Car stalled repeatedly, now everything is magically fine...worried
Car stalled repeatedly, now everything is magically fine...worried
Hey Civic gurus,
2004 EX 5 speed. 230K on the clock.
Car has really not given me much grief. Maintenance is pretty up to date. Driving home yesterday about 40 mins and I get to a stop sign where I’m obviously slowing down and the car stalls.
Weird. Try to fire the car up again, and it’s struggling bit time to stay on. It’ll crank, but stall out in a second. I crank it while hitting the gas, keep the RPMs up and park at my house. Try to turn the car on again and same story- just stalls immediately.
My car eats a little oil, which sometimes triggers a CEL if it starts to get a little low (weird I know). After I top it off fully, the CEL goes away within a day. So I check the oil. Dipstick looks OK - some oil toward the bottom mark. Top it off anyway and go to sleep.
This morning, she fires up BUT STAYS ON by herself, but rough as hell! Sounds like I’m driving a diesel car. I keep the RPMs up and drive to work (5 mins away, all highway). Park at work, start the car up again, still feeling a little rough. CEL is on.
Get off work, fire the car up...not sounding perfect, but better, idling a little rough at 1500 RPM. Drive to my parents house to switch cars 40 mins away just in case. By the time I get to their house, everything is great. I turn the car off, turn it back on, no CEL, idling at 900 RPM like it’s supposed to.
WTF? What could have caused my car to stall a dozen times last night, but now totally fine? This feels scary and dangerous. I don’t want it to randomly stall out while I’m driving. I thought it could be dirty IAC, bad spark plugs, etc but now it feels fine. I don’t even know what to troubleshoot.
help?
2004 EX 5 speed. 230K on the clock.
Car has really not given me much grief. Maintenance is pretty up to date. Driving home yesterday about 40 mins and I get to a stop sign where I’m obviously slowing down and the car stalls.
Weird. Try to fire the car up again, and it’s struggling bit time to stay on. It’ll crank, but stall out in a second. I crank it while hitting the gas, keep the RPMs up and park at my house. Try to turn the car on again and same story- just stalls immediately.
My car eats a little oil, which sometimes triggers a CEL if it starts to get a little low (weird I know). After I top it off fully, the CEL goes away within a day. So I check the oil. Dipstick looks OK - some oil toward the bottom mark. Top it off anyway and go to sleep.
This morning, she fires up BUT STAYS ON by herself, but rough as hell! Sounds like I’m driving a diesel car. I keep the RPMs up and drive to work (5 mins away, all highway). Park at work, start the car up again, still feeling a little rough. CEL is on.
Get off work, fire the car up...not sounding perfect, but better, idling a little rough at 1500 RPM. Drive to my parents house to switch cars 40 mins away just in case. By the time I get to their house, everything is great. I turn the car off, turn it back on, no CEL, idling at 900 RPM like it’s supposed to.
WTF? What could have caused my car to stall a dozen times last night, but now totally fine? This feels scary and dangerous. I don’t want it to randomly stall out while I’m driving. I thought it could be dirty IAC, bad spark plugs, etc but now it feels fine. I don’t even know what to troubleshoot.
help?
Re: Car stalled repeatedly, now everything is magically fine...worried
I would check all your electrical connections first including the alternator mounting bolts. Loose electrical can cause weird stuff to happen.
Do you know what the code is when the CEL pops up?
Do you know what the code is when the CEL pops up?
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Re: Car stalled repeatedly, now everything is magically fine...worried
Fuel pump may be getting weak. May be time for inline fuel filter replacement (if it has one)? 6th gen fuel filters are mounted on the firewall but I'm not sure about 7th gens...the filter may be on fuel pump?
Last edited by Wankenstein; Dec 7, 2019 at 10:08 PM.
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