1997 Honda Accord engine stall issue
 

Hello Honda folks, our 1997 Honda Accord EX VTEC 2.2L 5-speed having these symptoms:

engine chokes with hestinant (and once every 5-6 times engine would stall) upon exceleration below 45 mph; do not notice as much above that speed.

i did the following as a process of elimination:
- used HEET gas treatment for 3 tank cycles. Result:it improves the choke each cycle but did not eliminate the engine stall issue once i stopped using it.
- used Lucas gas treament for 2 tank cycles. Result:it improves acceleration each cycle but did not eliminate the chokes & engine stall.
- Then, went to Autozone and they provided a P0401 code, so I cleaned the EGR chamber using the link below and it it worked as the chokes with hestinant is 90% improved for 1 month, until...

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2674082

...yesterday, during a the 4th of the 5th mile trip from home to work in the morning, the engine just stalled while attempt to accelerate from a red light and I eventually had to towed it home dues to time constraint. While waiting for the wrecker truck, a Samaritan mechanic did a quick troubleshoot,
and he notice there was no spark charges from the wires upon cranking, we had ruled out the alternator as the battery and alternation belt are still good.
We also notice the engine oil had completed drained based on oil dip sticking it! I last changed the oil 3 months ago. So we added 2 quarts of oil and it did not start. We did not notice any visual oil leaks from under car or the distributor area. No heavy heat was felt from the engine as I did from a couple of nights ago as weather temperature around us was about 60 degree.

One thing that I notice several days before now I thought about the oil thing, as I parked and walked away from it one evening about 2-3 days before the ordeal, I felt heat from the side of the car that is hotter than usual and regrettable did not follow-up by digging in more.

Here are some more pics under the hood:
http://www.box.net/shared/8361r6jval

Question: some good folks suggest these in no particular order, what should I tries next in terms of probability and most cost-effectiveness?

oil screen replaced - reason: bits of carbon build up from the EGR ports in the manifold fell down into the runners during the EGR chamber cleansing process.
PVC valve & oil pressure switch replaced - reason: choked and no gas to start and address the disappearance of oil issue, respectively.
distributor cap/wire/spark plugs and distributor ousing o-ring replaced - reason: chokes issue removed dues to no sparklings charges and addresses the disappearance of oil issue, respectively.

More replacement options includes:
EGR Valve & O2 sensor

What your thoughts, folks?

First confirm that Check Engine and Alt light come on when keyswitch is turned to On. This will confirm that keyswitch contacts are providing ignition power. If they don't come on, the keyswitch assembly should be replaced.

If you have access to a timing light, check for spark on all plug wires by installing pickup on each wire and turning engine over. No flash from timing light means no spark is occuring.

If no spark is confirmed, there are several possibilities; distributor cap, rotor, coil, ignitor. Replace the distributor cap and rotor since they are low cost items.

The site techautorepairs.com has diagnostics to determine if coil or ignitor is fault. They tend to be rather tedious, and some prefer to start replacing parts. If you go this way, start w/ coil then ignitor, but it's a crapshoot.

good luck

Thanks, the Check Engine and Alt lights are on per test. I plans to replace the parts you mentioned with this package while we are at it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT