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My sons Civic randomly dies.

Trashman

Trashman

Trainwreck
Joined
Oct 13, 2021
Member Number
4472
Messages
404
1991 Civic Hatch
D16

Runs and idles seemingly fine. Maybe a light miss at mid rpm.

Batt is showing 14.3v running

Cleaned batt terminals, dist +/- checked connectors throught the car.

Seems to drive, then just dies. Sometimes It restarts, sometimes it doesn't.

My son fired it up after it was sitting a while, waiting for me to flat tow him home. Ran fine. He shut the drivers door, it immediately shut off. Wouldn't restart, just cranked.

It started fine a few minutes later, and it ran fine being fast towed home (he was worried about it dying on congested roads without a place to pull over.

He said tonight, it almost dies when brakes are held and headlights are on.

I have tapped on/shook wiring throughout the motor bay, under the dash and cannot seem to recreate any idle/running difference.

It seems fine stationary.

Checked plugs and their gapping, all good. Red/orange spark, but not white/blue (is that a thing?)

I thought voltage regulator..it shows 14.3 though....

ECU?
 
Takotruckin said:
Common failures on that car that come to mind are ignition switch and pgm fi relay
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It has a new ign. Switch.

He said they tossed the radio in the trunk (it was flicking on/off) and it runs/drives fine. Problem is, it will for a few days 😅🤣

Kids. :laughing: I will flat tow him home again I'm sure.
 
He doesn't live with me, so I can't just run over there.
 
He says the idle doesn't change now when brakes/headlights are on.

Fingers crossed I guess :laughing:

We did find the alternator to fender ground wire was loose today (he said he tightened it after I left)

I am sure he will call this good enough for the night.:homer:
 
Poke said:
Does it have an exhaust on it that sounds terrible? If not I think those civics need that
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It.does :lmao: Typical 20 year Olds civic. His isn't that bad, though. Definetly heard worse.

Why can't they sound like WRX's?:laughing:

I am not sure what to do with my 78 yet. A stock B series motor with no mods would make it quite peppy without needed trumpets....
 
Main relay. My EF did it occasionally back in the day. It would get hot and wouldn’t start, I kept one in the glove box and swapped as needed.

It’s up above the hood pop. 7 pin, held in with a 10mm bolt. It’s up under there. OEM color it’s a brownish box, like 2”x3”
 
Fire is also an option. I know of a deer or two that has also been sacrificed to the car gods. Just make sure you are hauling ass and total that bitch:grinpimp:
 
Byro said:
Main relay. My EF did it occasionally back in the day. It would get hot and wouldn’t start, I kept one in the glove box and swapped as needed.

It’s up above the hood pop. 7 pin, held in with a 10mm bolt. It’s up under there. OEM color it’s a brownish box, like 2”x3”
Click to expand...
That would explain why it doesn't seem to do it mornings, just afternoons.
 
Main relay like they all said especially if a door slam killed it. The contact points are probably barely connecting

Otherwise I'd say the pickup in the distributor might be getting flakey. Had that happen in a d16z6 back in the day. Took a while to figure out.
 
Is this the one you just got or whatever or is that a different kid? Maybe even illegitimate kid. :flipoff2:
 
If the fuel pump doesn't run when you turn the key on it's possibly the main relay. I've resoldered man of them. 92-95 could also be a computer crapping out.
 
Ranchtruck said:
Main relay like they all said especially if a door slam killed it. The contact points are probably barely connecting

Otherwise I'd say the pickup in the distributor might be getting flakey. Had that happen in a d16z6 back in the day. Took a while to figure out.
Click to expand...

The dead on diagnosis for the pick up failure was cranking with no tach movement.
 
Byro said:
Ok, let’s see em. I’d love to find a CVCC and do a D series swap in it.
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Screenshot_20240902_184340_Facebook.jpg
 
Looks like all the basics have already been covered. Wouldnt have guessed there were other ef/crx guys here.
 
I used to buy civics at the auction, rebuild them, and sell them. lost track of how many I had. made alot of money on them. still have two now, 93 civic hatch, and a 88 crx hf. had a rt4wd wagon with a turbo on it as well.
my very first car a was 70's honda cvcc.
 
The ignition module in the distributor causes similar symptoms
 
Friend had a 91 civic that would randomly die. Sometimes it would re-start sometimes it wouldn't.

Turned out to be the fuel injectors.
 
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