My 1993 Accord, auto with 200k miles has started this issue of dying with warning. No sputtering, no hesitation. It's just shuts off. If I pull over to the side of the road it pretty much immediately restarts. Sometimes I can go only a few hundred feet before it happens again and sometimes I can drive for 20 miles with no problem. Any ideas? I don't really know the history of the car. I've had it for 10,000 miles and it's run great. Help! Thanks,

 

Bad electrical portion of the ignition switch is the #1 culprit of the symptoms that your car has. Cheap fix.

 

That sounds good. Especially the cheap fix part. So I just need a new ignition switch? I haven't replaced on of those before. Will this require a new key? Thanks again.

 

No new key, the switch has a hole for the square shaft of the key cylinder. It just screws onto the back of the key cylinder.

 

Well, I replaced the ignition switch and it didn't fix the issue. It's really strange because the car just suddenly shuts off and it seems to have no bearing on how long I've driven the car, if I'm accelerating or braking. When it happens I have to wait a few minutes and it'll restart, although sometimes it'll restart before I even get the car stopped. Nothing is consistent. Any other ideas about what the issue might be? Thanks.

 

what about some cheap routine maintenance items like dist. cap and rotar, or spark plugs?

 

^^ That may be a good idea, but would those items be displaying the symptoms I'm experiencing? When the car is running it seems to run great. When it dies it usually has to site for a while, and when it decides it's going to restart, it starts immediately. No hesitation. I probably ought to do those tune up things, but I want to fix the current problem first.

 

They could be the source of the problem. Those items need to be replaced anyway and can fix a stalling problem.

The distributor cap, rotor, and spark plugs will probably run you around $30. You can test the wires by running the car at night and spraying a mist of water over the wires using an old windex bottle. If you see arching of the spark, replace the spark plug wires too. Use NGK wires or pick some OEMs at the dealership.

Here are some other easy things to check. Check that all ends of both battery cables are clean and secure.

Have you checked for error codes stored in the ECU? Follow the instructions in this link using a thin paper clip to short the service connector. http://www.dhost.info/accordinfo/howto/cel.html Your connector will be brown instead of blue. Make sure it has two wires going to it.

 

Ok, I'll try it. I just wasn't sure if these things would cause the specific issues that I'm experiencing. I'll get the parts and see what happens. Thanks.

 

Could be a Bad Main relay. Loose ground to the #2 terminal of the main fuel relay. 1st Replace the relay and see if it happens again.(it's easy just plug in a replacement)If itstill stallsground the #2terminal directly to ground see if itstill happens.If it still does change your fuel filter/ do a fuel system check. Best of luck.