Dying 1998 honda accord- why?

1998 honda accord LX running well 160k. At 170k make turn & car stalls. Recurrant off & on stalling since. No vacuum leak but idle air control valve only open part way & so replace idle air control valve & spark plugs. Same prob. persists & code lite on. Clean intake from EGR valve. Code lite off. Timing may retard to -10 degrees when dies and be 0-2 when runs O.K. Mechanic drives car and runs “horrible” but no code shows. Come to stop and engine “dies”. Mechanic has no solution. What to do? Junk or fix? Driven by 21 y.o. college std. from 160k to 170k mi. All maintenance done until she took car.

This is a 1998 Honda the miles are not so high. It has a minor driveability problem and you would consider junking it? Unless the rest of the car is trashed junk the mechanic not the car.

I suggest you find an independent mechanic who specializes in Honda.

The timing issues you mention might indicate a problem with the distributor, but that’s just a wild guess.