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AR15.COM
2/19/2008 6:05:27 PM EDT
OK, here's the deal.  I'm decently mechanically inclined in other areas, but cars have me kind of baffled.  With that in mind, here are the details:

1991 Honda Accord SE Wagon
158,xxx miles
Driven just as a commuter - 19 mile round trip MWF to class, 4 mile round trip Thursday through Monday to work and back.  Not driven hard at all.

Today I drove a bit out of my way - my girlfriend and I took a hundred mile round trip to check out some campgrounds today.  Before we left, I filled up on some 87octane gas at a Circle K that I always fill up at.  We drove down there, drove around a bit, and came back home.  All in all about an hour and a half to two hours worth of driving.  No hiccups from the car during that entire period.

When we came back, I filled up my tank again at the same gas station.  I did that to compare my gas mileage during my city driving versus my gas mileage on the highway.  Anyways, the girlfriend and I headed back to her house to do some homework.  We got home around 2:30PM.  We stayed there, ate dinner with her parents, and decided we wanted to go rent a movie.  As we headed out we jumped in my car.  It started right away, didn't falter any, didn't make any weird noises or anything.  We headed down her street (she lives at the top of a cul-de-sac), turned, and started heading up another street to get to the main street we needed to hit.  I got about 150 feet up that street when out of nowhere my car just dies.  I'm talking random.  My accelerator just stopped working and then the car completely died.  No warning lights, no random sounds - nothing.

Needless to say, I was pretty furious.  My girlfriend ran back home to grab her car so we could either drive to my house and call a tow truck or drive to the store if we needed to.  I got out of my car and just started poking around under the hood.  Checked my oil for bubbles and saw none.  I checked my oil levels and saw they were a bit low so I decided to go grab a quart of oil.  I put that in my car and the damn thing started right up.  No problems.  I drove home and checked out the car with my dad but we couldn't find anything wrong with it.

So, is there anything else to worry about or was it just the low oil level?
2/19/2008 6:09:43 PM EDT
[#1]
sounds like the engine has an oil level/pressure sensor that will kill fire/fuel to the engine if it senses something amiss, get on with your life.....
2/19/2008 6:29:34 PM EDT
[#2]
Probably the ignition coil in the distributor opening when the engine heats up, Honda had a lot of problems with those.

Thing is, you gotta find out what you're missing when the problem returns - fuel, air, or spark.
2/19/2008 6:35:01 PM EDT
[#3]

Quoted:
Probably the ignition coil in the distributor opening when the engine heats up, Honda had a lot of problems with those.

Thing is, you gotta find out what you're missing when the problem returns - fuel, air, or spark.


How would I go about this?
2/19/2008 6:38:09 PM EDT
[#4]

Quoted:
Probably the ignition coil in the distributor opening when the engine heats up, Honda had a lot of problems with those.

Thing is, you gotta find out what you're missing when the problem returns - fuel, air, or spark.


That or the fuel pump, at 158K miles it certainly a possibility.
2/19/2008 7:01:50 PM EDT
[#5]
It's a Honda , Coil or Ignitor and probably both .

Take off the dist cap and look for grayish brown stains on the black
plastic coil housing ( It's a sign of thermal stress ) If you see any discoloration
replace the coil . 7 out of 10 times you can get away with just a coil , but if you
luck sucks . The vehicle will die again within a few thousand miles and need the
ignitor also ( Ignition Module )

Early 90's Honda's also had main relay problems that cause similar symptoms , but
they typically fail on a really hot day , and don't suppose it's too hot in KS right now
2/19/2008 8:03:32 PM EDT
[#6]

Quoted:
It's a Honda , Coil or Ignitor and probably both .

Take off the dist cap and look for grayish brown stains on the black
plastic coil housing ( It's a sign of thermal stress ) If you see any discoloration
replace the coil . 7 out of 10 times you can get away with just a coil , but if you
luck sucks . The vehicle will die again within a few thousand miles and need the
ignitor also ( Ignition Module )

Early 90's Honda's also had main relay problems that cause similar symptoms , but
they typically fail on a really hot day , and don't suppose it's too hot in KS right now


Yeah, the 17* outside would really kill it, ya know?

I'll look, thanks.