Engine stops while braking

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hi, my Honda Accord’s engine stopped occasionally when I braked the car, most times at local but one time on highway. Could it be the alternator, battery or the sparkle plug? Thanks so much.

William

2

Doesn’t strike me as something electrical. What kind of transmission does this car have, manual or auto? If it’s auto, the transmission might not be downshifting quickly enough and slowing the engine to a stop. Had a couple of cars do this sometimes in their lazy later years…

3

On Hondas, it often is a problem within the distributor. How well tuned is the engine? Does it idle rough?

4

It’s an automatic. When it happened on the highway, it was almost an emergency. After the engine stopped, I tried to restart the car, but maybe because it’s at “D” gear, I couldn’t start the car. I managed to drive the car to the side and parked it then I was able to restart the car. My technician did notice that my battery is a little low a couple of months ago, but this problem has been around for a while. Thanks a lot.
William

5

My car idles fine. What kind of tunning should I do? Should I change the distributor? Thanks a lot.

6

I’d love to install a sparkle plug on my car. Does it sparkle brightly with the hood up? It’s got to look better than neon!

But seriously, try a few things to help narrow down the problem. With the engine idling, press hard on the brake pedal. Does the engine begin to stumble, like it wants to shut off? Now, drive out to a large empty parking lot or empty road with no kids and no traffic. With the trans in first gear, run it up to get the engine to around 3500 rpm, and try braking, hard and soft. Does the engine begin to stumble doing this? When it begins to stumble, can you rev it back to life while still braking with your left foot?

What I’m trying to narrow down is a problem with the brake booster (large vacuum leak), ignition (drop in spark), or possible lock-up torque converter problem.

also, FWIW, if the engine dies while on the freeway at speed, you could shift to neutral and try to restart without stopping. I had to do this a couple of times with a friends car that was a real bucket. He was flat out amazed that you could restart the engine without stopping first.

7

A few of things come to mind.

  • A vacuum problem
  • A motor mount problem
  • A grounding or battery cable problem