petitemartian

A few months ago, my car stalled as I was slowly turning into a parking lot. I kept trying to immediately crank it again but it wouldn't "turn over". I then sat there for a bit and it restarted, I don't drive this car often so I can't say how much I drove it, but a couple weeks later, it did the same thing while driving slowly through a parking area. Same deal, let it sit, it eventually started again. Recently, it now stalls whenever, including driving at a regular speed on a straightaway.

I started googling and results pointed to the "main relay". I replaced it, but the stalling kept happening and more frequently in these last few weeks. Now it will eventually stall any time I take it out. It'll restart eventually, but has to sit between 2 and sometimes 20 minutes.

Another common suggestion was to jiggle the key to see if that killed the engine. I tried that, but it didn't kill it.

Reading more posts, I noticed the problem seems to track with the car running longer in cold weather. Here in the midwest, it was 70 degrees recently and it died 5+ times in a couple miles, whereas when it was 30 degrees yesterday, it made it like twice as far before dying the first time.

Noticing this, posts seem to suggest it could be a "distributor" and/or "ignition coil" problem.

Also, the check engine light doesn't always come on, but has twice now. The first time was when I was still focused on the main relay so I disconnected the battery after thinking I'd fixed it. The check light came on again yesterday so I finally tried to get the OBD1 codes.

The codes I got were the Check Engine light returning 7. And the D4 returning 15.

This is where I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with information. Is it the distributor/igniton coil, the Throttle Position Sensor (Check engine flash code),..then is the D4 flashing a code for the "Ignition Output Signal" or...I saw someone saying D4 flashing 15 means Mainshaft Speed Sensor...?

So I just reset the ECM, ran the car in the driveway, and it died after about 20 minutes of idling. It didn't start again right away but it also didn't show any CheckEngine/D4 codes. I let it sit for about 20 mins and it started back up no problem and showing no codes.

I spent $800 getting the brake line fixed 6 months ago and can't stomach another large bill from a shop for a car that's on its last legs. I want to get at least another year out of this car.

I'm no car guy, but I have a multimeter and can try to troubleshoot some of these things, but again, I'm just feeling overwhelmed and don't want to start ordering all kinds of parts if they aren't needed since the whole point is to do this on the cheap.

My questions are 1) Would getting an OBD2 reader help at all? Since this is a '96 Accord, will it just send the same codes as doing the paperclip-short trick and counting the flashes?

2) What should I start testing/replacing first? I guess I just want someone to point me in a direction, lol.

Thanks for reading and for any help/suggestions!

petitemartian

Update: It was the Distributor (or maybe more specifically, the Ignition Control Module, but I replaced it all).

First tried replacing just the Cap and Rotor, but it still died.

Got a Distributor (sans cap and rotor) for $50 off ebay. Popped it in and no more stalling!

I still have an Ignition Coil coming in the mail which I guess I don't need, but oh well.

Maybe I could have gotten away with spending only like ~$30 to fix it, but instead paid ~$100, but I got to learn some things and probably saved $200~300 by not going to a shop.

Just want to thank everyone who made old threads and ppl who replied to them about similar issues which helped me research what my problem was and fix it. This forum is great!