Car stalling when it gets warm
 

Hello everyone.

I have a 2000 Honda Civic that when cold idles fine. After warming up it will stall. If I am traveling in the city and come to a traffic light the car will shut off when I come to a complete stop.

I took it to one mechanic who said I needed a new catalytic converter. I took it to another mechanic who first said I needed a new manifold, then said I needed new ignition coil then finally said I needed a new engine entirely.

Has anyone had this problem? I really need help :(

My old Mazda MX-6 did that for a while, and it turned out to be a crack in the rubber intake track between the airflow meter and the throttle body. Once the engine heated up, the rubber expanded and widened the crack, allowing extra, un-metered air to come in. It was fine while driving, but it would stall when I took my foot off the brake to come to a stop, and usually when idling.

The temporary fix was to seal the crack with silicone until I could get a new part (which I never did...). After that, the car ran great again.

Anyway, start checking the various rubber hoses (especially ones with flexible parts, or near a heat source) and see if there's a leak somewhere.

Is you CEL on?? have you try to clean your IACV ? Start with this and check for vacuum leak.

I should also mention that from time to time the heat meter goes up pretty high, almost into the red at times both when i'm driving and when it's stopped. Could that also cause the car to run fine when cold but shut off when warmed up?

I have not checked the CEL or the IACV. My biggest concern is if it's the head gasket, but i'm really not sure how to diagnose that.

I was also told that there was a miss fire in one of the cylinders and that if there was a miss fire in one cylinder that I needed a brand new engine. Is this true?

Pretty easy - open the oil cap on top of the valve cover, and peek in with a flashlight. If the oil looks nice and syrupy, it's fine. If it looks like chocolate milk, it means coolant is leaking into the oil and it's most likely a head gasket.

Nope. It means there's a problem with your ignition system, and could be anything from something simple like a bad spark plug to a bad distributor. Neither one is fatal.

Now, if they'd have said there was no compression in that cylinder, then it's time for a new engine or rebuild.

Before you drive it again, open up the radiator cap and see how much coolant is in the radiator. Also listen for the radiator fan to turn on. If it's running that hot, you've got a big issue going on, or you're about to create one for yourself by driving it that way.

Sounds to me like you need to find yet another mechanic.