Engine Failing Randomly on '90 Civic
 

I’m having an unusual problem on my 1990 Civic DL. It has 125,000
miles on it, is well-maintained, and starts easily and runs smooth.
However, on occasion the engine, without any sputtering or jerkiness,
simply stops. No warning; in fact, quite often the only way I know
its happened during the first few moments is because the engine light
goes on. There is no pattern or rhythm to this problem yet, and it
has happened during both highway and in-town driving. Usually what
I’ll do is to press in the clutch, turn off the ignition, turn the
ignition back on, release the clutch, and the engine comes right back
to life. If I’m going too slow to do that I’ll usually pull over to
the side of the road, turn the ignition off, wait maybe a minute, and
the engine will start right back up again. A week in the dealer’s
shop (they seem as puzzled as I am) brought a new distributor cap and
coil to replace visibly corroded ones, but that didn’t solve this
problem. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Wester

ggwsw@yahoo.com

Re: Engine Failing Randomly on '90 Civic
 

"W.Wuori" wrote:
>
> I’m having an unusual problem on my 1990 Civic DL. It has 125,000
> miles on it, is well-maintained, and starts easily and runs smooth.
> However, on occasion the engine, without any sputtering or jerkiness,
> simply stops. No warning; in fact, quite often the only way I know
> its happened during the first few moments is because the engine light
> goes on. There is no pattern or rhythm to this problem yet, and it
> has happened during both highway and in-town driving. Usually what
> I’ll do is to press in the clutch, turn off the ignition, turn the
> ignition back on, release the clutch, and the engine comes right back
> to life. If I’m going too slow to do that I’ll usually pull over to
> the side of the road, turn the ignition off, wait maybe a minute, and
> the engine will start right back up again. A week in the dealer’s
> shop (they seem as puzzled as I am) brought a new distributor cap and
> coil to replace visibly corroded ones, but that didn’t solve this
> problem. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Wester
>
> ggwsw@yahoo.com

======================

It's not at all unusual for your car. Replace the ignition switch. Honda
recalled about a billion of them, but your year wasn't included :-(

'Curly'

Re: Engine Failing Randomly on '90 Civic
 

"'Curly Q. Links'" <motsco__@interbaun.com> wrote in
news:43337F2A.BB5970F9@interbaun.com:

> "W.Wuori" wrote:
>>
>> I’m having an unusual problem on my 1990 Civic DL. It has 125,000
>> miles on it, is well-maintained, and starts easily and runs smooth.
>> However, on occasion the engine, without any sputtering or jerkiness,
>> simply stops. No warning; in fact, quite often the only way I know
>> its happened during the first few moments is because the engine light
>> goes on. There is no pattern or rhythm to this problem yet, and it
>> has happened during both highway and in-town driving. Usually what
>> I’ll do is to press in the clutch, turn off the ignition, turn the
>> ignition back on, release the clutch, and the engine comes right back
>> to life. If I’m going too slow to do that I’ll usually pull over to
>> the side of the road, turn the ignition off, wait maybe a minute, and
>> the engine will start right back up again. A week in the dealer’s
>> shop (they seem as puzzled as I am) brought a new distributor cap and
>> coil to replace visibly corroded ones, but that didn’t solve this
>> problem. Any suggestions?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Wester
>>
>> ggwsw@yahoo.com
>
> ======================
>
> It's not at all unusual for your car. Replace the ignition switch.



My first thought, too. However, this is also a sign of a failing igniter...


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