Hello! I have a 1999 Honda Accord EX 4cyl automatic with 227k miles. I’ll post a more detailed description below, but here’s the tldr: my car stalled after driving about 10 miles and stalls again if I try to turn it off and back on unless I wait 5-10 minutes. This does not happen every time I drive. I am thinking about replacing the distributor, main relay, and ignition switch, but want to make sure I’m not missing anything.
Instead of simply throwing random parts at it, I would suggest that you first get the problem professionally diagnosed. It could cost you less in the long run to begin with a professional diagnosis.
But, if you do want to throw parts at it, the one that is most likely to be the source of the problem is the Crankshaft Position Sensor.
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Posting more info here as I was having issues with long posts earlier:
Long description:
Three weeks ago, my car hesitated while accelerating at a stoplight. The hesitation went away after a few seconds, but it felt like it was lurching forward instead of accelerating smoothly. This happened a second time a few days later for 5 seconds. I called an auto repair shop and they advised against doing a diagnostic until it happened more frequently.
A week ago, my car started lurching while accelerating at a stoplight, but it felt more severe and lasted longer than the previous two times. I decided to pull over and let my car sit for a few minutes before attempting to drive again. At this time, there was no stall, and no lights came on the dashboard.
I let my car sit for about 5 minutes before I could start it without the car vibrating. The car felt like it took longer to turn over than normal. I drove through an intersection and as I pulled into a gas station, my car stalled. The door lights, oil light, and battery light all came on. My radio was on previously and stayed on through the stall. I pulled over and was unable to start my car again. It turned over but did not sound great so I opted to turn it off instead of trying to force it. I let my car sit for 5-10 minutes and was able to start it just fine. I then drove it with no issues.
I took my car to a shop where they tested it and did not find any issues. No problems occurred during their test drive, and they said they also checked the ignition switch, which has been replaced on this car twice.
Today on my way to work, my car stalled in the same place it had previously. This time, I was stopping, and everything shut off. The same lights came on my dashboard (oil, battery, all door lights) and the tachometer showed 0. I put the car in park, turn the key to accessory mode, and tried to restart my car. It turned over roughly and the car started, but when I put it from park to drive, the car stalled again and the same lights came on, and the tachometer again showed 0 RPM. I again pulled over to the side of the road and let my car sit for 10-20 minutes, then it drove fine afterwards.
I’m leaning towards an ignition switch issue, but I’m wondering if I should replace the main relay and distributor as well. Any other suggestions, or how to go about testing this would be greatly appreciated. I’m happy to answer any other questions, as I would really like to fix this car.
Have you googled ‘1999 Accord stalling’? There are several potential causes.
A bad ignition control module can cause what you describe.
https://cartreatments.com/bad-ignition-control-module-symptoms/
Tester
Ignition switch would not be my first guess, I’d think that would cause starting problems, not rough running.
I just posted some more information. I did take it to a shop, they worked on it for 5 hours and couldn’t find anything wrong. I was told not to bring it back until the issue was happening more consistently, which I understand as it’s difficult to diagnose issues that happen intermittently. Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of waiting until it happens more frequently - both times I’ve had to inconvenience family members to pick me up, and I’ve been late to work twice now because of this. I’ve had no issues with this car previously, so I was hoping it would be a quick and easy fix.
I may just need to call another auto shop near me and see if anyone is willing to run a secondary diagnostic, but those are expensive and the first one didn’t find anything, so I’m guessing the same thing will happen no matter where I take it. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them as I feel like most shops near me don’t really work on intermittent issues.
I’d take @Tester ‘s suggestion, they’re not expensive.
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I have, there are enough potential issues I want to make sure I’m not missing anything glaring before I buy a few parts and try replacing things myself. I’ll check a few more posts and make a list of the most common issues, thanks for the suggestion!
I will look into testing this first and possibly replacing it, thank you for the suggestion!
That makes sense. I saw a few other people with similar issues and replacing the ignition switch fixed it, plus the ignition switch has gone out on this car twice before and had similar issues. My dad was the previous owner and he said on left turns the car would stall similar to what’s happening with it now, but mine isn’t always on a left turn. I’ll probably keep it as a backup in case other fixes don’t work, but I’ll start with the ignition control module first. Thanks for the help!
Well, if that fixed it before with the same issues….
Here is a thought, next time it dies and wont restart, see if it is still getting spark or not, maybe spray some brake cleaner in the throttle body to see if it will start then or not, you know, some basic diagnostics… just a thought…
Also, check and make sure the battery terminals and wiring to them are both very tight and corrosion free…
When was the last time you replaced your fuel filter??
BTW, turn your ignition to the run position (do not start it), now look at your dash warning lights and tachometer, your oil light and battery light should be on, and your tach should show 0, same results when the engine stalls, that is a normal event, the tachometer shows the engine RPMS and if the engine is not running, then the engine will show 0 RPMS…
I’m hoping to cause it to stall this weekend, but unfortunately the two times it has stalled I was on my way to work and didn’t have the tools or time to test anything. Trying to diagnose an intermittent issue is frustrating so I appreciate the advice. This is my only car and I need it to get to work, so I’m hoping I can figure out the issue and fix it soon. I did already test the battery and the connections look good, but I will recheck.
I checked my service manual, and the fuel filter is not listed so I don’t think it’s ever been replaced. I tried looking up how to replace it, but most sites had conflicting information on if this part is meant to be replaced or not. I’ll have to do some more research, and I appreciate the suggestion!
And yes, the dashboard looks exactly like how it does when I have the key in position 2 (after the ABS and a few other lights turn off after a few seconds). That may have been redundant information so I apologize!
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Not sure what happened to your account, but I will run with it anyway.. lol
Yeah I misspoke on the fuel filter, was thinking about the Civic still running an external fuel filter on the firewall, the Accord stopped using the external fuel filter in 1997…
Intermittent issues are very hard to confirm a diagnoses sometimes…
Some shops (maybe hard to find one) will have a cheap loaner to let you drive incases like yours, rental car is another option…
I guess I had a second account and logged into that one instead… my bad, lol. I haven’t found any shops near me that offer loaners but I’ll keep looking around. My distributor looks pretty rough, there was an oil leak and I think it may have gotten into some components. Not sure if that could be causing this issue….
It’s all good…
I will say, I have had to replace quite a few Honda distributors over the years, so it is defiantly possible…
Do you usually replace just the seals or the whole distributor? I’m leaning towards the distributor because I’m worried oil may have contaminated the ignitor or other parts internally. To my knowledge the distributor has never been replaced on this car (the distributor cap and rotor have been switched out previously, though).
I changed out the ignition switch because that fixed this problem 13 years ago, along with the engine air filter as that was dirty anyway. No stalls yet, but I’ve only driven it twice since then.
1st off, if you replaced a part and it has not stalled out since, drive it enough that you confirmed the stalling issue has stopped…
Once confirmed, then if you choose to replace the distributor, replace the hole thing, but unless it is failing I’d leave it alone, if you want to pull it and reseal it to stop a leak that is one thing, but replacing it “just cause” doesn’t make much sense, even though I have replaced a lot of Honda distributors doesn’t mean they all are bad…
Let us know if anything changes…
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