I have a 93 civic DX 1.5 with 70K on the clock that I bought new

it runs fine all summer,. no issues

once the weather drops below freezing every once in a while it will die about 3-5 blocks from the house. sometimes the check engine light will flicker for a sec sometimes it wont. sometimes it will miss for s few secs prior sometimes it wont.

it doesnt happen every time maybe once a week or twice a month and only when its frigid out.

the computer does not show any trouble codes and i have put plent of dry gas in the tank for the wintertime season


she starts right up afterwards and runs fine until it happens again

when it dies it turns right off like a bad coil does on the older cars.

I took it to several shops and they all told me since theres no trouble codes they cant diagnose it until the part actually fails.

Im mechanically inclined for basic stuff and I cant figure it out either.

One mechanic mentioned the fuel pump but he couldnt guarentee it would fix the issue


FWIW the dist and plugs were replaced about 20K miles ago with the cap and rotor, but the coil, PU and ignitor are original. The wires were replaced shortly after that.. Other than that the motor is well maintaind and untouched.

any ideas before I just start replacing igntion parts in the blind?

 

When it turns off, don't touch the key until you look if the oil and battery lights have come on like they should any time the key is on but engine is not turning. If the lights go out it's probably a bad ignition switch.

 

nope, just happened again this yesterday morning. 25 degrees out. dash was all lite up, no check engine light flicker this time.
let her sit aboiut a minute and it fired back up and ran great all day and ran fine this morning 20 degrees out..

 

Could be the fuel pump, but I'd look at the battery and alternator first. How old is the battery, and are the cables tight on it? Are you able to take a voltage reading off of it? How about the alternator?

Since you say it happens when it's cold, that would indicate to me that it doesn't have enough amperage to keep the car running (or start it) due to the colder temperatures.

 

it just happned again 18 degress out.

as soon as it reached operating temp. it cut out.
i have spark as I had enuf time to bump it over with a a timing light and i hear the fuel pump for a few secs when i switch it to on

let it sit about a another minute and it ran fine again.