1991 Honda Civic dies after driving on freeway

[curiousdaniel]

My girlfriend's '91 Civic has 150k+ miles on it and just started acting up. The car runs fine while driving around town, but once we get it up to high speeds it will just all of a sudden die the next time we slow down. Most of the time it starts right back up within a minute or so, but the last time it took about 20 minutes to start up again.

We took it to our regular mechanic, who took it out for a test drive and never experienced a problem. He said it might be the fuel pump, but that he wasn't sure.

After reading through newsgroups on the subject, it seems that maybe the problem is the main relay switch. Any suggestions?

 

[Jacob Johnson]

My girlfriend's '91 Civic has 150k+ miles on it and just started acting up. The car runs fine while driving around town, but once we get it up to high speeds it will just all of a sudden die the next time we slow down. Most of the time it starts right back up within a minute or so, but the last time it took about 20 minutes to start up again.

We took it to our regular mechanic, who took it out for a test drive and never experienced a problem. He said it might be the fuel pump, but that he wasn't sure.

After reading through newsgroups on the subject, it seems that maybe the problem is the main relay switch. Any suggestions?

The main relay would be my guess. I suggest that you visit the http://www.tegger.com website and do some research on the main relay.

 

[Alan (3)]

My girlfriend's '91 Civic has 150k+ miles on it and just started acting up. The car runs fine while driving around town, but once we get it up to high speeds it will just all of a sudden die the next time we slow down. Most of the time it starts right back up within a minute or so, but the last time it took about 20 minutes to start up again.

We took it to our regular mechanic, who took it out for a test drive and never experienced a problem. He said it might be the fuel pump, but that he wasn't sure.

After reading through newsgroups on the subject, it seems that maybe the problem is the main relay switch. Any suggestions?

My idea is that the coil is weak and the freeway driving is keeping it cool enough to work until there's more heat from local driving after the freeway driving.

 

[Elle (6)]

My money's on the coil, too. Especially if the problem only occurs well after warm-up.

A failing main relay's symptoms tend to occur after running awhile, then shutting off a few minutes, then re-starting. It won't re-start until the car cools. The integrity of the solder joints, with age, are temperature-dependent.

How old is the coil? Is the coil OEM?

Still, ever had the main relay replaced?

I replaced my 91 Civic's (176k miles) main relay c. 1999. No problems since.

 

[TeGGeR®]

wrote in

My girlfriend's '91 Civic has 150k+ miles on it and just started acting up. The car runs fine while driving around town, but once we get it up to high speeds it will just all of a sudden die the next time we slow down. Most of the time it starts right back up within a minute or so, but the last time it took about 20 minutes to start up again.

We took it to our regular mechanic, who took it out for a test drive and never experienced a problem. He said it might be the fuel pump, but that he wasn't sure.

After reading through newsgroups on the subject, it seems that maybe the problem is the main relay switch. Any suggestions?

Here's a tip: Next time it dies and won't start, watch the tach needle as you crank. Does it jump up a tiny bit? If so, the coil is bad. If NOT, the igniter has bit the dust. (If you have no tach, it's a bit harder to tell the difference between coil and igniter.)

Once you've tested it as above, check for spark as shown here:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html#checkspark just to make sure there is, in fact, no spark.

You've got a 50-50 chance of it being a the coil or igniter. I'm going to go with the coil for now. If you have some time, you can tell more by testing as per this:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html#badigniter

 

[jim beam]

My idea is that the coil is weak and the freeway driving is keeping it cool enough to work until there's more heat from local driving after the freeway driving.

that's not a bad call, but it could also be the condenser. they tend to break down over the years, and spark gets progressively weaker as it does. heat only makes it worse.

 

[curiousdaniel]

Okay, I'm going to check this out first thing tomorrow. I'll post my results. Thank you so much for the wonderful advice. Ya'll are the best!

 

[curiousdaniel]

For a variety of reasons, I couldn't test the car until today. It has not been driven at all since then (two weeks), but when I got ready to test it today, here's what I got:

1. The car fired right up.
2. I let the engine warm up for about 5 minutes.
3. Then I drove around the block four or five times.
4. Then I took it up to 50mph for a couple of minutes.
5. When I dropped the speed to under 5mph, the car died.
6. After waiting less than 15 seconds, I started the car again with no problem.
7. I repeated steps 2-4 again and again, but the car never died on me again.

The only thing I did notice was that at one point, when the car was idling, a little bit of burnt-oil smelling smoke came out of the vent. There was no smoke when I opened up the hood, but there was kind of a lingering burnt-oil smell. I don't know if that is in any way related to my problems, but I just can't figure out why the car would only intermittently stop working.

 

[TeGGeR®]

wrote in

For a variety of reasons, I couldn't test the car until today. It has not been driven at all since then (two weeks), but when I got ready to test it today, here's what I got:

1. The car fired right up.
2. I let the engine warm up for about 5 minutes.
3. Then I drove around the block four or five times.
4. Then I took it up to 50mph for a couple of minutes.
5. When I dropped the speed to under 5mph, the car died.
6. After waiting less than 15 seconds, I started the car again with no problem.
7. I repeated steps 2-4 again and again, but the car never died on me again.

Next time you test the car, take a passenger with you. When the car stalls next, immediately jump out and check for spark while the other person cranks the starter.