Once upon a time I had a long thread on here about this same car that I'm driving. It had some electrical issues that with the help of you guys, I finally sorted out. The other day I'm driving home in the car and it cut off on me. It had been running for about 30 minutes or so. It did so in a way that was very similar to running out of gas. I sat there on the side of the road and I tried and tried to crank the car. It turned over fine... I sprayed a little starter fluid in there and nothing. It wasn't firing. I went back to my car about an hour later and it cranked right up. So I drive to the grocery store and I'm in there for like 10 minutes. I come out and go across the street to Blockbuster for about 5 minutes and come out and it cranks up fine, but about 2 miles up the street it dies again. About an hour later I came back and it cranked up fine, so I drove it the 10 blocks or so to my house.
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I have had 2 different people tell me that it is the ignition coil. Since I have had such good results from the community, I was wondering if a few of you could verify that for me.
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Thanks

4/19/2007 4:29:19 PM

i had the same kind of thing happen on my 944 turbo - if i remember correctly, my fuel pressure regulator was failing

4/19/2007 5:51:20 PM

i had the same kind of thing happen on my 240sx - bad alternator

get it checked for free at autozone/advance

4/19/2007 6:09:10 PM

i had the same kind of thing happen to me on my terdsicle and it was the mufflometer, ask TWW theyll tell you




you need to determine if its dying due to lack of fuel or fire. your starter fluid test was a step in the right direction (although not my favorite as of late) but you should test fuel pressure. to test ignition you can get a spark checker at advance auto.

edit

if its not fuel pressure or ignition then youll need to check injector pulse, cant really tell you much more not knowing what car this is we are talking about

[Edited on April 19, 2007 at 6:42 PM. Reason : basics here folks]

4/19/2007 6:40:49 PM

Now the guys at Advance Auto are telling me that it has to be the fuel pump. That there's no such thing as an ignition coil working intermittently, saying that if it's broke it's broke... period.
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I asked why it wouldn't at least ignite the spray that I sprayed in the valve cover and they said that it has to have x amount of pressure in there from the fuel pump to ignite.
Any more thoughts on this?
Oh yeah, it's a 1993 Accord 2.2 liter EX

[Edited on April 19, 2007 at 7:25 PM. Reason : Honda Accord 1993]

4/19/2007 7:24:55 PM

There is a bolt on the top of the fuel rail where you can check fuel pressure. I think if you loosen it and turn the key it should gush gasoline.

Did you ever buy the shop manual for this car? I have one, but I'm not home or else I'd look at the troubleshooting flowchart. Fuel pump gets power from main relay which when it gets hot will fail. It's a brown relay above the fuse box under the dash. You have to move another aluminum box out of the way to get to it. They're about $40 if it's bad. If your fuel pump isn't working check this relay before you invest in a new pump.

[Edited on April 19, 2007 at 8:44 PM. Reason : peace]

4/19/2007 8:39:34 PM

check the main relay first. common honda problem. i go as far as to say that's the problem the majority of the time when syptoms like you describe happen on an older honda.

4/19/2007 9:18:59 PM

second the main relay, no start on the cheater juice kinda rules out the fuel system, and i have seen very few intermittent ignition problems, when that shit dies, it dies

4/19/2007 10:22:44 PM

Third main relay. What kind of car?

I had a similair problem with my 1990 Accord. Would randomly not start, and would then start. The solder points on the main relay don't like heat too much. Bad main relay = fuel pump won't work = no start.

So your car actually shuts off while driving?

4/19/2007 11:49:38 PM

The car does shut off while driving... I don't even notice it at first. Actually, this is funny. When I was like 13 my dad gave me a 72 Ford LTD and I completely ran out of transmission fluid, and the car would run but in drive you get no motion when you give it gas. I thought for a second after I noticed that I was slowing down that my tranny had lost all the fluid... ANYWAY, while dring it starts slowing down and you hear a sputter as if it were out of gas and it eventually cuts off and I have to coast it over. It happens as soon as the car warms up. I could leave it where it's at and come back after a while and it will crank right up as usual and I can drive it, until it warms up and then... sputter... ...

I didn't get the shop manual on the car, but I guess I should invest, I'm actually going online to Amazon right now to order it. Hopefully they'll have it and I can order it with this gift card I won at work.

Since I bought the car I have changed the fuel filter, the spark plugs, the cables, the distributor (cap, button, the whole works)

When I get this shit back working I will pay one of you more mechanically capable folks to give this thing a check up... I can't meet the times of a regular mechanic shop and don't have means of other transportation, so it would be an after 6pm thing. I would like to put it on a machine, but so far none of the auto parts places have the "adaptor plug" that fits my car for some strange reason. Maybe I'm going to the wrong places.

My father has a shop and works on all kinds of things and suggested I drive it home saturday morning... I see myself sitting on the side of the road not far from here with another 35 miles to go... haha. So, fixing it here is the ideal thing.

Anyone know of a 93 civic 5 speed for sale anywhere?

4/20/2007 12:36:49 AM

wtf kind of car is this again?? i might have missed it

4/20/2007 12:43:34 AM

Quote :

"1993 Accord 2.2 liter EX"

4/20/2007 12:56:31 AM

never seen a main relay die in those after the car was already running. but thank god i havent had to work on one of these for several years.

4/20/2007 1:10:10 AM

i've seen a number of them act like that. has to do with the heating/cooling of the circuitry and solder on the board. expands when it heats up and connections are lost. cools down, connection is back.

4/20/2007 1:12:22 AM

i didnt think the main relay would cause the fuel pump to die after the car was already running though. also ive seen them die in cold weather and keep cars from starting.

4/20/2007 1:00:54 PM

this is similar to the problem my roommate's civic has that i posted about--car cut off while driving, except in his case it hasn't worked again. I'm going to finally work on it tomorrow and see if the fuel pump is getting voltage or not.

4/20/2007 2:47:04 PM

Another possibilty is the ignition switch. Those suckers are also known for crapping out.

4/20/2007 10:23:36 PM

^ to add

My symptoms were it would start fine but immediatly cut off with ignition switch. Contacts got so hot the soldier melted right off. Other electrical issue was Inition Control Module.

How's your fuel filter?

Get the real or helms honda manual not the haynes. Ebay is also your friend.

Quote :

"that I sprayed in the valve cover "

I assume you don't think spraying inside the valve cover will ignite anything unless your valves seals are leaking that bad. Where exactly did you spray?

[Edited on April 20, 2007 at 11:05 PM. Reason : ?]

4/20/2007 11:02:18 PM

starter fluid needs to be sprayed in the intake/intake manifold/throttle body, NOT the valve cover.

With all of the Hondas I've worked on, I've never seen a main relay cause the car to shut off. I can't remember where the fuel filter is on the 93s... If it's on the firewall, there will be a pressure relief bolt on the top (if both lines go to the top then it's probably on the left). Loosen it slightly while someone tries to start the car (during the times when it won't start of course). I have had issues with the ICM cutting out randomly also (ignition control module) before they kick it completely.

Oh yeah, this may help: http://hondainfo.freeweb.hu/docs.htm.

4/21/2007 1:55:36 AM