I have a stock 1999 Civic EX automatic.

The problem: The car intermittently dies on me when I drive it. I can be idling, driving 20, or even 40mph. The same thing always happens: The RPM''s just start going down at oncewith no reaction to pedal. If I pump the pedal hard a few times, the RPM's will go back up really high, then the car sputters, and dies. Sometimes it starts right back up and sometimes it takes a few minutes of cranking. It normally happens at slow speeds, but has been happening more frequently at higher speeds.

I have:

Cleaned the throttle body,
replaced catalytic convertor (I had P0420 and CEL has not returned),
replaced spark plugs (NKG gapped correctly),
replaced fuel filter,
replaced air filter.

One thing I noticed that may or may not be related is that the temp gauge seems to be lower than normal. Even if it WAS a stuck open thermostat, I don't think it would cause this problem?

No CEL. This problem. I have no idea what to do. Today, after cleaning the throttle body, I let it idle for 20 minutes with no problems, then I dorve it and it died on the next street. After cranking for a little, came back on and went home.

Please help guys! Thanks!

 

do you see the check engine light come on when you switch the key over?

 

Sounds like you may have a distributor on the way out but it's just a guess. If you have a friend you can borrow one off of and test that would be good.

 

Well I will look in to that. I just got a new dizzy like 2 years ago, but replaced the O ring about 3 months ago since it was leaking oil.

Are these bad symptoms of a bad IAVC or something?

 

This happend on my causins 3000GT SL when i was driving, but it had check engine light, then few hours later the motor said good bye. I would check the water and oil on the car atleast. Could also be what HondaPartsHero said.

 

Have the ICM tested by AutoZone.