If you haven't been keeping up with my problems, here's a recap.

A few weeks ago I was sitting at Sonic. It was about 20 degrees so I left the car on so I could use the heater. The RPMs started to dip, then go back up, then dip, then go back up. I backed out and started to drive slowly and it tried to die, but kept itself at 500 RPM then recovered. I parked and it continued the dipping and recovering, never going below 500 RPM. Drove it home shortly after and didn't have any trouble until two days later. It didn't store any codes and no warning lights came on.

Cut to two days later. I was waiting in the left turn lane and without warning it died. I tried to start it up right away but it couldn't turn over (the not starting part probably doesn't matter because the line was starting to move and I panicked and tried to restart it while it was still in D. I popped it into neutral and it started right away without any problems.

Into the shop it goes. The mechanic replaced the flame trap, cleaned something on the invoice listed as "carb choke", replaced the vacuum hose.

Got it back. Worked fine until I was sitting in my car before my class and it started dipping and recovering again. Keep in mind that it's only died once at this point. It kept doing its thing for about 7 minutes and then it did something slightly different. It started shaking in a fashion that I'd call just a hair short of violently. I shut it off right away. When it was shaking the RPMs didn't fluctuate more than 50 RPM in either direction. Everything was shaking; wheel, dash, mirrors, etc..

Back into the shop it went. It finally died when the mechanic had it (it wouldn't do it the first time in the shop). He checked all the obvious things. Fuel pressure was perfect (even when it died), all the spark plugs are functioning perfectly (replaced about a year ago), no clogs in the fuel lines, no vacuum leak, checked the ignition system (didn't mention it so I assume there was not a problem). He ended up replacing the idle motor with a used one. Earlier today when I picked it up he said he let it idle for about 40 minutes and it didn't do anything bad.

Got about 8 miles before it started to act up again. Got home, parked it in the driveway, opened the hood and let it idle. Went inside for a minute, heard it die, came out and tried to restart it. It took 4 good tries to get it to restart. It would turn over, act like it was going to start and then die, but not abruptly. It kind of "floated" to a stop. Did that two more times and finally started on the fourth try. When it was restarted I revved it to about 4000, let off, and on its way down it popped a little. Did it a few more times and the same popping noise. It wasn't LOUD loud, but definitely noticeable. I don't think it was a true backfire (I've had it explained to me the difference between a backfire and something similar and much more frequent that people call a backfire. I've had real back fires before when the spark plug caps failed).

I took it over to my fiancee's house so her dad could look at it. He's been a Honda service director for over ten years so I figured he might be able to think of something the mechanic missed. Had the car idling for about ten minutes before it did the dip and recover thing again. He couldn't find anything obviously wrong with it. He mentioned a sensor might be failing intermittently or the fuel pump might be failing, though as I said before, the mechanic checked the fuel pump and said it was fine.

Remember that through all of this no warning or check engine lights came on at all.

I'm about ready to drive it into a tree. Help please! Any suggestions? [&o]

 

Was he watching the fuel guage when it died?
I would also be having someone check injection pulse when it acts up.
Sorry but what year is it again?
Next time it acts up maybe unplug the Mass Flow Sensor and see if it straightens out. If it does the Mass Flow is bad.(Caution it should set a check engine light though)
The fuel pump relay might be cutting out intermitantly.
Cam sensor might be going bad.(I would check the plug and if it looks like it is falling apart replace it)

 

Thanks tech. I will have him check the fuel pump relay and the cam sensor when I take it back up there. It's a 1996 GLT.

 

Ok I asked because if you unplugged the mass flow it would set a code.
If it were a 1995 you could reset the code.
1996 requires a scanner.

 

Thanks! I could have the mechanic do it. He has the scanner. I hope for my sanity's sake that this next time in the shop is the last for this problem.

 

I hope so to.

 

Thanks for all your help tech! One last question. I've had one thing mentioned that I don't think the mechanic has checked. My fiancee's brother mentioned the ignition contacts could be gunked up with carbon buildup. Could this be a possibility? The invoice says he checked the ignition, but I'm becoming a desperate man here.

 

Ignition contacts hadbeen replaced by transistorised ignition a long time ago so he probably meant the distributor cap & rotor.

The problem is in the electronic control system and not mechanical. Follow Tech's advice.


JPN

 

The closest would be the Dist. cap and rotor.

 

Mine did that somewhat when I first bought it, but it never died like yours did. I ended up making the idle higher by bending the bracket that the throttle cable goes through, and that solved the problem. Yours sounds like there may be some other issue going on, but it wouldn't hurt to try upping the idle speed a little bit.

 

Thanks guys. It's going into the dealer tomorrow (that hurt just typing it). Unfortunately they're my last resort. If they can't figure it out I'm in some trouble. I can't sell it for anything with its problem and no dealer will give me more than $500 I'm sure. Thanks for all your help guys!

 

I had the same problem.It was the small wacuum hose from intake to idle regulator that was clogged. You can check that in 1 min., but guess your mechanic already did that.

 

Dealer called today and said that it was the mass air flow sensor (I'm glad I told the guy to look there first). I should get the car back tomorrow evening. I'm not getting my hopes up though. I've picked up the car twice in the past two weeks with a heart full of hope that it wouldn't fudge-up and have been twice disappointed. At least if it doesn't fix it I'll have an easier time getting pissed at the dealer mechanic than my mechanic. You guys have been mucho helpful and it's very much appreciated!

 

I hope all goes well.


JPN

 

I hope that is it.

 

Fixed! They had to spend two hours checking all of the sensors but they found the mass air flow sensor to be intermittently malfunctioning. They replaced that and put in a fresh air filter. Thanks so much for the help everyone!

 

Glad we were here to help.

 

Well done!!!


JPN

 

Congrats!!!