Hey guys, here is the deal. I Will try to include as many details as possible.

The vehicle in question: 1998 Honda Accord LX MT. has 130k miles and runs normal, no ruff idle, no hard start no engine power loss, no check engine or engine maint lights on. The car seems to be in working order.

Here is the situation that I have been experiencing.
* Have only noticed it after it has warmed up a bit. (it is ruffly 5 degrees here in Chicago)

I will be driving and shifting with no problems, but when i down shift or just release the gas pedal to maintain speeds with surrounding traffic the instrument cluster and radio all go out. The tac drops to zero, speedo drops a little, check engine and maintence light come on and radio shuts off. It does this all for just a split second then goes right back to normal. I have tried to narrow down an exact speed or scenario when this happens, but I cant. It has happened in 4th gear down to 2nd gear. Havent noticed it in 1st gear, but then again, i dont spend much time in 1st gear.

The car hasnt had any issues that required more than an oil change lately. I keep up with general maintenece.

This can happen once when I drive on a short trip, or it can happen 8+ times on a short trip. It is never the same.

Any thoughts guys????

 

Possibly a faulty ignition switch (electrical part). Try wiggling the switch a little when the car is at idle to see if it is flaky.

Ignition switch is a recall item, but I had to pay for mine because the recall had already been performed.

 

Thanks Brages, i will look into it...Sorry i hadnt replied earlier. I have been out of town and away from the car.

 

No dice. When in idle I jiggled the ignition and nothing happened. I am going to have to dive deeper into this...For some reason I am thinking it might be a faulty ground or something.

 

The early 6th Gen Accord has had some recuring issues with Alternators (abet v6 models) which lent to intermittant power losses, dead batteries and the like. The problem with complaints like yours is first catching it happening and testing for something that isn't present.
If it is cabling or such, I would suspect a major ground connection; purhaps one affected by engine movement.
If it was on the power side of things, you'd start popping fuses.

P