Help: 91 Civic Si, stalled...

This morning I was cruising to Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner. Had been
driving for two hours and the engine cuts out. Will crank, but not start.
I tried intermittently for 30 minutes waiting for a ride, no luck.

Several hours later, I go back to where we left the car. At first nothing,
but on the third try it fired right up, and had no problems driving 20 miles
into town.

I'm leaning toward the ignition as the culprit. When it first cut out, the
tach died immediately, before I pushed in the clutch.

A similar event happened a few weeks ago. It stalled and wouldn't start for
five minutes. That time I thought I had just let out the clutch wrong and
perhaps flooded it, but in retrospect I think it was probably the same
problem as today.

I should mention that the previous owner had the distributor replaced (at
the dealer) only 4000 miles ago. I have the dealer service records on it.
Would a distributor replacement typically include a new coil and igniter?

Is it likely that either of those could cause these symptoms?

What about the main relay? Or is that only the culprit on fuel pump
problems?


Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jason

 

Hi,
Moisture on ignition circuit?
Tony

 

if your fuel pump was cut off, it would crank but not start

 

----------------------------
Jason,

It sounds like the previous owner missed the signs (or his repairer
did), but it's to your advantage! Just replace the Main Relay, and
you'll be good for a long, long time.

http://techauto.tripod.com/mainrelay.htm

There are several other pages that describe your symptoms perfectly...

'Curly'

---------------------

 

Curly, thanks for your help. A question: Is it common for the main relay
to cause the engine to suddenly quit? Most of what I've read refers to it
mostly causing starting problems.

Also, the temperature was about 25 degrees, and even after several hours it
didn't start right away.

I picked up a main relay for it (either way it won't hurt to have a
back-up), but I also grabbed an igniter for if the relay doesn't solve it.

Jason

p.s. Tony: there was no moisture on the ignition circuit...

 

---------------------------------

Jason,

Read the description carefully. It's when the relay hits its 'critical
temp.' not the outside weather or engine temp. Since the relay is under
the dash, you could (possibly) have no trouble all winter if you chose
not to use your heater (not practical).

It's an expansion / contraction issue. The solder joint may work great
when it's hot, (under the dash) or cold, but not in between. Some only
give trouble when parked in the hot sun after being driven for twenty
minutes.

Here's another good web page for you to look at:

http://members.rogers.com/john-ings/MainRelay.HTM

Some people say you can just turn on the key, thump the dash, and hear
the relay start.

I'll bet some experienced Honda thieves even know that trick...

'Curly'

 

Curly,

The relay was definitely it. Thanks to your help, I was able to fix it
quickly while driving it home today.

Jason