Okay so here's the issue. And it's got me going nuts. Almost 2 months ago while driving (any speed, but at first was mostly highway speeds) my car would randomly shut off for a few seconds and then come back on by itself. When I say shut off I don't mean sputters out and dies. It legit just *click" shuts off. There was no CEL. So I replaced fuel pump, ignition coil, cap and rotor for dizzy, map sensor, IAT sensor, (after replacing fuel pump and ignition coil I finally got a CEL for IAT sensor, but once replaced didn't fix the issue), and main relay. I refilled battery to the correct level with distilled water, cleaned all gunk and little corrosion I had on the battery. Checked grounds and all SEEM to be fine. (I cleaned thermostat ground with wire brush but that's it other than looking at the rest. Some are little dirty but nothing id think cause this issue) Now after the last part, being the main relay, she starts up everytime (being the 5 times I started it) but shuts off after a couple minutes. So I'm at a complete loss. Is it the ICM is going out every couple minutes meaning I should buy a new dizzy? Is it distributor timing? I'm just so lost and though I know a pretty good amount about these Hondas I don't know everything and I've never been this stumped and stuck on a vehicle before. Please anyone help!? Also still no CEL'S as of now. If wanting more info just ask, or video I can send it via Facebook or something. Very desperate as 2 months with no car is killing me.

 

Here's a video of what it does when it won't start. It's nothing special that's why it's hard to diagnose but when I let the key return from trying to crank it over sometimes the RPM jump and feels like the car wanted to start. But I can never recreate this and so I can't ever get it on camera. I just barely missed it on the video but you hear me talk about it. Ignition switch? Crankshaft/camshaft position sensor? Maybe distributor ignition timing? Ive replaced a ton of parts already. Just need this fixed after 2 months of googling, asking friends, and watching YouTube videos.

https://youtu.be/kmDFRENvLxk

 

Well update for anyone who reads this. So I tried both a new ICM AND a new Ignition switch with new ignition cylinder and still have no start. This makes a little over 900$ worth of parts I've replaced. So at this point I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna sell the car Even though she runs so so damn good and gets me over 30 MPG, I just can't afford to keep putting money into parts that we don't know will fix it. So far I've put in a new Fuel pump, map sensor, IAT sensor, ignition coil, ICM, cap and rotor for dizzy, main relay, and ignition switch/cylinder. I also cleaned the grounds in the engine bay (sand paper and all for better connection) cleaned battery wires, terminals and barely touched up the distilled water inside the battery. I've checked fuel pressure, checked fuel filter, checked if injectors are ticking open and closed, I've checked for leaves and other objects blocking air filter and air ways. I checked the TPS sensor aswell and all come to the same conclusion. Car will not start. I gotta double check fuses but because she used to start and then die often I didn't think it would be a fuse. Now she won't start period so I may check the fuses but I highly doubt it. Does anyone have any recommendations for fuses to check, other things to look at or anything that won't cost me money. Because otherwise I'm selling the car unfortunately even though I seriously don't want to I just can't afford this and need a car for transportation like now. This has been so unbelievably stressful over 2 months I don't even know what to do with myself. Any and all help is appreciated as my head is about to explode with frustration. Thank you.

 

OH MY GOODNESS I FINALLY GOT HER RUNNING!!!!! I should of went with my gut feeling 2 months ago! So other than what I said in my orignal post (all the parts I replaced) I decided to dive into using a multimeter to get deeper into where I'm losing spark aswell as obviously hopefully figuring out what is wrong. So I noticed my coil was fine but I was losing spark at the dizzy somehow. Now I could of swore I wasn't getting a reading from ignition wire FROM the ignition switch because while cranking i wouldn't get any reading. I also checked the ICM and had no power coming from it so I thought FOR SURE it was either the ICM or the Ignition Switch. Well wasn't either. My last bet was either the entire dizzy or the crankshaft position sensor. So I got a new dizzy, hooked it up and without even cranking it hardly she started RIGHT UP! I'm so unbelievably happy after more than 2 months of not starting, losing my job because of it and now we're all back in business! Also get this. Was back and forth to Autozone so much I actually managed to get a part time job there hahahahaha. Thought that was pretty funny. Anyways we're all up and running!

 

I feel your frustration brother! What model and year is your Civic? My 98 Civic CX is having the same problem but it hasn't thrown any codes at all. My Civic was recalled in 2002 for a defective ignition switch. I'm thinking that maybe that replacement has failed as it wouldn't throw a code when it goes bad. Also, I've check the resistance for the three sensors inside of the distributor (TDC, CYP, CKP) and they were all within spec when I tested them. However, since my problem is intermittent I can't say for sure if these sensors in the distributor are actually still good. Sounds like one or more of these sensors went bad in your car. I believe that the sensor down by the crankshaft pulley, which Honda calls the "crankshaft sensor" is actually a crankshaft FLUCTUATION sensor. My civic does not have a camshaft position sensor but I believe later Hondas do.

I'm going to replace the ignition switch first and see if that fixes my stalling problem. If not, then the distributor is next. One of my oxygen sensors readings was jumping around quite a bit while I was looking at live date, but did not throw a code. I would think that a bad O2 sensor would cause poor performance and gas milage, which is not happening with my car. But that might be another suspect if the ignition switch or distributor don't solve my problem.

Thanks for posting the resolution to your problem. I've found dozens and dozens of post with similar stalling problems with Hondas but almost nobody ever posts whatever happened in the end. I'll post my solution once I resolve my stalling issue.

 

Oof man I wish you the best of luck! I also tried the ignition switch and all that l. Legit changed the entire ignition system besides the distributor and then I bought that last and sure as **** it was that. I hope you can figure it out and if I can help in any way I'll do my best.

 

For the past nine months I've been dealing with my 1998 Civic randomly stalling and then being hard to restart. It got progressively worse with the stalling happening about once per month, then restarting easily, to stalling every time I drove it with it becoming impossible to restart unless I waited for a couple of hours for whatever was causing the stalling to cool off. Since it never threw a DTC I had no idea of where to begin looking. I replaced the fuel filter, main (fuel pump) relay, and the fuel pump itself before I diagnosed it as an ignition problem (my bad). Then I suspected the ICM (igniter) since when those modules go bad, they quit when they get hot and can work again (for awhile) after cooling off. I checked the voltage from the ICM and it checked out fine but as I said, the problem was intermittent and random so I replaced it anyway. Didn't fix the problem. I also checked the coil and that was OK as well, but I replaced it anyway since I had a weak spark when it stalled. Didn't fix the problem. At that point I wondered if I had a bad ECU (computer) that wouldn't throw a DTC on itself. So I bought a salvaged ECU and installed that. Didn't help. I even replaced the distributor cap and rotor although I knew that was a long shot. Didn't help.

At that point I took a deeper dive on the web and found out that my distributor has three sensors inside of it that run directly to the ECU. Those are TCD, CYP (cylinder position sensor) and CKP (crankshaft position sensor). There is another "crankshaft sensor" down by the water pump which I think is a crankshaft fluctuation sensor. My 98 Civic does not have a camshaft position sensor. In theory, any of these sensors should throw a DTC if they go bad, but as I said, I wasn't getting any codes, even with my scanner plugged-in when my car stalled. I found a test procedure in the (official) Honda Service Manual and tested the resistance in each of these three sensors in the distributor. They all checked out within spec. This time I decided to believe these measurements and NOT install a new distributor.

I found a website www.carcomplaints.com where owners can file complaints about their cars. The complaints are vehicle and model year specific, but they usually don't include how the issue was resolved. I looked up 1998 Honda Civic and found that the majority of complaints were ignition problems. After reading them ALL it looked to me like my ignition switch might be the problem. It was subject to a recall in 2002 which I had the Honda dealer replace under warranty at the time. But as it turns out, some people had failures of the replacement switch as well. My mistake in not suspecting this switch in the first place was because in my (faulty) memory the recall had been for the ICM, not the switch. But this would explain why no DTC were thrown. Also, my starter cranked over good and strong so I thought that the ignition switch was OK. Now I figured that if this switch had failed before, it is not unreasonable to suspect it could do so again. So I ordered an aftermarket ignition switch (with a lifetime warranty) from Amazon (as Honda switches have proven to have issues) and installed it. PROBLEM SOLVED!

Turns out that these ignition switches are not simple ON/OFF switches. There were six wires coming out of the switch into two plugs and two more wires from elsewhere going into one of those plugs. Apparently, there is significant current running through the switch when the engine is running so that the contacts in the switch can over time get scorched. This would increase the resistance through those contacts and when that happens not enough current would get through to the ignition circuit and the engine would stall. But as I said, the switch worked well enough to turn over the starter good and strong, but that's a different circuit than when the switch is in the RUN position.

I guess the moral of the story is, when you test a component and it's within spec - believe it and start looking elsewhere, although intermittent problems can be tricky. A friend of mine had an intermittent problem with starting his Nissan and no codes were being thrown. After enduring months of problems his car finally threw a code for the MAF sensor, which he replaced and fixed the problem. Sometimes a sensor can still be within the defined +/- tolerance so it doesn't throw a code, but it can still cause problems. I was waiting for my car to eventually throw a code but after nine months the problem became intolerable and was actually getting dangerous to drive. I'm extremely relieved that a new ignition switch solved my problem. I hope this helps others, especially Honda owners, if their cars randomly stall.