I’ve got a 91 CRX that runs great for about 30 min and then the tach needle starts bouncing all over the place (even thought the engine is running just fine). As the needle gets closer to the “red” and the bouncing more erratic the engine just “dies”. If I sit for about 40-60 minutes it will restart and we begin the “process” again. I’ve had it to numerous shops (including two Honda shops) and they can’t figure out whats wrong. I’ve replaced numerous distributor caps, wires, plugs, and a couple distributors… Any ideas???
Any codes? Turn the car to on (but don’t start it) Peel the passenger side carpet back from under the front of the footwell. You’ll see a metal box with a round glass window. Look for a blinking light in the window. Count the blinks. If there’s more than one code, they’ll blink sequentially, so don’t stop at just one round - keep going until the codes repeat themselves. Post them here, if any.
Let me make sure I understand your problem correctly - the tach starts bouncing, but the engine isn’t actually matching the tach readings until the tach gets near the redline, and then the engine dies?
If so, my initial suspect would be the ECU, or something in the tach wiring circuit. What could be happening is that the engine is running fine, but the ECU thinks it’s hitting redline, at which point the rev limiter kicks in - only because the engine isn’t actually at 7200 RPM (the real redline where the limiter kicks in - the 6500 redline on the tach is low) when the rev limiter cuts in, the engine dies.
Did this happen out of the blue?
I would Check ALL of your Batt connections…ESPECIALLY YOUR GROUNDS… Sounds like an dECU issue to me also…but one that is caused by faulty ground. A faulty ground will wreak HAVOC on you and your electronics… Nothing will make sense to you when you have a bad ground …symptoms will be all over the place. Check your grounds…the frame ground off the batt is a big one…and you have several on the engine itself. Take a looksie clean and tighten them … let us know what you get