99 Accord Turns off
 

:mad:.....My accord seems to turn off when I use it during the afternoon when the sun is causing trees to catch on fire. I can drive the car for a while but maybe 20 mintues of driving the car dies. It doesnt do this at night or in morning when its not as hot. I could be waiting for a light or driving on the highway. The car will just die and i have to wait a minute or two and turn the car back on. I can only dirve the car for a short while before it dies again on me. Could this be the MFR or the Fuel pressure regulator? The other thing i did notice now when driving is that it hesitates when pressing the gas or when changing gears. Like it wants to turn off on me. I hope someone can give me some advice. Thank you.

Next time it happens, find out what the dash panel does. Does all of the lights go off or do they stay on with a CEL?

If it's the MFR, you'll have to wait until it happens again and then do the test below. It's important that you do it when it happens again because the problem may be intermittent and this may only be evident when it happens again.

What you do is you turn the key to OFF, then turn it to ON (but not START, don't crank the engine). When you turn it to ON you should:

1. Hear a click.
2. The dash panel lights will come on, including Check Engine Light.
3. While the lights are on you should hear the fuel pump working where the gas cap would be, somewhere behind you. It sounds like a faint whirr, you need to have the doors closed, radio off, AC off to actually hear this. It lasts about 2-3 seconds.
4. Once 2-3 seconds are up the CEL will go off only, a click will happen under the dashboard and the fuel pump will stop it's whirring, all at the same time.

If the clicks are missing or you don't hear the fuel pump priming, you may have an MFR problem. If those are fine I think the MFR is fine. Especially since you're doing this test as it stalls out on you.

Can you make it happen by wiggling the key? Flaky ignition switches are not very rare.

Jim I tried the wiggling of the key and the car stayed on. Messaround I have not tried what you suggested since it did not do it but as soon as it does we shall see.
What i have noticed it is hiccuping a lot more now. When I turn it on it sounds like it wants to turn off. When i try to push the pedal a bit more it hiccups. Could this be related also to my original problem?

It could be. Does the check engine light turn on while driving? I would stop by a parts store and have them scan for codes just to be thorough. They start with the letter P and have four numbers, like p1234.

Some 98-02 accords had an ignition switch recall. You can call your Honda Dealership and ask if your car is part of the recall and if the ignition switch was replaced.

As messaround posted, get in the habit of listening for the fuel pump to turn on for 2 seconds. Then you will know what sound you need to hear when the car eventually stalls out.

Also, are your maintenance items up to date like the distributor cap, distributor rotor, spark plugs, etc....

Pahonda I will take it to autozone and get that looked at. The check engine light is on and autozone a while back told me it was teh oxygen sensor. When i do turn on the car the maintenace light blinks like 5 or 6 times. I will check the dealership also about the ignistion switch. thanks

This was my problem. On hot days the car would just shut off no matter what speed I was driving. I would wait 5 to 10 minutes and the car would start and I would be on my way again.

good Luck.