My 1990 Acura Integra 5spd has been getn progressively worse. It started by cutn off from time to time and strating right back up. then it went to cutn of and needing 5mins to a hour or so to restart. Now it will cut off while driving and restart as long as im going fast enuff but will stop and wont start if im coming to a stop. About two months ago i had been driving for about 20mins and it started to choke up. I was coming to a light so i pulled to the side of the road and it cut off and would not restart. It made this weird noise around the tenth time i tried to start it so i left it alone and had it towed home. It sat for about two weeks and i tried to start it one day and it started and drove without incident for a few weeks and then it was back to cutn off again. A mechanic suggested changing the fuel filter and making sure the fuel pump was working and i had the fuel filter changed and assured the pump was working and it ran for a few days with alot more power and no hesitation on take off which it previously had at times. I thought that took care of the problem until it happened again.

It sat for about a week or so and would not start several days in a row. I had a mechanic come check it and it started right up and ran like a champ for him. My biggest problem is that when i have a mechanic check the car it never cuts off or not start. One that has done most jobs on my car seems to think its the computer going bad another one thinks its the censor that in the distributor thats going or gone bad. Since when the car is in front of them it never acts up im taking this as there best guest. Everyone i talk to or take it to says it has to act up in front of them so they can see and hear what it does. But since ive paid to have it towed to two shops and when they get it it starts and drives like a champ i dont know what else to do. I would appriciate any advice that anyone can give me. Do you think replacing the computer or distibutor is the way to go or is it something else?????????????

 

I think it sounds like main relay. Do you hear all three clicks when turning the key to start of the car?

 

Yes i hear all clicks when it starts

 

The ignition coil could be going bad, maybe go get that checked out. If you think its the ecu, try another good know working one, to either eliminate or confirm its the ecu.

 

my 99 civic four door is going through the same exact problems and i am getting ready to ditch the car... i was thinking about replacing the distributor but im not sure if thats it... any advice?

 

had this problem in my ek but unfortunately the motor crapped out on me before i got the chance to fix it good luck
reverieman1290 - dont dump the car just for that it cant be anything that major

 

Sounds like a main relay. Mine did the exact same thing. Very common symptoms.

 

well im not very good when it comes to electrical parts of the car... so how do i go about fixing this?

 

Main relay!! Happen to me 4 times Guaranteed.

 

it turned out to be the distributor. I put a new one in and she been running like a champ. Havent had that problem again and its been two months. She has more power and no hesitation.

 

so now i have the choice of it being the main relay or the distributor, awesome....

 

swapped over my relay from my one civic to the one havin problems and the car continued to randomnly turn off... so its not the relay.... i cant see it being the fuel pump since this is random.... cant be the distributor cus i checked the spark and it has a great spark.... when i go to turn the key the the second click (right before cranking) the dash is supposed to light up and the fuel pump relay kick in, well none of this happens... bad ignition switch? sensors going bad somewhere? bad distributor cap roter? bad grounds to engine? i have no idea anymore guys....

 

ok, I had this happen to my cuzzins car, we replaced the dizzy, relay, and filter. Kept dieing still. So I took out the battery and saw that it had a lot of acid build up, cleaned the battery connector, and installed new battery terminal connectors and wires and that fixed the whole problem.
If that doesn't fix your problem, then I'm thinkin its the dizzy, inside the dizzy is your ignition module and coil, you'll get spark to it when you test it, but when your car warms up and the ignition module or coil (whichever is faulty) heats up, it causes your car to die. Its one of those 2 in your dizzy. Is your car dieing when it gets warmed up, it sounds like it, since it starts fine and dies later. Check your rotor and cap while at it, its cheap to replace too, so you might as well. Its the ignition module and coil thats costs alot.

Also, make sure your grounds are there and good. Like the one that connects to your valve cover, had that problem with a friends car, it was the ground that was bad.

 

yeah, im going to replace all of the grounds this friday if i get the chance and ill take a look at the battery then too (where should i look again?).... i definately need a new router for the dizzy but i cant get it off cus whoever the ******* was at the garage that replaced it the other time stripped the screw to get the roter out so idk what to do there....

 

For the battery, clean the battery connections so it has good connection, check your battery wires, clean those too, check the ground on the battery connector too.

For your rotor, I had a stripped screw once too, I took a pair of big pliers and just broke the circular plastic piece of the rotor so I can get to the screw. got a dremel and made new grooves on the screw and unscrewed the sucker out. You'll need to find a new screw that its the same size, if you don't have one, go to a hardware store. They should have some.

 

yeah, but i mean this screw is pretty ****ed up....