'91 CRX HF spontaneous engine shutdown

For the first time ever I had the engine just shut off on me while
warming it up this evening. No sputters, no hesitation, no nothing -
just up and quit as if I had turned it off myself. Battery is
functional as the stereo and headlights were still on. I started it
again and there were no further problems. Anyone have an idea what's
going on? FWIW it has about 112K and the ignitor was replaced back in
'93 or so. No other mechanical problems and it gets all scheduled
maintenance.

 

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Replaced the ignition switch? Just be glad it didn't happen when
passing.

'Curly'

 

How old is the distributor coil?

The igniter is old enough that it should remain a candidate as well.

Are plugs, ignition wires, distributor cap and rotor, air filter, fuel
filter, up to date? If not, may as well replace these so you can eliminate
them as contributing factors. Use OEM for all but the air filter.

Otherwise, I don't think you can do anything meaningful, and without
spending a lot of money, until the problem gets worse.

 

It happened again today, this time while driving. A mechanic suspects
the main relay, but he really can't test for it - it fails or it
doesn't. He also thought the idle was abnormally low and suggested a
throttle body cleaning.

 

I am almost certain that it is not the main relay. I would suspect the
igniter or the ignition switch.

 

The ignition switch was his other hunch, but when I mentioned the
igniter he said it absolutely wasn't related. The shop in question is
Clarke's Discount - anyone in Eugene or Portland Metro have experience
with them?

 

I would not rule out the igniter, ignition switch,
distributor coil, or main relay. These are among the most
common causes of no starts for early 90s Hondas. See
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun for more
information, including checks you can do for each.

After warmup, at about what RPM does your car idle? Read the
RPM gage lines carefully.

Elle
Owner, 91 Honda Civic LX

 

RPM's
Cold Idle: 1,650
Warm Idle: 500

 

500 seems low. I'm not sure what normal warm idle is for your car, but
for my '93 Accord, it is 750-800 RPMs.