I have a 98 prelude 2.2 v tec I have nearly bought the car with some work needing to be done I'm almost done..the car turns on then off right away, by the third time it stays on I can drive it around but the idle drops out of knowhere and the car dies then again of an on till the third time other then that all is left is for it to pass smog to finaly be able to have it street legal but my check engine light is on and I ran a diagnostic on it an it read the code for the O2 sensor wich i think is because the cat so i was going to buy another.. another reading was p1381 wich is Cylinder position sensor intermittent interruption iv done research an all iv been able to find is basically the distributor from my understanding.. I have an external coil so the distributor is pretty simple to check out so all looks fine the plugs and all i have the firing sequence right an v played with all ends and double checked but still nothing iv cleaned the o2 sensors,idle control valve still nada.. Now I'm stuck please help

 

I would investigate crankshaft pos. sensor, check for loose connection, debri on pickup, and anything else out of wack. If your cps is dropping out it would explain the stalling

 

That's positioned in the distributor right? I was wondering where exactly and if you had images so I now exactly what to look at

 

At the crank...google

 

P1381 is for Cylinder Position (CYP) sensor intermittent interruption. The CYP sensor is part of the distributor housing on your Prelude. Check for dirty/loose/corroded connections. Generally, the CYP sensor isn't available without buying the distributor housing.

In some cases, like on some Accord and Civics, a faulty diode in the alternator has been known to also cause P1381.