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leigh3124 · Mar 10, 2007, 02:27 PM

I have a 4 door, american, 98 honda civic lx. It has a 1.6L engine with 157,000 miles and an automatic transmission. I have had the car about a year and a half and have been having serious problems for about the last year.

My car shuts off while I am driving, while I am at stop lights idling, and right after I start it. Sometimes it won't start until 2 or 3 tries. Once it dies or when it won't start on the initial try, I have to let it sit a few minutes, and only get it started by reving up the engine and pressing the gas pedal. It usually takes several tries. I do not have many problems in the early morning or late at night. Most of the problems seem to be in the afternoon when it is warm. Also, I didn't have many problems over the winter, but now that is warming up it is getting a lot worse. My car typically shuts off 3-6 times on my way home from work everyday.

The car spent a week in October in a shop, and they did not figure out what the problem was. They deducted that it was either electrical or fuel related.

This week I replaced the distributor to see if that would fix things, since hondas are notorious for having bad distributors. It didn't help. Yesterday, I replaced the ECM, and that did not fix the problem either. Now I am thinking it is fuel related, but I am not sure if I have exhausted all the electrical options yet. Any ideas? Anything you could tell me, would be greatly appreciated.

TxGreaseMonkey · Mar 10, 2007, 03:47 PM

Sounds like a classic PGM-FI Main Relay problem. Replace the main relay and it's likely your problem will go away:

Zip Code Entry at PartsAmerica.com

Buy the Standard Motor Products (RY422) relay--it's likely the Honda OEM part at a fraction of the price. This is an easy job the do-it-yourselfer can perform.

With a new ECM, distributor, and main relay, your Civic should be in great shape electrically for the next 10 years. Make sure you change the ATF every 30,000 miles, preferably with synthetic ATF.

Here are some other recommended maintenance items, now that you have positioned your Civic to get 300,000+ miles:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cars-t...tml#post219991