I'm posting this for a friend... his Prelude has suffered from this problem for over a year and he's really getting annoyed that the dealers attempts to fix it haven't worked (or lasted).. if you guys know any fixes let me know.... basically the RPMs are jumpy and the car shuts off sometimes...

heres a copy/paste of his email:

Yet again the mysterious RPM fluctuating problem with my 98 SH has come back.
First it was due to the catalytic converter. Next it was the ATTS unit. Then
the ignitor. No such luck in fixing the problem.

Its been driving perfectly
since I had the ignitor changed, but then the other day the RPM's started to
fluctuate again. I let off the gas and the tach just drops to 0 but the
engine is still running. I hit the gas again and it jumps back up like
normal. I continue to cruise around and the car just seems like its losing
power, stuttering and jerking.

Finally it stalls in the middle of the
intersection as im trying to make a left turn. ABS light and brake light come
on along with the oil and battery lights. I try to start her up again and no
luck, seems like it starts up but immediately dies again. After trying 6-7
times it finally starts up and im on my way.

I took it to the dealer today
and we went on a test drive but to no avail, the car wouldnt reproduce the
problem again so the shop foreman said that they would just check all the
conncections from the prior work that was done. Apparently they just cant go
looking for a problem with a car unless it can be duplicated.

Honestly im
sick and tired of this problem and if it doesnt get fixed soon im just gonna
ditch the POS and never buy another Honda again. Does anyone have any advice
on what I can do about this? Is there some corporate bigwig i can write a
letter to and somehow make them alleviate this problem in one way or another?
Anyone have an idea as to what the problem might be? its got 78k milkes on
it, totally bone stock other then viper alarm and stereo system

 

If the same part fails 3 times they have to lemon out the car, or at least that is my understanding. I'd look into this.

 

could be somethign with your alarm.... there's a problem where if your ignition is hooked up wrong (if you have an ignition kill) your car will just run like crap and occasionally just die out randomly.......this has actually happened on my car before.... (didn't have the fluctuating rpms but it stalled out a few times randomly, was really slow to rev and also was really unsmooth in acceleration). when you go back to idle does it drop too low and then come back up?


[Modified by preludeboy, 4:05 PM 7/30/2002]

 

laughin: its not the same part... the dealer tried to fix things here and there (cat, ignitor, wires, plugs, etc.. I think.. but not the same part 3 times... either the car doesn't reproduce the problem when the dealer takes it for a drive and the dealer does nothing.. OR they try to replace things and it still doesn't work right..

Preludeboy: i don't know if it does it at idle.. I'd have to ask him.. but its not a constant up/down thing like if it was an Intake air control valve/fast idle valve problem.. where it keeps going up and down up and down up and down between like 700-2K or whatever if thats what ur asking.. its not my car so I'd have to ask him to decribe it more in detail...

 

yeah i didn't have that rpm fluctuation..... so its like a car with crazy high lift cams huh? I'm not sure.... could it possibly be TPS? Actually if it was he would probably know right away =P

 

thanks for those of you that replied..

any1 else? Lolz the integra forum moves much quicker/has more activity.. if any1 else knows about this or can help.. please post thanks in advance...