So i'm driving down the road today, I glance down at my gauges and notice this: RPM = 0, Speed = 0, Engine Temp = Bottom of the scale.

The light up part where it says what gear it's in doesn't show up (I drive an auto.), yet the car is in gear. The key is in the right position, yet the radio is still running. I pull over to the side of the road, put it in park, pull up on the parking brake, down on the foot brake, and then restart. Starts up just fine, everything is as it should be.

WTF happened to my car?? I don't drive a manual, so I obviously didn't stall. Anyone know anything about this?

 

You stalled.

 

In an automatic? Plus, wouldn't the "check engine" light come on?

 

Automatics will still coast. What year Accord? Maybe the power was cut off completely (main relay) or something.


[Modified by Stew Pidasso, 5:08 PM 12/12/2002]

 

It's a 1997

 

Ignition switch. I believe there is a recall for that.

 

This a long shot, but was actually what a friend of mine was doing with is accord. He had a long keychain that went all the way to the mats, he would occasionally catch his foot on it without realizing it and it would turn the car off, but the radio would still be on. After he took it to a mechanic twice and he couldnt find anything wrong he caught himself when he did it and got rid of the long key chain.

So...

Do you have a long keychain?

When I worked for a Honda dealer we actually had a couple people come in with a problem like this and the service representative would always ask if they had a long key chain. Its a wierd fairly common occurence. But alot of people, especially young people have long keychains.

 

No, I actually have a rather small keychain collection. Only three standard size keychains. I thought my bottle-opener keychain got caught on my jacket or something, but alas, it was not the case because the key was in the correct position.

 

why is it that young ppl have long keychains?? i is tru tho, cuz i have one are u talkin about lanyards when u say long keychains?

 

the ignition problem causes your car to randomly turn off in addition to not turning on in the first place, get the recall done ASAP.

 

That's one long keychain.

 

i dunno, im what you can say a n00b...but my family used to own an old *** caddy that would stall while driving, at stop lights, stop signs, and what not. it wasn't the ignition that was bad, or even a long key chain that turned the key..but we had a bad altenator that wasn't suppporting enough electricity... hence the car stalled all the time... i dunno...could this be the problem?

 

if you have a '98 or '99 accord its probably the ignition switch. i recieved a letter saying that they recalled them. i took mine to a local dealer and they wouldn't do it because i had a sony cd player and upgraded speakers in my doors wired in. they said they would unhook it all but not plug it all back in because they were scared of it shorting out. i called the main honda office and made a big deal about it but nothing was done. good luck

 

Some 97 models are covered.

 

Yep, ignition switch recall. Happened to me several years ago. Only took 45 minutes to replace.