Hello I recently bought my first Honda I have been a carb'd ford guy thus far so some of the computer problems are new to me.

Here goes.

My 94 has 213,000 on it and it will just kill randomly.It has the 2.2 non VTEC engine. I haven't been able to figure out what causes it to happen. I have had it kill in a parking lot, slowing to stop, driving with the cruise control on at 75, cruise control on again at 60. The car is usually warmed up when it happens. It doesn't seem to happen all the time. Today I drove 30 miles and it killed on me 3 times however it didn't kill once on the way back. I bought the car within the last two weeks so I really don't know the history or how long it's been doing this but it didn't happen when I test drove it, surprise.

When it dies it will be running normally the check engine light will flash quick and it will shut off. no running rough or anything just on off. If I pull it over take the key out of the ignition for about 15 seconds and then it will start great.

I don't know if it's of any use but my temp gauge has been cutting in and out lately. also the gasket that seals between the valvecover and the head around the sparkplugs is leaking. It's been idling around 1100 rpm which seems high but i'm new to hondas.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. I look forward to lurking in the forum.

Thanks,

Grant

 

bump

 

check the connection of you battery.the same thing used to happen to me because one of the cables was loose on the terminal.I would start there.

 

sounds like an ignition problem since it cuts out like that. check the battery connection. if that doesn't help, remove the ignition module and get it tested, when mine went out the car just killed too. if its not that, give the whole ignition system a good shake down (buy a car manual too).

 

So I finally had some time and daylight to have a look at it, and I found that the ground bolt on the drivers side of the valve cover was loose so I snugged it up a bit. Do you guys think that would be enough to cause the issue I was describing? Time will tell I'm sure just looking for opinions.

Thanks Guys,

Grant

 

When the car shuts down do you have oil/batt lights on?
The description sounds like an ignition switch is going south.
Might be worth the effort to pull off the lower steering column shroud, look at the solder connections on the switch and see if one or more has a 'frosty' appearance to it.

Just be very careful if your SRS unit has the flat ribbon cable connector.

 

I don't recall having those lights specifically on but they could've been. I know the CEL stays on untill I start the car again. If or more likely when it happens again I will look for it and let you know. Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

I haven't driven it since the last post i made but from looking around at what others are saying about the ignition switch I think you're correct. I'm going to change that as soon as I get a chance to.

"While driving the vehicle, the engine just quits. There is no stuttering, stalling, or engine misfires, it quietly just quits. The radio, heater fan, brake lights still work but not the signal lights."

sound familiar?

Thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction, I'll post when I get it changed. The car isn't driven much now that I'm up at school. So it might be a bit.

Thanks again,

Grant

 

I had the same problem with mine and turned out to be the ignighter in the distributer replaced it and I have not had any problems.

 

So I'm hearing a few different things here about what it could be within the ignition system. Do you guys know how I'd go about testing any of these things short of the guess and check and method?

 

Yesterday I replaced my thermostat as I figured out that it wasn't my gauge going goofy but my temperature was actually staying at C. I drove it about 70 miles afterward with no problems do you think that the temperature could have put enough extra stress on the ignition system to cause that sort of problem? To answer the earlier question it died on me on my way back from getting the thermostat and the battery and oil light were in fact on. I'll let you guys know if it keeps up.

Thanks for your help

Grant

 

So after changing my thermostat my car went 100 miles without dieing on me and then just died twice on the way home both tmes on the highway going about 70 with the cruise on. Do you know how I'd go about testing individual pieces of the ignition system short of replacing it bit by bit?

 

this is the same problem i'm having with my race car. i heard the ignition switch thing. i bypassed it, and that wasn't it. i replaced the distributor, including new ignitor. that wasn't it. i have now replaced the coil, and i need to try again to see if that's it.

 

This thread has basically gone away now, but I thought I better actually conclude it. I replaced the Ignition control module (actually I replaced the distributor which for some reason was cheaper and more importantly faster than replacing just the module). I've driven about 500+ miles now without problem. So I'm now confident enough to return my core on the distribuor. I hope this helps the next guy.

 

ignition control module. what is that? first i've heard of it.

 

My 97 Accord had the same issue. There was a recall for the ignition switch. It would die on the highway, around town, at stop lights, pretty much anywhere. It was completely random. Sometimes I could just put the clutch in, coast and try to restart it and it would start again, but other times I'd have to pull to the side of the road and try for several minutes.

http://automallusa.net/1997/ho....html

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lightningd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ignition control module. what is that? first i've heard of it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Here is a simple answer I looked up.

"The electronic control for the ignition system. The module receives a signal from a magnetic pickup or Hall effect sensor in the distributor. The module uses this signal to open and close the ground circuit to the ignition coil to fire the spark plugs."

It's a computer chip inside of the distributor with 4 leads on it.

-Grant

 

ah, i believe that is what we call the ignitor. there is a hitachi brand and another brand. the other brand is supposed to be the one not as good from what i'm told by some honda mechanics.