CaliforniaSnow

1998 Civic LX w/ 250K miles
My tachometer is jumping and then my engine dies. The first time I was driving at freeway speed (going slightly uphill) and the tachometer started to jump about 250-500 rpms then instantly come back to where it was before. This happened two or three times before the engine died. I tried to restart it over and over and at first I couldn't get the engine to turn over. After sitting on the side of the highway for a few minutes I could get the engine to turn over but then it would die within about two seconds. After waiting another 5-10 minutes I was able to start the engine and drive home without a problem.

I went to Firestone and they could not repeat the problem but thought a fuel system cleaning might help so I had that done. It drove fine for 10 days until the drive home from work tonight. Same thing happened again.

I was just coming off the freeway on an ever so gentle uphill slope and it died again. I tried starting it immediately and it turned over for a second but wouldn't stay running. Like the first time it took a few minutes of waiting before I could start it up again and drive home.

On a side note: when I accelerate the e-brake dashboard light comes on for few seconds. I can't imagine that would have anything to do with the engine problems but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.

Amir_Ya_akov

I am having the same thing happen with my 93 civic dx w/ 208K miles. Except tonight was the first time the engine actually died. My e-brake light is Always on though, and my tach jumps to about 4-5k rpm when I shift from second, to third; And third to fourth, But then quickly jumps back down to what it was previously at.

CaliforniaSnow

Amir - I took my car in and they replaced the distributor. Inside the distributor is the Ignition Control Module (ICM) which was going bad. It completely died originally and they put in a rebuilt part and it was starting to fail. When they tested the ICM it was showing some distortion on their testing equipment. I guess its supposed to have a clear, crisp sine wave type signal when tested and mine was not going exactly that. The mechanic could not replicate the problem so he just replaced the distributor (which was under warranty) and my car has been running for the past 2 weeks without a problem.

The odd thing was that the first time they replaced the distributor was in October and it ran great until January. So, who knows how this will last.

Anyway, I'm assuming you've figure out your problem by now but I thought I'd respond anyway just in case you hadn't and for anybody in the future who will Google this problem.

Amir_Ya_akov

Yeah, when I re-wired my tail lights, my tach stopped the jumping, but now the car idles between 400 rpm and 1k. I was thinking that my ICM might need some cleaning, or just flat out replaced. But Thank you for your reply, it confirms what I was thinking