Just bought car and it acting up a little. It has 121000 and is in excellent condition. Got it from an older lady with extensive services records on it. I have searched the accord boards and google for an hour with no luck to exactly I should do.
Driving along the rpms begin to bounce around then the car dies. It once bounced around and didn't die. After it died was very hard to get started. After about five minutes it would start and drive fine for awhile then do it again. Please help me out, if I suck at searching please lead me in the right direction! Thanks in advance!

 

Are the maintenance items up to date like spark plugs, dist. cap and rotor, air filter?

Did your check engine light turn on when the rpm started bouncing? You should use a piece of wire or a thin paperclip to short the blue two pin connector behind the passenger's side kick panel.

For instructions, see: techauto.awardspace.com/dtc.html

 

all maint. done within the last 10k, didn't notice the check engine light, but its not on now.
The whole dist. itself was replaced not too long ago. thanks
will pull codes tomorrow and report back!

 

When this happens (while driving?) does it feel like it's actually stumbling or misfiring? Or maybe it's just a flaky tachometer signal?

How about a flaky ignition switch? Can you make it happen by wiggling the key?

 

Car stumbles a few seconds then dies, did it twice yesterday.
Just tried to pull the codes and none are coming up.
I followed the directions, the check engine light came on while the paper clip was in the connector but never blinked nor anything else. Tried it both ways such as clip in then turn to on and vice versa. Did I miss something?

Will try wiggling the key to see if I can make it do it. thanks
wiggling didn't work.
test drove it for about five mins and drove fine until I parked it and sat there for a few then stumbled and died.
Fuel pump?

 

No that's exactly what the CEL is supposed to do when there's NO error codes stored in it's memory. Shoot, it would've been good if there was something stored.

Pull the vacuum hose off of the fuel-pressure-regulator. There should NOT be any fuel in there. That's a simple test - the proper test would be to measure fuel pressure with a gauge.

 

Will give it a shot, gonna spend the afternoon trying to figure it out. I got a haynes manual and gonna check the fuel pump first and then the ignitor. Any other ideas or shortcuts etc? thanks again!

 

If you have an O'Reillys near you, they can test the ignitor.

 

I tried everything but had to take it to a reputable local shop. The distributor itself was replaced about a month ago. It seems it has crapped out already. Had to order another one, should get car back beginning next week. will report back and let everyone know if thats it for sure! thanks everyone!