Carleatshands

I have a '98 Honda CR-V that has 160K miles on it. I bought it pre-owned 3 years ago and haven't had any problems with it. It used to run great, did routine fluid changes and filter changes every year, rotated tires. Recently, it started to randomly die during my commutes to work. By die I mean the gas peddle would stop working, oil and battery lights would come on and after a few minutes of rolling, the power steering would quit. The best way I can describe what it feels like it's doing is it feels like the ignition is slipping to AC. The first time it happened. I was able to turn it off and back on with no problem. Now it won't turn over till it has sit for a while. It took a couple of days between it dying the first time till it died the second time. We replaced the battery ground cable after the second time it died. It died again and we pulled it into the garage to really look at it since it appeared to be getting worst. Replaced fuel filter, spark plugs, distributor cap, and the coolant gauge. After all that, I drove it around the block and it died a few seconds after it hit optimal temp. Pushed it into the drive way, let it sit, turned it back on after some trouble with it starting at first, kept it in park, then it died again. Again like the ignition switched from On to AC though the key was in On position. It's putting out Code 0 when we run for codes signalling ECU troubles, but what I've read on ECU troubles is that the car wouldn't even be able to start if it was the ECU. I remembered the carfax when I bought the car and noticed a recall on the wiring harness and found there was also a recall on the ignition switch as well though it wasn't stated that it was replaced in the carfax. It still runs smoothly and no odd sounds come from the engine it will just randomly die. We plan to take it to the dealership to see if it is the ECU, but since they are closed on Sundays, figured I would give the forum a try before hand. What could be happening?

amerc

Could be an ignitor problem, which is an electric circuit to produce voltage pulses to the coil and spark plugs. The ignitor is inside the distributor close to the coil. Another sign for this fault is difficult starting.

Good luck
AMC