My 1991 Honda Accord has been experiencing a frustrating issue: it randomly stalls while driving and sometimes won’t start again immediately. The problem seems to be getting worse, and I’m trying to diagnose it myself before taking it to a mechanic. Recently, the car has been losing power, the gas pedal becomes unresponsive, RPMs drop, and then the engine shuts off completely. This has happened a couple of times now. Before, it would just suddenly die, which was even more unsettling and has occurred many times. These stalls happen in all sorts of conditions – idling, accelerating, or decelerating. After it stalls, it usually won’t restart until it sits for a while, although the wait times have become shorter recently, sometimes only a couple of minutes. The longest I’ve had to wait for a restart was about 20 minutes.
I’ve checked for error codes using the flashing S light and found codes 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, and 14. However, the check engine light hasn’t stored any codes. The car was stored outside for about a year without being driven much, but this stalling problem actually started happening before that period of storage. Also, I’ve noticed that my fuel gauge seems to be inaccurate, possibly indicating a fuel pump issue, but I’m not sure if that’s related.
So far, I’ve replaced the distributor with an aftermarket one and the electrical part of the ignition switch. A local mechanic suggested that aftermarket distributors can be unreliable, which I’m a bit worried about now. Interestingly, when the car stalls and won’t restart, I can get it to fire up briefly by spraying starting fluid into the air intake. I haven’t been doing this lately as the no-start periods have become shorter, and I’m wondering if the colder weather might be playing a role. I’ve also replaced the ECU (Engine Control Unit) – or TCU (Transmission Control Unit), I need to double-check which one it was, but I believe it was the ECU. The mechanic did manage to idle the car for four hours and drive it around town for a day without it stalling, which is puzzling.
I’m really hoping to fix this myself to save on mechanic costs. Could a faulty ECU be the cause of these intermittent stalling issues and the car not driving forward consistently due to engine shutoff? What diagnostic steps can I take to pinpoint the problem, especially considering the S light codes and the symptoms I’m experiencing? Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
