jediram

Hi guys,
I have a 98 honda civic ex, 5 speed manual with about 146k on it. Everything has been running great except that recently it started shutting off while driving, and then a second later would start back up while in gear. I would just be driving along and then all of a sudden the engine would shut off and the tach would show 0, speedo, stereo and everything else works. I did some research and many are saying that it is the ignition switch, however i haven't found any that start back up while driving like mine does. They just shut off and then can be started 10 minutes later.
I really hope someone can help me out. It would be much appreciated.

andoxviii

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like the ignition wire is shorting out momentarily somewhere in your dash.

Have you performed any custom wiring (or perhaps from a previous owner)? Have you done anything to the vehicle recently? How long has this been happening? Any check engine lights?

cmwright1986

i wouldn`t rule out the ignition switch.. since they are a known problem with the civics

jediram

Nope no custom wiring besides a new head unit, amp and sub. I noticed this last week and it has done it about 5 times since then. It's not like it is after a certain time or anything, it's entirely random. There is a check engine light that comes on sometimes and then will go off. A few times when the check light came on the speedometer dropped to 0 and then came back up. A while back I was reading up on this and some said it could be a wire that rubbed loose on the wire harness. I suppose it could be the same thing for this random shutting off?

andoxviii

iTrader: (1)

Bingo.

Inspect your dash wiring.

jediram

sorry i meant engine wire harness. not the radio harness

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Uh, how did you wire the head unit?

jediram

Hey guys, thanks for the help. I took it to advanced auto and had them run the scan tool. turns out that it was throwing a speed sensor error, and the P0420 code which is a catalytic converter problem in bank 1. I bought a 25 dollar bottle of cataclean and ran that through. My car hasn't shut off since then so i'm guessing that my cat was just clogged really bad and this fixed it. I didn't know that a clogged cat could cause my engine to stall?
Anyways thanks again for the help guys.

andoxviii

iTrader: (1)

I have never seen a clogged cat actually block the exhaust so much that the vehicle stalls...but...I suppose it is possible? That's news to me.

I can't imagine a bottle of cat cleaner could perform miracles though. You should probably consider replacing the cat in the near future.

jediram

update: okay so i thought it was the cat because the cataclean seemed to work for a few weeks. now it's starting to give me issues again. I talked to my mechanic and he thought that the injectors could be clogged, and that the cataclean had other cleaners in it that would have cleaned them a little bit. I'm going to take it in today and see what we can figure out. Oh and as for the head unit wiring, i had done that a while ago when i first got the car and it didn't give me problems for the 3 years i have had the car. I don't think it would be that.

M-benz

Check ur igniter and the coil inside your dizzy !!!

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

No. Stop. None of that makes sense.

You need to inspect your wiring harness. It's a common problem for the engine harness to rub raw under the intake manifold support bracket - start there.