1999 Honda Accord 4 cyl, 200k miles. Service history is…very lengthy. I think it’s best to spare all that except to say (1) the car has mostly been sitting for a year and (2) I just replaced the ignition switch, and the engine has run better since the change, but now this.
Car runs; I drove it for ~5 miles the other day. The cutting out you see in the video happened regularly, but the engine never fully died. You’ll notice that the briefly RPMs drop to 0, and there’s some slight changes with the dashboard lights.
Looks like a Christmas tree on your dash. SRS, Door open, Is that the Check Engine light on the tach?? And what’s that to the left of the CEL that flashes when the car cuts out and the Drive indicator flashes? Does it still have 1 year old gas in the tank?
The list of things it could be is far longer than I want to type. Is the CEL on? What codes have been stored? Post back with that and anything else you’ve checked trying to find this problem 'cause there is not enough info to even start to diagnose this over the internet.
Well, the doors were open, so we can eliminate that. It does have some old gas, but 90% of the gas in there is new.
That is the CEL flashing. I’ll need to twist my friend’s arm to get my code reader back to see what it’s saying. And the SRS light, well, that’s been on for quite some time.
I noticed the D4 light blinking. If I remember right the number of blinks can actually tell a transmission problem. You may want to look into this and see if the blinking is a pattern
I’d agree first thing would be to see what codes are stored in the computer to begin to troubleshoot this issue. My first thought, though, being ignition replaced, was something pulled loose when ignition was replaced? Maybe not near ignition, but further in?
My other experience (heavy diesel, though), is when random codes start kicking/dash starts doing weird things, is a wiring harness is loose/losing connection. When you replaced the ignition, did you pull the dash out? I think codes first, double check parts played with when work was done, and then start to get a better feeling from it from knowledge gained from that info would be best.
So I don’t have my code reader back yet, but a couple things to note:
The car will run fine in P, N, or D, as long as I’m not applying gas. And while running thus, there is no CEL light, and no blinking D4 light.
When the engine cuts out, the CEL D4 flash exactly once. Not sure if this is a warning code or just an evidence of something electrical shifting on and off.
The ignition switch, I had a look around, but changing out switches is a pretty straightforward procedure. One wire harness comes out, another goes in. Can’t find anything loose.
Sorry, I meant it idles fine. It has no problems in idle in any P, N, D, or R, and it will move in D or R with no issues as long as I don’t press the gas pedal. And I don’t know if this is relevant but a light touch on the pedal seems to produce fewer problems than a heavier touch.
It does have some old gas, but 90% of the gas in there is new.