86

dealers suck ***, when they did the recall on mine they wanted to charge me 40 dollars to reconnect my aftermarket alarm system ... what kinda bull is that ... i told them to F OFF ... ok maybe i didnt say that but i said no way rudely lol

Mychal71

replaced the ignition switch last night and the car has not turned off so far!!!! Wasnt even that hard to put in, fairly easy, actually.
I has been cutting out several times a day the last few weeks, not once today!!

Thanks guys!!!