Hello everyone, today my Accord stalled at a red traffic light, and I'm trying to figure out what can even cause this to happen. It was a bit of a hot day, I had the AC on, blower on full blast, after sitting at the light for maybe 30 seconds the engine stopped, out of no where! It wasnt sputtering, the idle rpm was steady and not fluctuating or going low, not even before the engine cut out, it just turned off, silence, no lights on the dash were illuminated. I turned my hazards on, put it into park, turned the key, and it fired right up, very strong as it always does, so probably not a bad battery at least. And the coolant temperature gauge was reading at a quarter of the way up like it always does when the engine is warmed up, so it hadn't overheated .. I think.. After that happened I started to conserve electricity, everything I could, I rolled down the windows, turned off the blower, turned off the AC, my radio, everything that I could think of to reduce mechanical and electrical load, and it ran just fine after that, even after idling for 25 minutes I could not get it to do the same abrupt shut down, and hasn't happened since then. I'm very glad it started right up! The trouble is, what if this happens again, out of nowhere just like before, or while I'm making a turn, or even worse, during rush hour or on the freeway? Its always going to be in the back of my mind when I'm driving it...

So here are my questions, where do I start to make sure this does not happen again? Has anyone had a similar situation? What did you do to fix it? Should I expect this to happen again?

Its got just over 150k miles, like I said automatic transmission, DX, so the 2.2 Non-VTEC motor.

The parts I can think of that could even make this happen include the ignition lock, alternator, ignition control module, coil, maybe even the IACV, EGR valve?? Maybe there was just too much electrical demand from the radiator fan, ac fan, blower motor combined (some pretty beefy motors), but should have enough power to run all at once, certainly not enough to make an automatic car stall out of nowhere right??

What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you in advance, I could really use the help on this.

-Michael

 

What RPM does it idle at?
Maybe try cleaning the IACV, perhaps it's sticking?