Right after I filled the gas tank, the car will start for a few seconds and shortly die afterwards. Could it possibly be the purge control solenoid? Right now I'm completely lost...
View 3 RepliesNoticed my beater Honda del Sol (177k miles) idling slowly the other day. Normal 45F day, light urban driving. Usually idle is ~800rpm (indicated), was dropping to 600rpm and even 500rpm. Holding her at 1000rpm then releasing the gas pedal yielded ~300rpm and it almost died, followed by ~500rpm. Ran fine at any other speed; it had no hesitation, no noises, and no warning lights.
So my GF said, "you're probably low on oil; my Cooper S did that once". Huh? Why would low oil, other than if it were so low that it starved the engine and caused friction, impact the idle? If anything, I'd think it would idle faster with less fluid to pump, and/or with hotter and hence thinner oil (assuming it'll run hotter if it has less oil, which it didn't appear to be).
Sure enough, I checked and it was about a quart low. I've never had a car that uses oil, plus my cars usually have oil pressure & oil level indicators (i.e. Porsche 944S2). So I've never run those lower than near the bottom of the "normal" range.
Searching "The Google" only provided unsatisfactory answers about metal-to-metal grinding and galling slowing down the engine, which is not what is happening here. There is still oil pressure, the oil light does not come on, and the engine sounds "normal". And adding oil immediately cured the slow idle.
I am at my wits' end with my 98 Honda Civic LX. The problem starts around late summer of last year. It is sporadic, so I didn't quite pay attention until one day the engine died on the highway after I picked up the kids at the school. It didn't make any sound nor giving any warnings, just suddenly died. After that highway episode, it seems like it just taken its own fancy schedule as far as when to die, so to say. In a given day, it could 4 episodes in a day. Then it runs perfectly for some weeks then it starts again and went away again.
It just quietly dies while being driven. I had to turn it completely off, wait for some moment and try to turn it on again. Sometimes it just turns on again without me being frustrated and there were moments when I had to do several attempts. Once I heard clicking sound before the engine died, only once, the rest makes no sound at all. No lights are on.
2004 civic ex with over 300,000 miles
For last 5 months or so, I have to keep full tank of gas. If the tank is half, the car starts stalling, and the first sign of it is when I am taking a sharp right turn on highway exit. It's like the engine dies for a second or two and comes back when the right turn is over. If I keep driving and the tanks get lower, it will happen even without the right turn. I just fill up the tank and the problem is fixed.
Check engine light is on sometimes (but not always) with these codes P0171B and P0497, but I am not sure it's related.
There is sometime also a short delay in starting the car, irrelevant if the tank is full, (a second or two of extra cranking) but that might be a different issue too.
This has been a great car, until it developed this weird thing. It will occasionally stall while being driven. no warning, the motor just dies. It is a manual trans. and sometimes will restart if I downshift. I have become adept at slamming on the hazard lights and pulling over.
View 5 RepliesMy 1989 Honda Civic engine randomly dies usually while driving. When it dies I hear a relay click sound coming from the area of the glove box. The tachometer and speedometer go immidiately to 0. The dashboard indicator lights all go out. The turn signals windshield wipers and electric windows all quit working, but the emergency flashers, radio, and comfort system blower continue to work. I think the transmission goes immediately into neutral too because deceleration is much slower than it would be if the engine were running and I take my foot off the accelerator. So far I have always been able to restart the engine and continue driving, though it often takes many tries before it will successfully restart and keep running.
In an unsuccessful restart the engine will fire and start to rev up but die again as soon as I release the key from the Start position. Occasionally the engine will spontaneously restart while we are coasting to a stop. We took it on a long trip this summer and it would almost always work fine until we stopped for gas, food or restroom break. After the break it would die one to three times in the first 5 miles and then would work fine until the next break. My mechanic says the computer is not storing any failure codes and he is having a hard time troubleshooting it because the problem only randomly occurs. I'm wondering if the problem might be a flaky electrical connector somewhere.
My 95 Honda accord with 2.2 v tech suddenly started to SOMETIMES for periods of minuets to many hours, or days, start perfectly and die in 1/2 second. Later it will work fine for a while.
Car ran perfectly until one day it would not start.Turn key on, here fuel pump prime, CEL goes out after a second, then I turn over car and it starts...check engine light goes out... then comes back on a half to a 1/4 second later and car at same time light comes on, stops firing and dies. Dash lights stay on. Restart attempt will NOT give any start at all!..UNTIL you turn key off a second, then try again and it does start and die just as above. Key must be turned to off to get another restart and die. Sequential repeated attempts bring the same result. Walk away, for 15 minuets, or sometimes for hours, or days, and it starts and is fine again, and will restart multiple times in a row,... until you walk away again and come back...at which time it may again do the start and die pattern again. If it is in a start mood, you can drive it hours and it keeps running fine... if you turn it off... it is luck of the draw if it does the no start thing or will start for you and go.
- Main relay clicks in each time, fuel pump primes each time key turned off and back on.
- Keeping key in start does NOT cause motor to continue to fire or check engine light to stay off. Engine still dies in 1/2 second even as starter continues to crank.
- Check engine light is giving a code 15 for electrical issue when check is done.
- Took out main relay and re-soldered the connections on it.... it seems fine.
- Does not seem to be key contacts related to me, wiggle key, mess with key, etc. all you want has no effect. Holding key in start does not keep it running.
- It is almost like the computer kills the car after 1/2 second as it turns on check engine light.
I have seen other threads about this, but no clear answer, often people stop posting before telling what finally fixed it. One example is here:
car starts and dies immediately, then only cranks.
I have a 99 Honda Civic. A few months ago, while driving in my neighborhood at about 25 mph, the car just stalled out and died. Within a minute, it started up again and was fine. My mechanic has checked it out a few times and found nothing. It's been totally fine and just did it again today. I leave tomorrow for a trip and am a little concerned about taking it on the road.
View 4 Replies1992 Honda Civic Starts fine but kills as soon as you release the key. Hold the key in the position with the starter motor running and it keeps running. In the old days we would replace the resistor on the firewall. Today?
View 3 RepliesIn the Car Talk column on 1/3/2016, it sounds like Lynnette's 1991 Honda Civic wagon was experiencing very similar symptoms to my wife's 2001 Honda Odyssey (189,000 mi) a few months ago. Rough idle, engine almost dies sometimes at stops, groans during acceleration. Additionally, accelerating between 40-60 mph our Honda would feel like it was "loading up," running rich or in the wrong gear climbing hills. I replaced the idle air control valve, which fixed the rough idle but not the other symptoms. Turned out I needed to reset (power cycle) the ECM and go through a curb idle/rev warm-up procedure so it would relearn the throttle position sensor's operating range after replacing the IAC valve. I disconnected the battery, removed and reinserted the hazard fuse, then reconnected the battery. Then from a cold start held the throttle at 3000 rpm until the engine warmed up to normal or the electric fans kicked on. Since then it's back to smooth, strong acceleration we expect from the Honda we love.
View 1 RepliesOur car starts, then dies. It starts fine, then dies. This only happens in warm weather, which we have finally been experiencing in Northern Illinois. It eventually gets to the point where we can drive it, but then might die at a stop sign, or it can go the rest of the day and not have any difficulties. I know later models have timing chains, not belts. Does our car have a timing belt problem or maybe fuel pump? And why only in warm weather?
View 7 RepliesMy son's 1991 Honda Accord was running real rough. The temperature gauge did not budge from cold. I changed out the thermostat. When I tried to start it it started great then coughed and shuddered and then died. It keeps starting and then dying. I took off the IAC and flushed it with mass air flow cleaner. The screen over one of the ports was all crudded up. It cleaned up OK. However then I put it back it improved for a minute and then died again. I have checked for vacuum leaks but found none.
View 8 RepliesI recently replaced the transmission in my car. I put new oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket and plugs in it. Got everything back together and now it won't stay running. It starts but will not stay running . I pulled the plugs out to find they were the wring ones that a was sold So They gave me the correct ones. Still doing the same thing. I've checked every connection. All are plugged in all lines are hooked up.
View 4 RepliesIf the outside temp is cool (say below 75) the a/c works, but as soon as the day gets warm it starts blowing only warm air. I took it to the Honda dealership and they said that it was low on freon and that it needs a new clutch and a new coil. They recharged it and added dye. A week later I took it to a good independent shop that specializes in Honda repairs. They said that the compressor has power and ground and is full of freon and dye but they found a bad thermal switch and that I need a new compressor. I have no understanding of car a/c systems and thus don't know which repair sounds like the right one (if either) based on the diagnostics that have been done.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2000 honda civic with 120,000 miles on it. recently, on cold starts (when i haven't turned the engine for a day) i've noticed a rapid vibrating or rattling noise about 30 seconds or so after i've turned the ignition. this noise lasts for maybe 15 to 20 seconds then it goes away, presumably as the engine has warmed a little.
I do drive a lot, and during the day even after the car has not been running for a few hours this noise doesn't occur. Only happens on the cold starts. I hope it's nothing major. I've attached a video with the sound. about 30 seconds into the video you will hear the noise kick in. (if the video doesn't show below here is the youtube link: [URL] ....
1995 Honda Civic appears battery is dead, takes 20 turns to start up, then has trouble with RPM's while driving. Even the clock and radio reset I thought the battery was so dead, but the car still starts up every time. And sometimes when I accelerate it has trouble keeping up and chokes a bit. Is this one problem or two? It seems electrical to me.
View 15 RepliesI've got a great little 1991 Civic DX, 1.5L manual. It's never let me down and I love working on it.
Stalled on the highway a couple weeks ago and I couldn't get it re-started. Over the years, it's had a bit of a personality where it chugs and occasionally stalls at a low idle, or when very slowly accelerating from a stop. If I'm sitting still, I'll turn the key to full off, give it about 30 seconds, and it'll start right back up. For whatever reason just re-starting without turning off never seemed to work.
So since it stalled on the highway and I wasn't able to get it started at all, here's the list I've replaced or completed:- main relay- fuel filter- plug wires- spark plugs (the old ones were due, but not overdue, and all four were pretty fouled with burned oil and had oil in the wells)- spark plug well o-rings and valve cover gaskets- and fully charged the battery
At this point, if I let it sit until it's cool, it'll start right back up with no trouble. Then once it warms, it starts to run a bit rough, eventually chugs, stalls, and then I can't get it started again - spins a few times, then kinda sticks, then spins a few times, and kinda sticks again.
Vehicle inconsistently/occasionally taking multiple turns of key to start. Then, multiple turns of key with pressing of gas pedal, which has now progress to stalling (three times within one month) immediately after difficulty with starting and when stopped at a light.
Took vehicle to Honda dealership... dealership could not duplicate the problem so replaced...1) coil assembly, ignition2) head assembly, rotor3) cap assembly4) spark plugs
Two days later the problem reoccurred-- two turns to start-up and when placed the car in reverse to back out of my parking space and in the process of moving, the car stalled, but started on the first turn of the key and I drove straight to the dealership.
They now believe it may be the main fuel relay or the fuel pressure regular.
The car I drive is a 1997 Civic EX, and if I drive it for about five minutes, the temperature gauge starts creeping up real fast. It'll go to the red if I let it, and the only thing that brings it down is turning on the heater and fan, at full blast. which is pretty miserable in summer.
I looked under the hood and found the radiator fan isn't starting up, no matter how hot it gets. So I checked the fuse - it looked good. Replaced it anyway just to be sure. No change. Then I replaced the relay switch. that didn't change anything. And I also replaced the fan motor. Still nothing.
I have read elsewhere that I should check my thermostat, but I can't see what it has to do with the fan motor not starting? also that the Engine Coolant Temperature sensor might be faulty but it is my understanding that that controls fuel-air mixtures and I just don't know.
I mentioned earlier that a rat got at some wires in my truck. I took few things apart and the only visible issue with wires I could find , besides my hid set up, was an engine coolant temperature sensor which threw P0118 code. Can this or those other codes p2111, 2119 will prevent the car from running? It starts? And then after a second or two dies. I'm wondering if prolonged short of the buttery could have caused a burn to some fuses associated with the throttle body control system? I looked at fuse box and can't figure out what solunoid/fuses are associated with the throttle system.
View 3 RepliesI've got a 2004 Golf 2.0 GL.....and for some reason this morning out of the blue when I tried to start the car to go to work it fired right up....and then about 1-2 seconds later immediately dies. I tried several times to start it....but every time it fired right up, then dies in a second or two. I also noticed that I'm getting the Immobilizer light on the dash....I'm guessing this is the problem.
Why would I get this all of a sudden? Did something happen to the chip in my key? Could the sensor in the steering column by bad? I don't want to have to load this thing on a trailer and take it to the dealership. Why would this happen out of the blue??