'98 Civic EX power cuts out then pops bck on

'98 Coupe, manual trans, zipping along, car lurches, tach dial drops to zero, power comes right back on. Lights on dash don’t go out. Happens randomly, no rhyme or reason and no code. Once it a while stalls out, then can be rough re-starting. Checked VIN, no recall for ignition switch. Last time I went to start engine, heard clickety-click, a burp, then started.

If I rev the engine when it happens, that tends to keep it from stalling out. Problem’s getting worse.

Been to two service stations and dealer. They tell me to keep going til it quits, then get towed in and they can run the diagnostics. But what if, the next day, they start it up, it runs okay and won’t blip or quit on them? More driving along til it poops out and then gets towed again and again?

Distributor, TD-80, not the original. Could be igniter or coil? Ignition switch? Main relay? Fuel pump? Bad ground?

Could keep throwing parts at it but that gets expensive.

Been a great car otherwise.

One clue is that it is hard to start after this happens. There are many causes of that, but one is that the fuel pressure has dropped or isn’t holding like it should. A bad fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator, tank check valve, leaky injectors would be suspect. A fuel pressure test at the time it fails would tell you if this is the problem.

Did you ever find out what was going on? I have something basically identical in my 03 Civic…