civictom

Electrical?

1991 Civic DX. I've owned it since it was brand new.
187K miles. Very little maintenance needed over all these years.

However, I had a rather interesting issue last night. I had driven it earlier in the day several times. 3/4 tank of gas. Good battery. A/C, radio, lights, etc. turned off. Fuel filter is two year old.

I started it, and it ran for 2 seconds then died. Repeat, X5. It would stay running, with the key held in start with the starter whining away, but die as soon as I released. Then, she finally stayed in idle on her own after releasing the key after numerous attempts.

Two miles down the road, (with 35 to go to get home ) she died again. I coasted into a parking lot. Got her started and made it all the way home. Whew. However, after having it for 20 years, I just felt she was, well, 'weak' on that drive.

Any ideas what this could be? I feel it is fuel related?
Thanks a bunch for reading and for any ideas!

-Tom

civictom

Well. I am taking out the main relay and re-soldering the connections. I've had a few issues with this over the years, where it would not start at all, and that fixed it. Just not sure if the main relay going bad would cause the car to die, once running? I tried the bite test and got no lights at all.

civictom

It was the ignition switch!
I replaced it today and took apart the old one. Dirty connections, even some signs of arcing.

ezone

Sorry, I guess I didn't see this post the other day.

This part right here screams ignition switch.

If you watched the dash, you would see all of the idiot lights flicker and go out as you hit the bad spots in the switch.

civictom

Thanks anyway, Ezone. I did notice all the idiot lights flashing a bit the other night. Come to think of it, it had been going out a while, I just didn't heed the signs. A few times the last few months it had died just once when starting.

Yeah, I was stumped for a few days there. Fuel pump wouldn't make much sense as I was able to get it home.

It wasn't all that hard to change out. I couldn't get a "knubbie" phillips head back around to unscrew the electrical section of the switch, so I had to take the whole assembly off. Not too hard, but I did have to use a hammer and chisel to get off the "tamper-proof" bolts that held it to the column. I replaced these with two hex head 'M8-1.25 X 20mm socket cap screws'..home depot, 75 Cents each. The part was $60 bucks at autozone.

Happy I was able to get it done. Searching various posts on this forum and another gave me some valuable insight!