It happened to me twice. Once I was pulling out of a parking lot (I had just driven the car for 10 minutes to that shop and I was in the shop for 5-10 minutes).

Car cranked fine, just took a little extra second to start back up. Then I was coming to a stop at the traffic light and the engine died again. Took 2-3 cranks to come back to life. The problem was later experienced by another driver the same night. She was driving at about 45 and felt the engine was about to shut down, but it didn't actually happen. The problem disappeared for a few days and then yesterday once again, she was in a parking lot and the engine was warm. It just shut down and took her about half a minute to bring it back to life. She said she noticed the abs light come on. Usually it's off. Lately her car has also been showing "Maintenance required" for couple of seconds after cranking the engine start. It didn't use to.

Battery test showed battery was fine. Tool said "Good battery - recharge and return to service". I think a bad battery or charging would mean that the engine wouldn't be able to crank?

I checked for codes next. Engine check has been on for more than an year and it's because of a P1457 (EVAP leak). It is also showing ABS malfunction. I don't remember if that was there all this time too. Regardless, those are the only two codes.

What tests could I perform to figure out what's wrong with this vehicle? The problem is hard to duplicate so it is sort of impossible to isolate it. Any help will be very very highly appreciated.

I'm thinking about testing the alternator today.

P.S.: Weather has recently been very cold in our area. Could that have anything to do with this?

 

google or youtube have lots of info on common issues

 

that's how I ended up here, but my search terms brought up some other stalling issue on this forum rather than something that would sound similar to what I have (and on the vehicle that I'm concerned with)

 

I don't know if all '99s were affected, but my son's had a bad ignition switch that was part of a recall. It quit on me once at 60 mph though I was able to get it restarted after as I frantically call AAA while being able to get to the shoulder. A new switch fixed it and it has not happened again.

So if you have the original switch you may want to check with a dealer to see if your VIN is part of the recall.

 

I just checked Alldata. You're absolutely right! There is indeed a recall for this vehicle and the reason described is exactly what I'm experiencing! If I don't post here again, it's the ignition switch!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

 

my professor is convinced it's not the ignition switch

Check attachment. I removed no.41 fuse and then checked resistance from there until No.6 fuse in driver's underdash fusebox. Got only 0.5 ohms. The key was in 'II' or 'on' position. Excessive corrosion as described in the recall is unlikely to be the reason behind this vehicle's failure.

I replaced the EVAP solenoid about 24 hours ago and reset the check-engine code (P1457). It hasn't come back on. The car was driven about 0.5 miles and parked. Upon starting 20 minutes later, the vehicle stalled. On 3rd attempt engine held itself and the car was driven 5 miles at night and then 5 miles in the morning. Later same day when the car was started after several hours, it stalled over and over again (almost 10 times). This was the worst failure so far. The failure (engine stalling without warning) seems to happen when the car has been driven for less than a mile.

I'm planning to test the ignition control module next. All successive updates will be posted in this thread.

 

This is sounding like a possible main relay issue. I would hook up a fuel pressure gauge from Harbor Freight and drive around while viewing the gauge in the windshield with the hood laid on it and see if fuel pressure is dropping off when it dies. If not then its possibly either a coil or igniter issue.

 

But I can't get the car to stall when I'm near the workshop with all the tools(not allowed to carry tools away). I will familiarize myself with the test that you have suggested though and try it if the car duplicates the problem near the shop.

It happened once over the weekend while I was at a stop with brake pedal depressed. The only consistency I notice is that the car has been driven for less than a mile whenever it happens. If it doesn't happen in that range then it works fine.

 

And did you convince the professor and yourself the recall does not apply to your VIN?

 

I called two Honda dealers and when they denied that there was a recall on this vehicle, I gave them the recall code. They said that the recall doesn't apply to this specific VIN. I told my professor and he told me to double check with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which I did. They too told me that it doesn't apply to my vehicle. The reason why I thought it did was because it was listed in the TSBs under my vehicle in ALLDATA Student Version.

Secondly, check my previous post. We did resistance test and the ignition switch didn't seem to have any excessive resistance whatsoever (as the recall suggested the reason for stalling).

Anyway, it appears that there is no conclusive test for the Ignition Control Module on ALLDATA. I can not verify if that's the component intermittently screwing up and my Professor strongly discourages buying components without first verifying a compromise of the performance. I also detected a crack in the air passage just past the filter, but opening up that crack with the car running didn't stall it. Besides, it's prior to the IAC (Idle Air Control).

 

Have you checked the main relay? It is actually two relays in one. One relay goes to the fuel pump and the other to the power the ECU. My 1997 is located between the steering column and the center console under the instrument cluster. I am not certain the 1999 is the same as the 1997. The ICU, or ignitor, in the distributor, might be failing intermittently. Have you checked your body grounds for corrosion? I hope these suggestion might help. I am still fighting my 1997 with the same issue.

Best of Luck.

Brían S. Du Bois
Evansville IN

 

Honda Accord EX 1999 finally died yesterday, and I finally got a chance to look at it while it was dead. Until now the problem was intermittent and it was impossible to tell for sure what the issue is. So the primary suspect was always the Ignition Control Module. The condition that was being experienced was Crank-no-start. Using a spark tester on two ignition wires showed there was no spark. Testing the Black/Yellow and White/black wires inside the Distributor for battery voltage with car key in on position and 3 ICM terminals disconnected was the next step. Those wires checked out fine. The next test was to make sure that the wire from the ICM to PCM did not have an open or short (I skipped this part). Then I checked ignition coils for resistance and confirmed with manufacturer specifications. They checked out fine too. The only thing that could have been wrong was the ICM. So I replaced the ICM and the car took 5 cranks on its first start, but ever since has been back to 100% normal. I'm very happy because that intermittent issue had been around for like a month now and it was both embarrassing and frustrating. My professors told me that it would have been better to simply replace the entire distributor, but due to financial restraints I had to resort to replacing only the ICM. It was $60 at the Advance Auto parts and the very same thing on ebay is $15......... I'm 90% sure there is no difference in quality.

Anyway, it was good experience being at this forum hope there are no questions unanswered. I'll be back if I ever get a Honda problem again ^_^

Peace

 

Glad your 1999 Accord is up and running! It is always nice to learn the final outcome. Most do not take time to post their final results back to the list. I hope this is a permanent fix for this issue. Good luck.