r3ferrei

On occasion, my car will all of a sudden lose all power and die. It eventually starts up again if im driving along and the motor restarts by the transmission.

This also occurs when i start up the car in the morning. After a few minutes, the car will just die on me. This continues to occur even after its warmed up. Now, the car fires up pretty much all of the time. Sometimes, it will turn over but never start. Eventually, after letting it sit for a few minuets, it starts up again.

On friday, i came from school and started my car. To let it warm up, i let it run for a little while. After about 7 minuets, it stalled and would not start again. I let it sit for a little while and it would not start up again, then after multiple attempts I eventually drained my battery.

I called CAA and they came by with a tow. He lifted up the car onto the tow truck, and he boosted the car and it started again (boy do i feel stupid). He agreed to follow me home in case something happened on the way.

It drove fine until i pulled up to a light. It once again stalled while i was letting it coast in (in gear). The car started up again and ran for 2 seconds and stalled once again. I started it up and held the throttle open a bit while i drove home.

last year i replaced the ignition coil and the igniter with Honda parts (250CA just for the igniter) so they are still new. I also did timing belt/water pump in '05 and installed a new starter, distributer cap/rotor, spark plugs and battery, as well as clutch/flywheel (expensive year).

It would be easy to diagnose this if it happened all the time, but it happens randomly and when i least expect. (Today was a relatively warm day and i let the car run for a little while checking for vaccum lines, fuel lines, etc. and the car just stalled on me). Now i dont think its an idle problem because this does occur when im driving and the car is revving into the high 3's.

Thanks for any response in advance. I appreciate it. Any information helps because i cant get the car going until i fix it (dont want to waste CAA tows). Thanks.

Some general information:
95 civic si coupe
B16A2 swap
AEM CAI
Exedy Clutch/Flywheel
New timing belt/water pump
nothing else really

ekcivic9

is the car throwing any codes at all?

Spracer03

alll the problems you say u got seem to me to be ignition related... perhaps you need a new dizzy, id say swap it with another for a day andd see if you have the same problem

RTI

change the main relay.

r3ferrei

Thanks for all the response. I started up my car today, and let it run for a bit. As i was reaching in to turn it off, it stalled. I did hear a click when that happened, and was thinking about something like a relay problem. Not sure though.

The car is not throwing any codes.

I guess ill pull off the main relay and test it out. As for the dizzy, whats a good way of testing it. The coil and igniter are new, as well as the cap and rotor.

hi-Powered

when it won't start, it's always good to begin checking for fuel pressure and spark. but with your problem it's most likely the main relay or wiring/connection problem.

r3ferrei

(UPDATE)
I picked up a Main Relay and installed it. No dice. Im probably going to keep it anyways because i dont want it going on me in the future.

The car no longer starts at all, so i checked for spark and....nothing.

I pulled out the distributer and im probably gonna replace it.

Heres a pic...


I did notice what looked like brushes were pretty warn out, and there was alot of reddish dust all over.

If anyone has any other ideas, i appreciate any response. Could this have been the cause of the random stalls? Does a distributer slowly go like this or does it just die in one shot?

r3ferrei

FIXED

Turns out it was the igniter.

I took the distributer in for a test, and all turned out fine. I decided to take out the igniter that i got from honda and compare it to the igniter i picked up but never used. The honda igniter did not have a layer of silicone between the mounting plate and the igniter itself, while the other igniter i had did. I would presume it was overheating and failing. Im gonna drive it around and see what happens. Thanks for all your help.


Modified by r3ferrei at 1:41 PM 2/2/2006

efyou

wheres the igniter at

r3ferrei

If your referring to the picture, i took the dizzy apart for the pic. Its in the car now and running strong (so far).