qijian

iTrader: (6)

Sorry for the long paragraph that's about to come...

This happened last night with my 01 ex auto. I started the car earlier that morning and drove it without any problems. Later on that night, I tried to start it but every time I start the car it'll stall. It'll crank for 2 times, fire up but then just stops. Check engine light stayed on and so did the oil light.(Not sure if it turns off after awhile). Another problem I had was with the key releasing after I park. Sometimes I would need to play with the shifter when I'm already in Park in order to pull the key out. I wanted to try other ways to see if the car would start and keep running. So I applied pressure to the gas pedal while starting the car and it turned on (with a quick spike in RPMs of course) but it'll run as long as I apply pressure to the gas pedal. If i take it off, after a second or two it'll stall again.

Sparknotes:
1) Car fires up perfectly fine but stalls after it starts.
2) Dash light stays on (only battery and oil)
3) Key is hard to take out (at times) without playing with shifter.

Researched some solutions that I may think applies:
1) Change ignition switch and/or key cylinder
2) Main Relay is bad
3) Fuel Pump
4) Immobilizer (cant be this though since car starts)
5) Try another key (tried it already)

There's a few more solutions I read about but the ones I stated seems to be occurring the most.

If anyone has experience, please shed some light. Thanks for reading!

maxtierney

iTrader: (5)

This may be an obvious one, but how's your oil level?

qijian

iTrader: (6)

i double checked it once i saw the light. Added a lil more just in case. Sits level on the dipstick.

But even then, i don't think it'll keep turning my car off and stalling every single time

MindBomber

Checked all your grounds?

I need to think, I've seen someone with this problem before and they posted the solution, just need to remember exactly what that was..

qijian

iTrader: (6)

grounds should be fine because I haven't touched any of them, and it worked earlier that day so it couldn't have come loose. I've checked my battery terminals and its clean.

I have power in my battery because it cranks and starts, starter should be fine since it started, I hear the fuel pump priming when I turn the key to II, and my car runs If i keep the gas pedal depressed....

im stumped....

qijian

iTrader: (6)

I can stay its exactly like this:

[autostream]http://autostream.com/ibcivicforums/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1113& transactionid=1322604774-13823149102&posted_by=qijian_www.civicforums.com&y outube_video_id=jPO7ebQEQho[/autostream]

i'll post a personal vid of mine tonight

and i think his solution was a main relay..

MindBomber

IAC valve?

qijian

iTrader: (6)

i believe that may be part of my problems. I haven't cleaned it since I owned this car, or anything in that manner with carb cleaner. I was planning to clean the IAC, PCV, VTEC solenoid, EGR while I'm at it.

also.... come to think of it.. I have been hearing loud air suction noises when I accelerate hard on the fwy... maybe I do have a vacuum leak...

how do you check for vacuum leaks? and which one are vacuum lines....? Or should I just inspect anything rubber in my engine bay?

Another thing is.... after I turn my car off... I can hear a slow air release/ or suction sound... I haven't heard this before but I think It may have caused my prob... its different than the typical CAI or SRI sound after you turn off the car...

MindBomber

The simple diy method of checking for vacuum leaks is spraying car cleaner directly at the possibly points where there's a leak, if you hit on a leak when you spray the carb cleaner it will be sucked into the engine and cause it to rev up a bit.

I've used a smoke pen with great success, just moving it around the engine bay and watching to see if the smoke disappears into any connections, but I have one for work so the carb cleaner method is probably the best option you have.

qijian

iTrader: (6)

Only problem for me is that I have to press on the gas pedal to keep my car from stalling. Car wouldn't even idle if i'm off the gas. If I do the carb spray style, do you think I can achieve the same results even though I'm on the other end pressing the pedal consistently?

maxtierney

iTrader: (5)

Typically, a bad/dirty IAC valve will cause your idle to fluctuate, not kill it.

Some FYI on the Main Relay:

It's a dual relay. The first relay powers up the computer and supplies power for the second relay. Once the computer is powered up, it will ground the second relay, which supplies power to the fuel pump. There are three conditions that will cause the computer to activate the fuel-pump half of the main relay:

* When the key is turned on, the computer will run the fuel pump for two seconds.
* When the starter is engaged.
* When there is a tach signal to the computer.

From my experience, main relay issues are intermittent and/or heat related.

qijian

iTrader: (6)

For sure, thanks for the info. I'm assuming my main relay still works because my fuel pump still primes when I turn the key to II. Also my car still cranks and fires up so I'm assuming it gets gas. I just don't understand it stalling after firing up.

BTW i saw my CEL flash 5 times when I was in II (before I started the engine). I read somewhere about 5 blinks = TPS ??? hmm..

lazlong

5 flashes is the startup self diagnostic- perfectly normal.

You need to check:

1. spark plugs
2. air filter
3. fuel pressure
4. vacuum leaks

With that said, take it down to Autozone and have them scan it for codes (it's free). Post back with any specific codes.

qijian

iTrader: (6)

For sure I'll double check all those asap.

In the meantime, here's a vid of my car at startup:


http://youtu.be/eIe-occnlYI

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

I see that your CEL is not on when the car is running however you may be able to still check stored codes.

I would say check for vaccum leaks is your best bet. Since your car turns off so fast I would say its a nice size leak and easy to find.

Have some one get in the car and start it while holding the gas to keep it running.

Then get under the hood with the car running and see if you can listen for it. If not start spraying carb cleaner around the area like throttle body gasket and intake manifold, all vaccum hoses. If the idle changes then stop you have found your problem.

qijian

iTrader: (6)

Yea i will definitely do this. The car does shut off with a weird "air sucking" sound so I hope its a leak and not bigger problems.

Thanks for all the replies so far guys!

qijian

iTrader: (6)

FOUND MY SOLUTION!!!

I had some help from a fellow Socal 7thgen member and he told me to start the car and hold the revs at 3k until the car warmed up. It took about 5 mins for the temperature needle to jump to normal. Car stalled after I let go. THEN when i cranked the car again afterwards, the engine turned over like a boss and it idled at 700 rpm. This procedure was to help your ECU "relearn" idle according to the Haynes manual after you disconnect your battery.... and it did it for me.

Now my car idles better than ever (actually sits at 700rpm instead of my old 1000 rpm). Once I have time ima still clean out all the stuff like IACV, EGR, PCV blah blah and do a complete tune up. Things get scary sometimes and I'm happy I have the forums for help. Stealership would've charged me unnecessarily to change some random **** so Thanks everyone that helped me out!!


THANKYOU ELCENTROBABY!!!

MindBomber

Awesome!

Good to hear it was such a simple fix

Nosepicker

Good stuff. Props to ELCENTROBABY! I take it s/he is the forum member who helped you out.

lazlong

You're kidding me!? I've never heard of the idle re-learn fixing that bad of an idle. Crazy. Just goes to show- simple things first. Glad to hear you got it going.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

I was thinking the exact same thing. I am still suspecting an underlying cause besides an idle relearn. Maybe an intermitant electrical problem?

qijian

iTrader: (6)

Hopefully my thread here will help someone down the line too because I spent tons of time reading other peoples threads

yupp thanks!!

yupp i'm glad i relied on forums before mechanics

possibly, i did wash my car that day so maybeeee something possibly got interrupted somehowww and it caused the madness. In the end, hopefully this is a permanent fix to my problems

hawkijustin

So lets back this bad boy up.... I took my TB off and cleaned my IACV yesterday and it seemed fine after that. Woke up to go to work last night and it was doing the exact same thing yours was doing in the video. I had to hold down the gas so it wouldnt die but once it warmed up some it went away and was great.

Im going to try this trick but first I need to get a new TB gasket and see if that helps... Silly me put the old one back on If that doesnt help my cold start problem Im going to reset the ecu and try this Idle relearn trick.

BTW mine is a 99 LX 5speed if that matters?

mililani

Man, I hate to bump a super old thread, but today my 2001 Honda Civic LX did EXACTLY this. The battery is quite old on it (over 5 years), and it has been giving me some problems in the past year. But, it still recently tested good but was told it should probably be replaced. Anyways, I was in the parking lot and started the car. The car started up then quickly died out. I started it again, and every time it would just immediately die out unless I gave it gas. With gas, the car was able to maintain throttle. I was like WTF? I thought maybe the battery, but that didn't make sense since the car started fine. And, it was able to maintain throttle fine without stuttering. But, since the battery has been giving me problem in the past year, I figured I would just keep it revved above 2k rpms to charge up the battery. I kept the car throttled for about 3 minutes, then let go of the throttle to see if the car would idle. It just promptly died. ****! So, I busted out the ODB2 scanner and plugged it in. I started the app, and I had to turn on the ignition to get the ODB2 to get diagnostics. I decided to start the car and reproduce the error condition, but lo and behold, the car started idling fine. Wow, that was bizarre. I carefully drove my car home worrying about it dying in the middle of the road. Got it home, went to Walmart, and got a new battery. I changed out the battery and now the car idles better. Back to around 1k rpm idle.

Anyways, I'm kind of wondering now. How often do people change their batteries on their cars? It seems right around 4 years, I start having problems with my battery. I often change around 5 years. Also, my car is nearing 20 years old. Should I look at replacing the alternator?

nsrhonda89

The most I get from a new Honda battery is 3.5 years. Once the Immobilizer Indicator start flashing that is a warning to change my battery.

paulc93

I have the same problem but when I apply acceleration it still stalls and I'm unable to fix any suggestions from anyone please

hdinh

Under dash check the "METER 7.5A fuse" located at bottom right , second last one hope that help

paulc93

all the fuses are perfectly fine I'm close to giving up and scrapping the car