Engine light comes on and at same time engine dies. Dealership cannot get the car to stall long enough for the engine to cycle.There needs to be a certain of amount of time for the equipment to have time to run a diagnostic. The valve head cover was replaced because they thought that was the problem because there was oil on the spark plugs. The Main relay was replaced thinking that was the problem. They have checked battery, fuel system , alternator, regulator but it all checks out. They checked the ignition switch by putting key in run position and wiggling it up and down to see if it stalls the engine it does not. They have no idea until it stalls long enough for the tests to be able to run. Any suggestions? We need help!!! Thanks. If you need the whole story to help let me know, I will type it.
On Honda, there are three primary suspects when the car intermittently stalls: the ignition switch; the PGM-FI (Main) Relay; the distributor.
Go with a re-manufactured distributor (warrantied) for about $175. Forget about the dealer putting in a re-manufactured distributor. They won’t. An independent mechanic/shop will. Ask.
Dealership says they have checked the ignition. They put key in, in the run position and wiggle it to try to get the car to stall it will not. Therefore they think it is not the ignition switch. Does that make sense. The main relay was replaced two weeks ago. She went to pick up the car it died 5 minutes down the road. She waited 5 minutes cranked it up and drove it back. The very first thing that happened was she had been driving about 20 minutes when the engine light came on. Car had an electrical smell seeming to come from behind the steering wheel. The car kept working fine and she got home. Had a friend to check it out. He smelled the faint smell. However he was no mechanic. She then came home and had the 150,000 mile check up done. At that time the mechanic who did the tune up said it was the valve head cover because there was oil on the spark plugs. The smell was probably a fused spark. It worked fine for 2 weeks. Then all the above things started to happen. Can a distributor be checked to see if it is bad?
“…smelled an electrical odor behind the dash…”. Under the dash is where the PGM-FI (Main) Relay is. I think it is cooked. If you can find a mechanic, have s/him to check that out.
Of course, when something is intermittently inoperative, it will check fine when it’s not being inoperative. Duh! to your dealer. “It works fine when it’s not broke!”