I have 98 a honda CRV that keeps dying without cause. I was driving it today and turned on the blinkers and it simply timed out. Just died. This has been going on for months. I took it to my mechanic and they ran it for a couple of hours and found nothing. We seem to have eliminated fuses, the coil, it has a recent tune up. It appears to be a short, perhaps in the ignition or steering column? Any ideas out there? Thanks in advance.
Does it start right back up?
Does it turn over?
Any codes?
If it turns over after dieing you need to find out if it is gas related or spark.
The best way is to get a spark checker, you unplug plug wire and plug checker onto plug and other end goes on plug wire. When you turn motor you can see it spark every time plug fires.
If you see spark you know it is fuel related.
Yes it starts right back up every time. the locks have bugged out on one occasion and the blinkers caused it to fizzle just today that’s why i don’t think its fuel related. I will look into the plug checker though. sounds like an idea and i am getting desperate to have a dependable vehicle. this vehicle doesn’t sputter out it just drops out what really seems like electrically. thanks
My first suspect would be a problem in the ignition switch. The trouble isn’t due to a short to ground at least since that would blow a fuse. An intermittent open connection somewhere in the ignition switch circuit would do it though.
I’ve kinda had this hunch for a little while. This really makes sense and I think it will be my next strategy. I’m surprised my mechanic hasn’t suggested this but it has been pretty baffling. Thanks again.
Did the blinkers stop? If they did, that would be further indication that the ignition switch had a momentary connection lapse.
Other prime suspects are the PGM-FI (“main”) Relay, and the distributor. Each component has momentary failure indications.
We have covered sudden stalls, on Honda, often in this forum. I’m surprised your mechanic hasn’t read this forum, and read those posts.
You can go to those previous posts by clicking on Search, at the top of the page. In Keyword, put “Honda stalls”.
The ignition switch is a very real possibility as Hondas are definitely not immune to switch problems.
A number of Hondas of this era are under Recall for ignition switch failures and apparently your vehicle is no exception.
This repair should be free of charge, parts and labor, to you at the Honda dealer if the vehicle VIN falls into the range of vehicles affected.