ItsaHonda

Buddy of mine recently bought a 1993 Honda Del Sol to commute to/from work. The car had 86,000 miles when he bought it and now has 89,000. The previous owner only used the car while he was down in Florida for the summers... the car sat unused for the rest of the year. The car had a complete tune-up, new timing belt, water pump, etc. done at 85,000 miles, but that was back in 2004. Anyway, the car has been running fantastic for the last few thousand miles... he commutes in it on the turnpike 60 miles per day. About a week ago, however, it stalled on him in the middle of traffic. He tried to restart it, but it just cranked and wouldn't turn over right away. It finally turned over, but as soon as he put it in gear to go (it's a 5-spd., btw) it sputtered and died again... so he had it towed home. The next morning, he started it and it fired right up and has run all week long flawlessly, until tonight. He was slowing down for a light and it shut down. He waited for an hour, tried to restart it... it fires up just fine and he drives it the rest of the way home without a problem.

Both occurances were at night. Just curious if this is a symptom of a common problem with these engines or if anyone else has experienced the same issue with their 92+ Civic or Del Sol? I'm usually pretty good at figuring out what part may be at fault, but this one has me stumped... the car runs perfect (the engine runs like a sewing machine, I can't even hear the valves ticking... I've never heard a Honda engine run so quiet.) It has full power, no hesitation, gas mileage is what it should be, etc. But just all of a sudden, it stalls out and has a hard time restarting right away... and when it does start, it sputters and dies. Wait about an hour or so, and it's perfect again.

Line7

Assuming that the fuel filter was replaced, I would say that the fuel pump is on its way out. I had a similar problem in my TownCar, and eventually the fuel pump was dead. I would go and check the fuel pressure and might want to check the voltage at the battery AND the alternator.

ItsaHonda

He did have the fuel filter replaced after the first stall-out, I forgot to mention that. He was going to try doing another tune-up on it (even though it had a tune-up 5k miles ago, it was also 5 years ago. The car sat unused for the last 3 years.) and maybe have the fuel injectors cleaned, etc. If that didn't do the trick, he was going to have the fuel pump and relay replaced. He's pretty convinced that it's a fuel related issue... so my best guess was fuel pump also. He did mention that both times this occured, the car was low on gas. I haven't heard of too many fuel pump failures on Hondas, but this car did sit unused for long periods of time. After the car stalls and sits for over an hour or so, it will start right up and continue to drive perfectly while still being low on gas. It's been driven approx. 300 miles since the last stall out.

A-series

Does the CEL come on when the car stalls? If it does, I'd lean towards the ignitor/ignition module being the cause. Also, does it ever buck or hesitate for a split second while he's driving? It can happen so quickly that you're not sure what happened, but that can be the ignitor crapping out for just a millisecond, if it does that at low revs it can stall.

It's possible that the cause of the stalling is different from what is keeping it from restarting right away after the stall. (ie. main relay not wanting to start the car until it cools, but not being to blame for stalling).

I'm not a mechanic, and it could be the fuel pump for all I know, but with the symptoms you describe it wouldn't be the first place I'd check :shrug:

ItsaHonda

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, much appreciated. I'll ask him about the CEL as I'm not sure. He didn't mention anything about it coming on. Funny that you mention the bucking/hesistating because he did say last night that the car has started to buck slightly when accelerating from a stop, but only for a short moment. It is enough to shake the dashboard. He's currently only using it for short trips until he gets it fixed, but it's been doing okay so far. He's not chancing it on his 60 mile commute to/from work. So far he has listed fuel pump, fuel filter, clean fuel injectors, new spark plugs/wires, cap & rotor as things to do/replace.. I'll mention the ignitor/ignition module to him. I'll keep everyone posted. He has a back-up vehicle, so not sure exactly when he's going to tackle it, but it will be soon. He's driving his truck, and the gas is killing him from the 60 mile commute to/from work.

lufkintravis

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on with my del sol (93 1.5L)... I've replaced the main relay and it didn't help. Sometimes it does just fine, then other times, when you turn the key on, the fuel pump won't kick on. Usually, when you turn the key on, the CEL will come on and the fuel pump will start, but if you don't crank it after about two seconds, the CEL goes off and the fuel pump cuts off until you start cranking it. Sometimes it does fine, and then other times, you have to sit and wait for the CEL and fuel pump to kick on just whenever it decides to (all other warning lights come on, so I know the car is actually turning on when I turn the key). When you do start it, it runs fine and has never stalled out or anything. ANY IDEAS BEFORE I JUST SET THIS DAMN THING ON FIRE?!