My daughter called me today and told me that her '96 Honda Accord is sometimes dying while driving but it usually seems to happen when turning corners. I haven't seen the car but she called me because I've been working on cars for fifty years (and still do). But I'm not sure what would cause this problem.

Does anyone know what might be causing her car to die while driving? From what she's telling me, it doesn't happen every time she drives somewhere sometimes it will die two or three times while driving 20 or so miles to work, for example. Then she's able to start it right up again. This could be dangerous, especially if her children who are just getting their driver's licenses should drive it. The power steering goes out, of course. Her Check Engine light is not on but I could see if any codes are stored with my Code Reader but, if the light isn't on, there probably are no stored codes.

Any suggestions for what could cause this would be greatly appreciated.

 

You will need to diagnose the problem, because you could spend a lot of money and time throwing parts at the car.

Take the car to an empty parking lot and try to get it to stall. When it stalls, does the check engine light turn on for about two seconds to do the bulb check? This would be the same behavior on the cluster if you turned the key to the II position, but did not try to start the engine.

Start with the simple stuff first. Start the engine and have her shake the key. Does this cause the engine to stall?

 

Yes, I know I will have to diagnose the problem. I've been diagnosing car problems for over 50 years and still do. And, no, the CE light is not going on, as I said in my original question. That's the first thing I asked my daughter. I'm trying to see if anyone else has had this problem with an Accord and, if so, what they found. The problem is that my daughter doesn't live near me so I was trying to give her things to check that might cause the problem other than the obvious things I already told her to check - battery cable connections, possible loose or damaged wire in the steering column, etc. If it isn't something simple, I'll take my code reader to her or, better yet, have her come to my shop where all my tools are to see if any codes are stored but she said the CE light never goes on - even momentarily - when the car dies so I doubt if any codes are stored.

I had a similar but slightly different with a Plymouth Grand Voyager I once owned but, when it died, the car had to sit for about five minutes and then it would start again. Then it would die after a few miles and keep repeating like that. I quickly diagnosed that the crankcase position sensor was bad. I replaced it and that fixed the problem But my daughter's car starts up immediately after dying. However, a bad CPS sensor is a possibility although that would probably have stored a code on her ODBII system. If I had ready access to the car, I'm sure I would have found the problem already. Diagnosing problems is not expensive for me because I have always done that myself. I do all my own work and have never had to take any car I've ever owned to someone else to fix with the exception of recalls. Not once believe it or not.

So....Ii posted a questino here to see if I could find someone who had similar problems with their Accord in case there might be a known issue like this with Accords. However, it's probably a generic problem that is not specific to Accords but I thought I would check here anyway before I take a ride to check out my daughter's car myself or have her drive to me.

 

I've seen posts on here where the car stalls on a turn and don't remember something specific to cause the problem. I typically post to diagnose first on most threads, so someone will not read this thread and just swap out the same part you find and not solve the problem. I wasn't trying to be insulting.

Most parts stores will read codes for free. The 96 OBDII connector is behind the ashtray. If the parts store gives her a code, that could help narrow down the problem without you having to take a trip up there.

The CEL question was directed more towards worn contacts electrical portion of the ignition switch. If her key chain swings while turning, then the contacts in the ignition switch could stop touching momentarily and cut power to the fuel pump and the distributor causing the stall. Losing power from the ignition switch in this manner might cause the gauge cluster to go through the bulb check. The bulb check might happen before she realizes the car stalled out. An open parking lot would allow her to look at the cluster immediately just to verify. If shaking the key causes the stall, then you pretty much narrowed down the problem to the ignition switch.

Does this problem happen when she is low on fuel?

I'd probably connect a fuel pressure gauge and route it to the front windshield. See if the pressure drops before the stall. You could also wire a test light to the blk/yel wire going to the distributor and route the light to the windshield as well. I'd probably do the same for the fuel pump at the access panel in the trunk. If the light goes out when the stall occurs, then you have somewhere to start.

I'm interested in how this turns out, so please keep us posted.

 

My 97 will store codes without tripping the CEL so I would start by checking to see if it's pulling any codes.

My next question would be what is the fuel level when it stalls, is it always at the bottom of the tank? outside of wires getting pulled enough to disconnect somewhere or grounding out thats the only thing that comes to mind here, that all the fuel is running away from the pickup when turning.