Tegraracer90

Hello All...I need help ASAP for my commuter car...
Its a 2000 Honda Accord EX with 2.3L motor, 5 Speed...has about 130k miles on it.

About two weeks ago the car began to stall while sitting idling on my lunch break at work with the AC on, it was almost as if you just shut the key off, wouldn't rough idle or act like it became under load or anything it would just quit. I turned the key off and right back on and it started right back up and kept running. Drove it 35 miles home without issue. Drove it back to work the next day without issue. On the way home from work that day, on the highway doing about 80 the car shook for a second and I could tell the engine quit, i coasted for about 4 seconds then WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING the engine shook again and restarted and I drove it the rest of the way home. It did this exact thing about 3 more times over the period of a day or two then finally it quit last Thursday and wouldn't restart. I cranked till the battery was almost dead. Had a friend scoop me up to get me home to my trailer, got the car home before even getting it off the trailer, I disconnected the fuel line at the fuel rail and turned the key on. No fuel came out....OK so possible fuel pump bad..The next day i crawled into the trunk and pulled the little hatch open took a meter and had around 12 volts at the plug going to the pump. So I got a new fuel pump and installed it. Car started right up, drove it around all weekend was fine. Drove it to work and back yesterday, I have over 150 miles on the car since the new pump. Now today, the car began to quit on me on my way home from work again just like it did before I replaced the pump. This time however its making me wait almost 3-4 minutes before it finally restarts. Also when it quits, every single light on the dash board comes on, ABS, BOTH DOOR OPEN INDICATOR, TRUNK OPEN INDICATOR, AIR BAG, MAINTENANCE REQUIRED, EVERY SINGLE LIGHT.

The Check engine last has been on in the car since I got it...its for an emissions system code, its "Evaporative solenoid valve small leak" or something along those lines.

WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON!?!?!?!?

user456101

Sounds like it might be the ignition switch to me but it can be several things. Watch Scotty Kilmer's YouTube video "Fixing a car that randomly dies while driving". You may have additional, new trouble codes - go to AutoZone or any auto parts store and get them to read the codes for you. Then, look up the codes. If you can afford it, subscribe to alldatadiy.com for your car and you can get all of the diagnostic and repair information that is available, including all the code explanations.

topshot-rhit

Ironically, my wife's 99 LX 5-sp with 183K is having similar symptoms with no pending codes. First time was almost a week ago when it just died while I was accelerating. At first I thought I'd just lost power - took me a few seconds to realize the engine had actually died. Started right back up and drove fine. Since then my wife said something similar has happened 3 more times and often takes 6-12 times to restart. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet (and am leaving town for a couple weeks), but was thinking either ignition or fuel. I'll check out that vid as well.

Tegraracer90

Ok here is an update of what I have found between last night and now. I took the fuel pump relay out and took the cover off. I did find a bad solder joint, which I brought to work today and fixed. However, 95% of everything I read says that will not make the car die after it is already running. So I am hesitant to say if I found the issue or not. I haven't looked at the ignition switch yet but plan on doing so after work today.

One odd thing I did notice that the car does since I got it back in May. The Tach "flutters" when I shift. Right as I let the clutch out the tach begins to bounce between 2k-3k rpm. The motor isn't fluttering or surging just the tach is like either the gauge is bad or what ever the gauge reads off of is bad. Not sure if that has anything to do with the current issue at hand or not.

I do have a code reader and no new codes besides the emission codes are present.

tamboo

tach bouce can be bad icm.

New Premium High Performance Ignition Control Module ICM Acura Honda LX734 | eBay

Tegraracer90

Ok another update!!

After installing my newly soldered relay back into the car, BAM no start again, ok let me see if its fuel or spark i am not getting, pulled the fuel line off the rail, turn the key on, no fuel sprays out. I grabbed the relay, pulled it off and stuck it right back on, as it clicked into place, I felt the relay in my hand go *click click*. I turn the key on fuel sprays from the fuel line. Reinstalled fuel line car starts right up. So i am about 90% certain that the relay was the main issue and I ordered a brandy new one to install tomorrow.

I watched many videos over the past two days around main relay testing and repairing, one thing that struck me was where the guy showed that a main relay malfunctioning could cause the CEL to not illuminate at all even when you first turn the key to the on position. Then I remembered that while I was driving the car and had the engine shut off on me, I looked down and the CEL (which is on for the emission code remember) was flickering, NOT BLINKING, but flickering almost as if it was about to lose power. Well after what that guy showed in his video, that would make sense as to why it was flickering, because the main relay was going bad.

bantum1cwa

I had exactly the same problem. Tested the fuel pump, tested the relay, tested the ignition - all were fine. What I found was that the relay was only getting the ground signal from the PCM intermittently and therefore the fuel pump would intermittently shutoff. I was now worried that my PCM was no good. Testing the PCM lead me to a ground cable nut that was on but wasn't snug enough to provide continual grounding to the PCM. Some work had been done inside the engine compartment months earlier and during reassembly the nut was inadvertently not snugged up and gradually got worse and worse until finally it wouldn't start at all because the fuel pump won't come on tp prime the fuel rail when the ignition was turned on.

topshot-rhit

So does the relay still seem like it was the issue for you? I'm back from vacation now so need to look into this now. She's said it hadn't wanted to stay started a couple times while I was gone so I was leaning more to the pump.

bantum1cwa

The relay was fine. It just wasn't getting the grounding from the PCM which wasn't getting the ground from the engine ground G101.

When you turn the ignition to the on position (without starting up), you should hear the fuel pump turn on for two seconds. Also, the check engine light should come on for two seconds. If it's intermittent, it's tough to tell. If the check engine light doesn't turn on for those two seconds, then you might have a relay grounding problem.

If the fuel pump turns on or not, I would still check the main relay first. I at first thought my relay was bad - got one from autozone - put it in -had same problem - returned it to autozone because it didn't work.